Higher Taxes Don’t Hurt
According to that left-leaning, liberal rag “Forbes,” the following are the 10 happiest countries in the world: Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland, Canada, Switzerland, New Zealand, Norway and Belgium. One thing that all these countries have in common is that they are heavily taxed; in particular, those who make more pay more.
Of course, all these countries have the advantage of low unemployment rates (do higher taxes increase unemployment, or not?). They also have some or all of the following benefits; universal healthcare, subsidized housing, free education through college, excellent public transportation, parental leave, long paid vacations, child care, sick leave, and naturally a more equitable society.
Those arguing that higher taxes will stimulate the economy are arguing against their own interests—unless, of course, they happen to be billionaires, and even then it is questionable whether it is in their interest. Historically, when taxes for the wealthy have been high in this country, everyone has done better, poor, middle class and wealthy, whereas everyone does worse when taxes are drastically lowered.
If tax cuts for the rich are so great at strengthening our economy, we ought to be in great shape. It seems like we’ve given that idea a fair shake. Obviously it doesn’t work. Why would anyone want to vote for politicians who are just offering the failed policies from the past?
President Obama’s policies have hardly been given any chance. They have been fought tooth and nail by the same people responsible for the crisis we are in. On top of that, those people do it knowingly because they believe that they will benefit from our misery by being able to retake power. Do we really want to reward these people for such cynicism, and simultaneously allow them to continue their destruction of the American dream?
Stan Green
Greenfield
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Animals Don’t Ride Bikes
It was with great disappointment that I opened this week’s Advocate to a large advertisement for the Ringling Brothers Circus. It was my belief that Ringling Brothers’ long history of animal abuse was common knowledge.
It was also my belief that the Valley Advocate was a publication with higher morals and more integrity than to promote such an industry. In case you’d like to educate yourselves [the information that follows comes from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals]:
“Bears, elephants, tigers, and other animals do not voluntarily ride bicycles, stand on their heads, balance on balls, or jump through rings of fire. They don’t perform these and other difficult tricks because they want to; they perform them because they’re afraid of what will happen if they don’t.
“For animals in circuses, there is no such thing as ‘positive reinforcement’—only varying degrees of punishment and deprivation. To force them to perform these meaningless and physically uncomfortable tricks, trainers use whips, tight collars, muzzles, electric prods, bullhooks and other painful tools of the trade.
“In the Ringling Bros. circus, elephants are beaten, hit, poked, prodded, and jabbed with sharp hooks, sometimes until bloody. Ringling breaks the spirit of elephants when they’re vulnerable babies who should still be with their mothers. Unsuspecting parents planning a family trip to the circus don’t know about the violent training sessions with ropes, bullhooks, and electric shock prods that elephants endure. Heartbreaking photos reveal how Ringling Bros. circus trainers cruelly force baby elephants to learn tricks, and it’s not through a reward system, as they claim.”
Please be more mindful of whose money you take.
Sasha Starr
via email
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More Reviews by Brown
I just wanted to write to say that having Jack Brown focus on Valley film festivals rather than movie reviews is, in my opinion, a colossal mistake.
The only reason I would ever pick up the Advocate was for his movie reviews, all of which were extremely succinct and incisive. I lived or died by what movies he recommended or only gave one star. The rare movie that he would give four stars to I would rush to see. I recently wasted two hours of my life watching The American. Had Jack Brown been able to review current movies, this tragedy might have been avoided. I majored in film in college, so I’m a very picky customer.
Please allow Jack Brown to do what he does best: review movies. Writing movie reviews is actually extremely difficult. It takes a vast knowledge of film history, current and past events, and societal trends. Added to which Jack has an extensive knowledge of cast and crew histories and personal bios. I beg you not to waste this talent.
Emma Grove
via emai
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In Your Facebook
Facebook gives me the creeps [see “Facebook Is Not Your Friend”, September 23, 2010]. I have enough real, flesh and blood, air breathing, wonderful friends with voices, laughter, tears, and all the other wonderful emotions we were born with. I wouldn’t join Facebook if my life depended on it. Now that’s a scary thought!
Mark Garoppolo
via Online Comments
In my opinion, all the issues with Facebook, et al. come down to the users being aware of what they are doing, sharing, and signing up for. The majority of Internet users do not understand the technology or how everything you do is tracked. You must be aware of how to adjust the appropriate settings not to share information, or simply not use the service if their user agreement is not to your liking. How many people have actually read the full user agreement? The old adage “nothing is free” is still very true; we do not pay for these sites with money, but they are a business and profit. You pay for the service with your information.
Dain Binder
via Online Comments
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Mass Municipal vs. Unions
I find [Massachusetts Muncipal Association Executive Director Geoffrey] Beckwith’s anti-union stance very troubling [Letters, September 30, 2010]. His position seeks to usurp the entire concept of union collective bargaining and trample the rights of the worker simply because cities and towns live beyond their means.
Municipal workers have already suffered from wage freezes and furloughs for years, and now he wants to further penalize these hard workers when in reality they bear absolutely no responsibility for the terms that each municipality agreed to. If any municipality can simply whine its way to ignoring contractual obligations, then how long will it be before many more companies take up the mantle of robber barons and try to strip hard-won rights from other union workers?
Beckwith needs to represent the union-bashing cowards [who are] really pulling his strings instead of pitifully hiding behind disingenuous legislation. If he really harbors the need to overthrow national labor law, maybe he should try to make Massachusetts a right-to-work state where workers can bypass unions instead of taking an underhanded backdoor approach to gradually stripping away worker protections and the rule of law.
I urge all voters and taxpayers to ask candidates for the Legislature for a commitment to pass legislation that strengthens union protection against predatory actions of those who seek to destroy the middle class.
Greg Bennett
via Online Comments
