Thereís a budget solution: Raise taxes on the rich
Are we so apathetic to injustice that we will not voice our opinion when our own children are the ěbuttî of the governmentís problems?
It is unsettling that as the North Carolina Senate considers a bill (already approved by the House), the Salisbury Post contained hardly any articles or editorials about the bill which: lays off nearly 19,000 educators, cuts out the pre-K program, stops using education lottery funds for class-size reduction, forces teachers to swallow a third year with no increase in salary and guarantees an increase in N.C. college tuition.
I fear that this state, as well as this country, is so comfortably nestled in passivism that we are allowing government to take over the futures of our children. Although we have freedom of speech, silence guarantees that we wonít get a pink slip.
But our faithful Republicans keep telling us that they will not raise taxes. Isnít that nice? But who really benefits from no tax increase? The rich keep getting richer while the vast majority of us who are slaves to our careers continue to fall short every month.
According to ěWealth, Income, and Power,î by Professor G. William Domhoff, University of California:
The top 1 percent of American households own 34.6 percent of all privately held wealth, up from 33.8 percent in 1983. The bottom 80 percent of American households own only 15 percent of all privately held wealth, down from 18 percent in 1983. Control of financial wealth is slightly more polarized ó the top 1 percent own 42 percent of all privately held wealth, while the bottom 80 percent own a mere 7 percent.
Hereís a solution to education cuts: tax the rich excessively. How can our government justify cutting education when the top 10 percent of wealthy Americans literally own the United States?
ó Jenny Darby Jarem
Gold Hill
Reducing Medicare costs
There has been a lot of debate in Congress surrounding the need to cut Medicare costs. Conservatives voted unanimously to radically change Medicare by approving a plan that would effectively privatize Medicare starting in 2022. The plan is based on fixed value vouchers that seniors would receive to buy health insurance from private insurers, according to the L.A. Times.
The Bush administration expanded the Medicare program, despite strong oposition from his own party. The expansion came at a high economic cost because of Bushís commitment to defend the profits of pharmaceutical companies, making it illegal for state governments to negotiate with them for lower drug prices.
Everyone seems to agree there is a need to cut Medicare costs to prevent the insolvency of the program by 2026, but conservatives seem unable to find solutions, except by cutting benefits to seniors and making them pay for their own health care. Why not repeal or reverse the Bush administrationís ruling that made it illegal for individual states to negotiate with the manufacturers of drugs? Such rulings are contrary to free market laws and contrary to the basic principles of capitalism.
Faced with criticism from their constituents, Republicans are now calling for spending caps in the Medicare program. That means millions of seniors will have to pay themselves for treatments once their Medicare spending limit has been reached. Why not cut instead the billions of dollars given away every year in subsidies to big agribusinesses, biotech companies, oil companies and other private businesses?
It is time for all of us to follow closely at what ěour representativesî in Congress are doing because our future as a nation depends on the decisions they make. Their decisions affect our daily lives deeper than we realize. It affects our ability to work, our freedom, our access to good education and health care, and much more.
ó Miguel Reinoso
Salisbury
Gas prices affect travel plans
When it comes summer time, people are going on vacation. Itís getting to be that time of year again, and gas prices are through the roof!
Do you think this summer is going to be the same, the way gas prices are these days? Staying in a hotel or renting a house costs enough money. Now, itís gas prices, too! People arenít going to want to go anywhere, the way gas prices are. People have to go to work and make money so they can provide for their families. Gas prices have gone up a large amount in such a short amount of time. Something needs to be done about these gas prices!
ó Natalie Kluttz
Salisbury