'Tea Partiers are grumpy, old and rich; i.e. Republicans'
By
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To the editor:
As a retired librarian, I would hope that editorials and letters to the editor from Tea Party supporters would actually be informed by facts and not simply be words that do not reflect reality. There have been recent editorials and letters to the editor concerning taxes and programs that benefit the less fortunate and suposedly the spreading of the wealth.
For those who are interested, I suggest they read a Business Index article on
wealth and inequality in America. The gap between the top 1% and everyone else hasn't been this bad since the Roaring Twenties. Currently the top 1% own 38% of wealth. The next 9% own 37.7%. The bottom 50% own only 2.5%. So there has only been redistribution to the very wealthy of this country. Real average hourly earnings have not increased in 50 years. Poor people have a slim chance of rising to the upper miiddle class.
Republican tax cuts have significantly increased the wealth gap. The income tax has gotten lower and lower for the rich. America spreads the wealth far less than other developed countries.
Now we come to the Tea Party supporters and their letters and statements. They complain about government spending but are they ready to give up their Social Security, their Medicare and are farmers ready to give up their farm subsidies checks. Tea Party supporters often make exemptions for their favorite government spending. And by the way, Social Security and Medicare are socialism.
As for taxes, they are the lowest in 60 years. These same people believe Obama and the Democrats raised taxes but the FACT is 98% got a tax cut last year.
A new New York Times poll shows Tea Partiers are grumpy, older, well off Americans who think they are oppressed - in other words Republicans. The Tea Partiers aren't standing up for the little guy; they're standing up to the little guy. As Robert Kuttner recently wrote, the Tea Partiers are "the revolt of the haves". We have learned that what the Tea Partiers dislike about Barack Obama's ecomonic policies is they don't do enough for the rich.
According to the Times, Tea Partiers are more likely than other Americans to
think President Obama's policies favor the poor, and their mad as heck.
The record of the extreme right has constantly been on the wrong side of history. They were wrong on Social Security. They were wrong on passing civil rights legislation. They were wrong on Medicare. They were wrong on women's rights. They were wrong on Iraq and wrong on healthcare reform.
Sincerely,
John Hiestand
Hillsboro[[In-content Ad]]
As a retired librarian, I would hope that editorials and letters to the editor from Tea Party supporters would actually be informed by facts and not simply be words that do not reflect reality. There have been recent editorials and letters to the editor concerning taxes and programs that benefit the less fortunate and suposedly the spreading of the wealth.
For those who are interested, I suggest they read a Business Index article on
wealth and inequality in America. The gap between the top 1% and everyone else hasn't been this bad since the Roaring Twenties. Currently the top 1% own 38% of wealth. The next 9% own 37.7%. The bottom 50% own only 2.5%. So there has only been redistribution to the very wealthy of this country. Real average hourly earnings have not increased in 50 years. Poor people have a slim chance of rising to the upper miiddle class.
Republican tax cuts have significantly increased the wealth gap. The income tax has gotten lower and lower for the rich. America spreads the wealth far less than other developed countries.
Now we come to the Tea Party supporters and their letters and statements. They complain about government spending but are they ready to give up their Social Security, their Medicare and are farmers ready to give up their farm subsidies checks. Tea Party supporters often make exemptions for their favorite government spending. And by the way, Social Security and Medicare are socialism.
As for taxes, they are the lowest in 60 years. These same people believe Obama and the Democrats raised taxes but the FACT is 98% got a tax cut last year.
A new New York Times poll shows Tea Partiers are grumpy, older, well off Americans who think they are oppressed - in other words Republicans. The Tea Partiers aren't standing up for the little guy; they're standing up to the little guy. As Robert Kuttner recently wrote, the Tea Partiers are "the revolt of the haves". We have learned that what the Tea Partiers dislike about Barack Obama's ecomonic policies is they don't do enough for the rich.
According to the Times, Tea Partiers are more likely than other Americans to
think President Obama's policies favor the poor, and their mad as heck.
The record of the extreme right has constantly been on the wrong side of history. They were wrong on Social Security. They were wrong on passing civil rights legislation. They were wrong on Medicare. They were wrong on women's rights. They were wrong on Iraq and wrong on healthcare reform.
Sincerely,
John Hiestand
Hillsboro[[In-content Ad]]