Tax cuts for the rich don't create jobs
Editor:
Our nation is on the brink of a financial crisis. In times of crisis, our nation must unite and work together.
Everyone must sacrifice. The poor may have to give up food stamps. The sick may have to give up Medicaid. The old may have to give up Social Security. The unemployed may have to give up their benefits.
Yes, we must all sacrifice for the good of our nation. All of us except, of course, the rich who have been affected most by our current financial situation. No matter what, we must never, ever, increase taxes on the rich.
We are told that taxing the rich kills jobs. This, we know, is a lie. It is a lie that has been repeated so often that it has begun to ring true. But it isn’t.
How do we know?
We know because in the 1950s, when the highest tax rate was 90 percent, unemployment never broke 8 percent, and several times during that decade it dipped below 3 percent. We know because the tax rate on the richest of the rich is the lowest it has been in decades, and yet we still have some very troubling unemployment. With tax rates so low, where are the jobs?
Even the politicians who most often spout this lie don’t believe it themselves. We know this because if they truly believed that tax cuts for billionaires created jobs, they wouldn’t be pushing for lowering taxes on the rich. They would be pushing for totally eliminating them. But they aren’t, because they know that it isn’t tax cuts that create jobs, but consumer demand.
Companies aren’t in the business of creating jobs. They are in the business of making money. They only hire when they have to, and then they hire the least number of workers necessary for the lowest wage possible. That is what’s good for the bottom line.
Employing people is just a beneficial side effect of their main goal — profit. It makes no sense to hire more people than you need for more money than you have to pay.
CEOs make 343 times more than the average worker. Now, you don’t have to be egotistical to believe you are worth more money than the average worker. Some people are worth more. But you have to be delusional or vainglorious to believe you are worth 343 times more than a factory worker, a miner or a schoolteacher.
So, while the rich get richer, conservatives like our Sens. Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell seek to pull the rug from under the poor, the elderly, the sick, the out-of-work. They protect billionaires like they are an endangered species.
And why wouldn’t they?
After all, it isn’t the poor who donate the most to their campaigns, is it?
Sincerely,
James L. Hartley
Henderson Ky.
Congress should say no to Uncle Sam's latest loan request
To the editor:
Let me get this straight — the president is asking Congress to raise the debt ceiling.
I’m not the smartest apple in the cart, but why in the world would we want to allow our government to go even further in debt?
Don’t ask, “What about this program or that program”?
Isn’t $14 trillion enough debt?
If I go to a bank and ask for a loan, they will ask for everything except a blood sample to make sure that I am financially able to repay the loan. They will look at my debt ratio, and if I owe too much for what I bring in, they will not make the loan. There’s really no discussion at all. They say “no.”
The U.S. government’s debt ratio is so ridiculous that we, the American people, should take a stand and deny the loan.
Say no, Congress. Do not raise the debt ceiling. Get spending under control now.
Folks, if they raise the debt ceiling, all who voted for it should be recalled or voted out of office at the next election.
I am so sick and tired of people running for office saying, “Oh yes, we need to get spending under control and get government out of the way,” but then once they’re in Washington, it’s a total turn-around.
It’s got to stop now!
Michael S. Smith
Winchester
