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Opinion Letters to the editor for Aug. 19, 2011
Letters to the editor for Aug. 19, 2011
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Fleecing the rich To the Editor: Obama continues to push tax increases on the "rich" as a way out of America’s financial fiasco. This obsession allows him to avoid doing what is best for the rest of us. Current annual spending is $3.7 trillion dollars, around $10 billion per day. The shortfall to revenue is $1.6 trillion: $4 billion per day deficit. IRS statistics indicate that 2 percent of U.S. households have incomes of $250,000 or more, equal to 25 percent, or $1.97 trillion, of the nearly $8 trillion of total household income. If Congress imposed a 100 percent tax, taking all earnings above $250,000 per year, it would yield $1.4 trillion. That would keep the government running for 141 days, but there’s a problem because there are 224 more days left. Corporate profits are approximately $400 Billion dollars annually (Fortune 500 companies). Taking corporate profits would keep the government running for another 40 days, but that along with confiscating all income above $250,000 would only get us to the end of June. Congress must search elsewhere. Obama and every Democrat in Congress don’t want to reduce spending — they want to increase spending, the annual deficit and the debt which is now $14.4 trillion dollars; projected $16.5 trillion by late 2012. So, when you read letters denigrating Republicans keep in mind that they are written by those that want more government programs, more unearned money in the form of entitlements — more redistribution of wealth. The fact of the matter is there are not enough rich people to come anywhere close to satisfying Congress’ voracious spending appetite. They’re going to have to go after the non-rich or stop spending. Ray Anderson Sonora All guns and no butter To the Editor: Considering the S&P downgrade of the American economy, the tea party rightists going all out to ultimately crush struggling workers and the hell for leather direction of more disastrous wars, it should be clear to ordinary Americans that both major political parties are espousing a budget of, “All Guns and No Butter.” Forget about those who are struggling mightily to live the so-called “American Dream” and settling just for hoping to land in a safety net without getting too terribly bruised. Escalating cutbacks in our basic societal needs like schools, medical care, negotiated labor contracts, infrastructure renewal and so many other necessary projects that are the essential “glue” that holds societies together, are plunging this country into an ethical, moral and economic abyss from which there is no way out. Outright greed is destroying this country. “Normal” acquisitive greed works in an economy that has rules for the game applied across the board for everyone. “Greedy” greed, exhibitionist narcissism, outside the bounds of most human needs occurs when those rules of the game have been thoroughly trashed in the interests of a very small part of any society that has captured the political system like in Mussolini’s Fascist nightmares started in the 1920’s, a significant lead up to World War II. (Hitler idolized Mussolini). Buried in the “Pentagon Budget” are trillions of dollars that go for guns and no butter for ordinary Americans. We have three enormous obstacles to our progress: a non-democratic tax system, no vision about true progressive societal goals and the two political parties captured by political, moral, ethical and economic cowardice, a perfect storm. Bert Canepa 
 Groveland
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