At 09:17 PM 2/11/01 -0800 Doug Pensinger wrote:
>How apropos is Dickens' opening paragraph in _A Tale of Two Cities_ today? I
>am inspired by tonight's _60 Minuets story on Sleeping Sickness in Sudan and
>elsewhere in Africa. I think that JDG has a point when he says that the poor
>in this country have relatively little to complain about when compared to the
>poor in other parts of the world. This is in deep contrast of course to his
>whining about a "confiscatory" 40% tax rate for the richest of Americans
>(which they don't pay anyway, but they get a lot of mileage complaining about
>it). Tell me, are there any humans in the history of the race that are
better
>off than the filthy rich people of our present age, especially in the U.S.?
>And are there many, in a past rampant with human deprivation, that are worse
>off than those in the sub-continent ravaged by disease and social upheaval?
First, I would point out that the *marginal* tax rate is very real. I am
not aware of any combination of deductions and tax breaks that let's you
avoid the effect of the marginal rate. That means that out of every
additional dollar a rich person tries to earn, they face losing nearly half
of that dollar.
Secondly, I do not doubt that Americans should give fare more to charity
than they do. I just question whether we have the *right* to force them
to do the right thing.
After all, how many times to *any of us* choose to eat at a nice
restaurant, instead of eating someplace cheaper and sending the difference
to help feed a starving Bangladeshi?
JDG
__________________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - ICQ #3527685
"The point of living in a Republic after all, is that we do not live by
majority rule. We live by laws and a variety of isntitutions designed
to check each other." -Andrew Sullivan 01/29/01
