The Rich Get Richer
In re Stephanie Kraft’s March 3 Imperium Watch (“The Wisconsin Revolt“): Both private and public sector employees need unions and collective bargaining—private sector employees to gain leverage with organized business interests, and public sector employees to gain leverage with elected governments that are essentially dominated and controlled by organized business interests. To believe anything else is naive or disingenuous.
By the way, the only reason that there is a “crisis” in Wisconsin is because the governor just lowered taxes for the rich.
Joe Kaminski
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The problems in this country come as a result of the two major political parties and their respective agendas. As an independent voter, I am tired of the us-versus-them whine. As far as what is happening in Wisconson, I believe that trying to change the rules for retirement for those who are closing in on that part of their lives is unfair.
Let’s not kid ourselves: the “baby boomers” are heading for that part of their lives and have paid their way for pensions and social security. The major problem is that the government has spent that money and now can’t figure any way out.
Both parties have spent money with reckless abandon in the last 60 years, and each side blames the other.
The bottom line is that the middle class will be stuck with the burden of paying back all that reckless spending and the rich will forever be taken care of. The fact is, more and more businesses want employees to kick in more for their health plans and are cutting out things like dental plans to cut costs. Employers pay for less and less, while workers pay for more and more, including new technology—cell phones , cable, Internet—that represents costs that no one had 35 years ago. The cost of education is way up, and credit card companies charge huge interest rates, but our paychecks don’t keep up.
Sadly, the rich have great backing in Washington with the Republican Party; the middle class has no one. It’s a work-till you-die era in America and the rich are not part of that reality.
Jim Girard
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Liberal Hypocrisy
By an overwhelming margin in the last election, Wisconsin voters chose Republicans in the governor’s seat and both state legislative chambers while elevating Paul Ryan and kicking out Russ Feingold on the federal level. They made no secret of their intentions to scale back union power.
Yet when the Republicans go to do “the people’s will,” the Democrats decide they don’t like democracy anymore. As usual, Advocate writers always believe the people should rule…until they vote the “wrong” way.
And before you wave your selective polls at me, let me remind you that Obamacare never, ever, had support from a majority of Americans (and has less support now), but Democrats decided to cram it through anyway. Apparently the Republicans should have just fled to an Illinois motel.
Eric Lindholm
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Spending to Blame
If you think that the only reason states are having trouble is that the “rich” don’t pay enough taxes, you are truly and woefully misinformed.
You could take the entire income of everybody making over $50k and it would not solve the deficit problems of the federal and state governments. Spending is a problem.
Government should provide basic services like fire, police, etc., but it is not the role of government to make everyone’s life easy, nor is it government’s role to “provide for” anyone who is envious of what others have earned.
People’s ever-increasing expectations of government are driving spending out of control. People have seemingly figured out that they can just vote for the government to give them “rich people’s money” to satisfy their every desire or to fix every ill in society—yet that is not at all the purpose of government, and it may well be the downfall of the U.S.
Bill Markoff
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