Monday, November 12, 2012
Attention Liberal Thinkers: Help Me Out Here!
Okay my liberal friends, I need your help. I guess I just don't remember what I learned in the undergraduate degree in Economics that I earned 27 years ago. Exactly how is raising taxes right now going to help the economy? Except for the obvious 100,000 new teachers, how will more money for hiring 100,000 new teachers, help reduce unemployment in the short-term which is when we need it? Will more revenue in the government coffers really be used to pay down the debt or help keep Social Security or Medicare solvent? I'm serious folks! Weigh in and explain it to me. I look forward to hearing what you have to say.
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I am certainly not an economist, so I cannot argue economic theory with you. I do, however,understand the responsiblity that we have to take care of one another. I am appalled by the greed that is so evident in the Republican party. These people are so worried about someone getting something for nothing. What is even worse is that the people who seem to be most worried about it are the ones that have more than they need. You know, you keep talking about the greedy people who want something for nothing. They don't want to work and just want handouts. These so called greedy people can't be lumped into one group, and you cannot understand their situations just by looking at them. Maybe they have lost their jobs because "businessmen" like Romney have sent their work overseas, or maybe they are sick and unable to work. Maybe they are elderly or have a disabled child to care for. Maybe they are one of the retired workers who lost all of their retirement savings because of bad investments made by their companies. It makes absolutely no sense to me to call these people greedy. The definition of greed is: An excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs or deserves, especially with respect to material wealth. This is not greed, it is survival. To me the epitomy of greed is the rich people in this country that will do anything to prevent paying their fair share of taxes. They are rich! They have everything they need and so much more. Incomes over $250,000 a year! How much money do they need, and why aren't they willing to pay for government serivces to help others? I honestly can't see how anyone can justify the tax breaks for these greedy, self-serving people. I find them much more dispicable than the poor who accept help from the government.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, as you know I am an educator and I know how much our public schools need teachers. When Romney said he would cut funding for teachers I knew then just how out of touch he really is. He said that studies show that the number of students in a classroom does not affect their learning. That is entirely wrong. If there is to be any change in this country, education is the way to do it. But God forbid that the wealthy contribute more taxes for public education. After all, their children are safely tucked away at their expensive private schools with 10 to 12 students in a class. I see just as much if not more feeling of entitlement coming from the rich than I do from the poor.
Okay, where to begin? You are correct that you can't lump everyone into a single group. So why does it make sense to lump everyone who makes $250,000 a year or more into the rich category. In New York City that is a firefighter husband and a teacher wife! The average rent is $3418 a month. A cup of black coffee is$3.75. They certainly aren't "living large."
ReplyDeleteAs for sending jobs overseas, how can we compete with the rest of the world when he have the highest corporate tax rate in the world, high energy costs, stacks and stacks of crazy government regulations, and sky high labor costs? Businesses will either move to a place with a more friendly business climate or shut their doors which BTW Hostess is getting ready to do b/c their union workers won't compromise. Wait until the government starts taxing carbon emissions.
As for the poor, I agree that we can't ignore those in need but the government does such a piss poor job of helping that it is insane to give them more money. It is so inefficient. When I was in the military all our charitable giving was done through the Combined Federal Campaign. They gave everyone a brochure with every charity - international, national and local - that you could think of. They all had to list their administrative cost. Most were less than 15%. If 25 cents of every dollar the government spends to help the needy actually goes to someone in need after it grinds its way through layer upon layer of bureaucracy, it would be a miracle. They create dependency on things like Social Security and Medicare that are unsustainable and which will eventually collapse leaving those who are counting on it in big trouble. I agree with Dennis Miller who said, "I'm all for helping the helpless but I'm sick of helping the clueless." Our gov't has a program working with the Mexican gov't that helps educate Mexicans on how to "safely" but still illegally sneak into the US and how to get all the benefits they can when they get here. People get EBT cards instead of food stamps now which makes it easy for them to spend that money, not on food, but alcohol, cigarettes, magazines, Oil of Olay beauty cream, tattoos, etc. The gov't gives people free cellphones that are 4G! I pay big bucks for my 3G phone service. How is that fair?
Lastly, education. Throwing money at the problem is the lazy way to try and solve what is wrong with education in the US. We spend the second highest amount per capita in the world on education behind Switzerland and we don't get nearly the results. It isn't the teachers' fault. It is the federal government's involvement with its "strings" attached to the funding along with waste. What is the administrator to teacher or student ratio these days? I bet it isn't what it was when we were in school. What is the ratio of the average salary for an administrator to the average teacher? I bet it is sickening.
More gov't isn't the answer even if its intensions are good. Unfortunately, they aren't. Gov't is motivated by "bringing home the bacon" or more accurately, "buying votes in the next election" with other people's money.