Letters to the editor: NY Times - 11/29

To the Editor:

Neither the Bush nor the Obama administration has dealt with the gross income inequality in this country — the worst in a century — coupled with crippling unemployment.

The actions that would actually get us back to a more fair and equal society are not surprising:

¶Social Security and Medicare taxes should be levied on all income.

¶Hedge fund income should be treated and taxed as ordinary income, not capital gains.

¶Very high salaries should be taxed at a rate of 50 percent or more, which would discourage extravagant pay for chief executives.

¶Our troops should be pulled out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

And, of course, extending Medicare to everyone would save even more money.

These measures would balance the budget, extend the solvency of Social Security and return military spending to a more reasonable portion of the budget.

We would also put money into the pockets of working men and women, leading to greater consumer demand and fuller employment far more rapidly than cutting taxes on the wealthy.

These options are not part of Representative Paul Ryan’s “roadmap,” nor Erskine B. Bowles and Alan K. Simpson’s draft proposal as deficit commission co-chairmen, nor The Times’s Nov. 14 online budget balancing exercise.

James J. Diamond
Portland, Ore., Nov. 15, 2010

What we need now: F.D.R. (1944)

Franklin D. Roosevelt
“The Economic Bill of Rights”

Excerpt from 11 January 1944 message to Congress on the State of the Union

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It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy for the winning of a lasting peace and the establishment of an American standard of living higher than ever before known. We cannot be content, no matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction of our people—whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth—is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure.

This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain inalienable political rights—among them the right of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. They were our rights to life and liberty.

As our nation has grown in size and stature, however—as our industrial economy expanded—these political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.

We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. “Necessitous men are not free men.” People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.

Among these are:

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

The right of every family to a decent home;

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.

America’s own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for our citizens.


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source: The Public Papers & Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt (Samuel Rosenman, ed.), Vol XIII (NY: Harper, 1950), 40-42

12 How. 152: “Necessitous men,” says the Lord Chancellor, in Vernon v Bethell, 2 Eden 113 (1762), “are not, truly speaking, free men; but, to answer a present emergency, will submit to any terms that the crafty may impose on them.”

Lest we forget: (Election Day, 2010)

In today's NYTimes, Gemli says it very well:

"Republicans have behaved reprehensibly for the last two years. There was no modesty apparent when they set out to hobble the president and pointedly and unashamedly refused to do anything that could be seen as contributing to his success. They failed to show any semblance of bipartisan cooperation. When Mr. Obama made efforts to provide some form of basic health care for millions of uninsured Americans, or ask the wealthiest citizens to pay their fair share of taxes, the Republicans were having none of it. They acted to humiliate the president, calling him a liar during a national address, lying about his religion, and publicly questioning his allegiance to the United States. I see nothing in the behavior of the Republicans that would suggest that they were honorable people who had the interests of this country and its citizens at heart. They may win some seats, but if they do it will not be because they had good ideas, but rather because they pandered to the fears and dissatisfaction of uninformed voters, voters who forgot who was responsible for destroying the economy in the first place.

I, and the people who matter to me, need jobs, need affordable health insurance and prescription drugs, need Social Security to remain available and solvent, need sane and sensible regulations that promote clean energy, air, and water, need a financial system that does not periodically self-destruct in an orgy of uncontrolled greed and corruption, and need strong support for basic civil rights. As flawed as the Democrats can be, at least they are the ones talking about these issues. All I hear from the Republicans is how we need to remove regulations on corporations, ensure that billionaires get tax breaks, and turn this country into a more fundamentalist Christian nation. I have no interest in watching them dismantle the things that are important to me, no matter how modest they pretend to be while they're doing it."

I wholeheartedly agree.