Dominic F. Ryan, Sartell
I didn’t realize socialism was contagious. Or does Ron Scarbro believe the discredited “domino theory” should apply to socialism? Mr. Scarbro, do you realize we live in a nation that dabbles in a little socialism? I thought you sent your children to public schools which is a form of socialism. And aren’t you now reliant on social security and medicare, which is one-part socialism and one-part social contract. By the way, I have no problem with the public schooling, social security or the medicare.
Like most people, I believe some things are better done by the public sector (aka-government) and others are better done by the private sector. All this begs the question: Why is socialism OK for you but not for the French? Its not like the socialists have been ruling the roost in France. This is the first socialist prime minister in almost 20 years. France got into this mess under conservative leadership not socialist. However, in defense of the conservative Sarkozy, a major reason for France’s economic woes is due to Wall Street’s casino-style version of capitalism which has shaken markets around the world. And that’s not Sarkozy’s fault.
The French socialist president Hollande’s first measure was to cut wages for all government ministers and himself by 30 percent. It is a gesture which stands in stark contrast to Sarkozy whose first move in office was to raise his own salary by 170 percent. How’s that for socialist leadership? The conservative, Sarkozy, is a pocket-lining free-spender compared to the socialist Hollande.
Mr. Scarbro, in an effort to rail against progressive taxation, makes the valid point that when taxes rise, the very wealthiest like Eduardo Saverin sometimes renounce their citizenship to avoid taxes. Point scored, Mr. Scarbro. You have plenty of ire for taxing the wealthiest but where’s the ire against the wealthiest who exploit the services and infrastructure of a country without paying for those services? In case you haven’t noticed, taxes on those at the top are the lowest in more than 60 years. Meanwhile, taxes on everyone else have been rising to subsidize the tax breaks for those at the top. Businesspeople like Saverin didn’t get rich on their own. He benefited from a public-education system where the rest of us paid to educate his employees. He and his business were afforded police forces, firefighters and national defenses that we paid for. His business was protected from copyright infringement and unfair business practices by agencies that we financed with taxes. Where’s the outrage that he’s going to skate on his taxes while we continue to subsidize his operations? That is also class warfare.
Class warfare runs in two directions. The difference is those with the most resources are fighting a downhill battle while the rest of us fight uphill. This is especially true now since the supreme courts ruling in the Citizen’s United case which basically allows unlimited campaign donations. If you applied this logic to baseball then the Twins should be in the World Series every year and the Yankees would be basement dwellers.
But don’t worry. Whether it’s Obama or Romney, they’ll both have economic teams plucked straight out of Wall Street. They won’t dare raise the top marginal tax rate. Those folks finance the elections. All this fretting over something that won’t happen.
