Letter to the Editor: Fair share
BY Stanley Simpson, Tulsa
Monday, January 14, 2013
1/14/13 at 7:46 AM
Corporations paid just 12 percent of their profits in taxes, the lowest since 1972. In 2005, one out of four corporations paid no income taxes at all while collecting $1.1 trillion in revenue. In the Cayman Islands, there is a five-story office building, "home" to more than 18,000 corporations. No wonder the super-rich can afford to buy Congress and the right-wing press in order to keep the American government in line.
Propagandists at Fox News are a great threat to our nation. They con the public with such ridiculous ideas as giving vast sums of money to the rich, thinking that will make life much easier for the average person. They cannot see any good in unions. They like "trickle-down" economics. That's why people vote for policies that only hurt themselves.
They paint a rosy picture of laissez-faire economics that will eliminate government regulation and control. Well, the Republicans, with the help of President Bush, gave what the super rich wanted. That's what created the mess we are in. No pain for the rich - they had a windfall. The banks went wild and made tons of money.
The unvarnished truth is that it is rare for a capitalist to give a damn about the poor. Some business owners, large and small, are kind to their help and they have no need of unions, but they are indeed rare.
History proves free market economics require regulation for everyone to have a fair share of the nation's wealth.
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