By Irving Leemon
With 15% of the population living on $10,000 a year or less, we have a real problem. We are already experiencing an increase in violence and crime. Lately it seems as if every other day there is another person being killed and an officer involved shooting. With the papers not reporting all of the instances of crime in the area, you can bet there are many more killings that we do not know about. Robberies are also on the increase. People are becoming desperate for food and shelter. Men and women are seeing their children go without because they can’t afford the basics any more. Unfortunately, to correct the problem the government has to spend more money to create jobs and at the same time reduce its income by reducing taxes on individuals. An example of this approach working was during World War II.
There was a concerted effort by the government to encourage people to save, rather then spend. Taxes were raised to pay for the war effort and government paid for workers to go to work on government projects. Income tax was raised, and government encouraged people to save, not spend. Another interesting point is that politicians and the conservative media do not mention that on October 22, 1986, President Reagan, a conservative icon, signed a law that decreased individual taxes and increased business taxes by 120 billion dollars. Agree? Disagree? Email me: ileemon@socal.rr.com