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Aug. 7, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: Needed ice floes are disappearing.
To hear some politicians talk, entitlements are the root of all evil. People, specifically those not affluent, have the unmitigated gall to need food, shelter and medical care. Not to worry. The poor cooperate by dying 10 to 15 years sooner than the wellto- do.
If on the salary you earned you couldn’t save, politicians with public pensions and healthcare will say you didn’t invest wisely.
How many years earning did it take to force you to live from week to week?
Don’t expect a wealthy banker bailout. Reasonable taxes should mean hard work doesn’t leave you without health care, money for a mortgage or education for your children.
The issue here is not soaking the rich. Innovative people should do well. The rich will still be rich. “Capitalism” is now con-game where a tiny minority sucks up the wealth generated by the entire population. Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett have more wealth than the bottom 50%, over 175 million people. Just after WWII, the top tax rate was lowered to 91% from 94%. It’s now 37% after endless loopholes.
Legitimate capitalism has been perverted, illogically, soaking the poor and middle classes. That destroys sales, the very foundation of capitalism. If most can’t buy, businesses die, killing jobs. We become Haiti, desperately poor, with armed guards protecting a handful behind high walls.
Wealth is generated by a multiplier effect. The materials for every car part have to be mined or manufactured, stored, inventoried, insured, sold, loaded, transported, a process repeated in building, selling, insuring, maintaining, repairing cars — all creating jobs. Bezos will not spend his extra billions buying millions of cars to recirculate dollars and create jobs. Workers paid decently will.
Tax cuts for the 1% are the Trojan horse for eliminating Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security from the federal budget. The 1% invest instead of spending. It’s idiotic economic policy.
“Eskimos” are said to have had a solution to the problem of old people: ice floes. Parking grandma on one saved money and fed polar bears. Right now, greed’s political lackeys are preparing your ice floe.JOE PETITE Rockbridge County
