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Bulletin, Progressive, Record, Reporter
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Wednesday, March 23, 2011 9B
OMMUNITY PERSPECTIVE
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WHERE I STAND wages, overtime, pensions lowest personal tax rate for Progressives believe in
......................................................................................................... might all change, and for the U.S. citizens. "progressive" tax rates,
BILL MARTIN worse. Tax history shows that the where the more you earn,
35-YEAR PUBLIC EMPLOYEE As one letter writer to The highest marginal bracketsthe more you should (and
CALSTRS PENSIONER Sacramento Bee said last were 90 percent in the 1950s, can afford to) pay in tax. The
There's a well-worn line month, "Conservatives con-decreased to 70 percent, then wealthy have succeeded in
that "those who ignore histo- trol media, banks, the U.S. to 50 percent, and to 28 per- pushing their case that near-
ry are doomed to repeat it," House; and thanks to the cent in the Reagan years,ly all they earn should be
along with another about the Supremes, corporations canWhile nearly everything theirs to keep. Others have
definition of"insanity" (do-. now contribute without lfm- spent in business is de- used the present tax code to
ing the same thing over and it to the candidates and caus- ductible against revenue,"zero-out," paying nothing.
over while expecting a dif- es of their choice, acting on personal deductions began a And there are corporations
ferent result). Seems like the • their behalf." But the validi- decided contraction with the that shift their profits off-
country is engaged in both. ty of this view is refuted by 1986 tax year, and loss of the shore, keeping it all. Our
We should stop. millionaire pundits and mortgage interest deduction present tax code is loaded
Conservative election vic- broadcasters on conserva- has continued to be sought with loopholes that benefit
tories last fall will make the tive radio and television,by reformers ever since. But the well-off while gouging
history books, sure, but they every week. hedge fund managers (earn- the middle class.
continue an ideologically My preferred description ing in the tens to hundreds In a phrase coined in the
driven agenda of insanity of the conservative tax agen- of millions annually) remain Reagan years, wealth will
we've seen for 30 years, solv- da can be found in the book in the 15 percent bracket. "trickle down" to the rest
ing neither the national debt "America, What Went Many proposed to "simpli-of us in the form of job
nor the Great Recession. The Wrong?" by Bartlett and fy" the tax code over the last creation. But if the Bush
two lightning rod terms of Steele. These two investiga- 30 years by going to a fiat tax cuts of '01 and '03 were
the day are "taxes" and tive journalists (with multi- tax, a national sales tax, a so good for us, where is the
"deregulation." ple Pulitzers, Polk and Na- value-added tax, or otherboost in our net worth and
I recall the progressive tional Magazine awards) mechanisms but credible where are the jobs? This is
movement.of 100 years ago, from The Philadelphia En- analysts have shown that tax a mere 10 years later. Is
when "trust busters" and quireF published their book "reform" proposals are nev- that history something
journalist "muckrakers" in 1992, unifying a series of er simple; they are oftenwe've chosen to forget?
fought against monopolies articles they did based onloaded with custom loop- Perhaps the topper was last
in corporations and raft- blind tax data in 1980 - 1990. holes, and they only reduce year's deal prese: ving tax
roads, as well as the political They showed how the peri- taxes for the wealthy, cuts for the wealthy while
corruption that flourished, od's tax code changes shrank Former Congressman Dick continuing to exempt the
Such fights protected the the middle class, increased Armey of Texas wanted to largest fortunes from inheri-
many from the excesses of a the impoverished and accel- move to a 17 percent flat tax tance taxes.
wealthy few and attempted crated the ranks of multimil- with no deductions. This It's little comfort that the
to check unbridled capital- lionaires. This occurred was introduced as "The wealthy can't vacuum up as
ism. while tax incentives reward- Freedom and Fairness much from the rest of us
Child labor laws, a 40-hour ed multinational corpora- Restoration Act of 1995."during a recession. Reces-
workweek, women's suf- tions for exporting jobs off- Money Magazine calculatedslons happen when people
frage, a social safety net (So- shore, resulting in a variety that taxpayers (married, fil- don't have jobs, can't con-
cial Security), all are exam- of U.S. manufacturing clo-ing jointly) making up tosume goods and services
ples of the progressive effort, sures. It also showed that$335,000 would pay more in that could maintain the
But lately it looks like work- foreign multinationals paid federal taxes only those GDP, and therefore don't
related issues the stan- U.S. taxes on their earnings above that figure would pay contribute to tax revenue.
dard work day, workweek, here at a fraction of the less. Fairness for whom?.As proof of conservative
success over the last 30 capacity. Enter Enron, Dyn-
years, tax cuts have become egy and Reliant with their
both a goal and an entitle- gamesmanship, and we got
ment. But as I said, if the 90 rotating blackouts during a
percent and 70 percent mar- cool summer of less demand
ginal brackets didn't kill off than previously. Two of the
economic growth in the '50s three major utilities went
and '60s why are we still bankrupt from stratospheric
fighting about tax rates? peak pricing, and the state
And "regulation" has be- stepped in to purchase $9 bil-
come a bad word, linked, of- lion of power for them to dis-
ten without support, to an- tribute (only $3 billion of
other phrase: "job killer." which was recovered later
Remember your history -- through litigation).
deregulation brought us In 2003, "I'll fix California"
both the S&L meltdown of Schwarzenegger made his
over 700 thrifts (adding $503 first action a rescission of
billidh to the public debt in what he called the "car tax,"
1989), and the 1999 repeal of a revenue generator that
the Depression-era Glass- normally produced $4.25 to
Steagall Act, which allowed $6 billion a year. When
banks and insurance compa- Arnold arrived, the measure
nies to create and sell securi- (signed by Wilson) had acti-
ties, commodities and fu- vated twice and ceased once.
tures. It was a contingent and
This broken regulatory progressive tax with sunrise
dike made money for the and sunset triggers, only
"too big to fails" in two activating when state rev-
ways. They made profits enues were low and ceasing
with initial sales of falsely when they recovered. Those
rated assets and then took who didn't buy new cars
billions in taxpayer bailouts I frequently paid less. Those
when the music stopped (but who did paid more. Do the
the bonuses didn't). Gold- math add Wilson's $6
man-Sachs even pioneered a billion deregulation loss,
third way -- they short sold and, say, $5 billion a year
the same toxic assets they of lost "car tax" revenue
were selling to others (bet- since 2003 for Arnold's i ex-
ting against them), then ecutive order. I get well
cleaned up when those as- I over $27 billion; what do
sets approached zilch, you get?
Our $27 billion state In the current effort to
deficit began in 1996, when eliminate California's
Gov. Wilson signed electrici- deficit, the governor has
ty deregulation that caused proposed a reduction
the sell-off or leasing of the
major utilities' generation See Repeat, page lOB
otary contest winner: The power of one comes from ideas
VrHER.E I STAND and if the young people of have to become an idea. Big that people can harness Germans to believe that he could not have been
Egypt had not unified under ideas produce big results, through the power of one are could restore Germany to its achieved, but their ideas in-
LUIS RUBALCAVA-CUNAN the idea of freedom, then it is The American Heritage nuclear in their influence, former glory by appealing to
WINNER, ROTARY CLUB OF QUINCY spired people tO aid their
SPEECH CONTEST very likely the situation dictionary defines an "idea" Henry Ford had one idea: people's fear. He destroyed cause. Gandhi's followers to-
would have spiraled, out of as "an opinion, convicti0n,:or to make a car that the aver- democratic ideals and gether were the ones that
One person has a .power to control and Egypt would beprinciple." Ideas are every- age American could afford,launched the world into one
change everything. However, threw out the British; Ein-
most of what is accomplished experiencing a violent upris- where and while many times He needed to find a way toof the most terrible wars we stein never actually built
is done by groups. The power ing instead of the euphoria of one person is at the helm, make decent cars quickly have ever faced. His ideas of anything that helped society,
of one comes with the ideas gaining liberty, sometimes many people canand effectively. He created Jewish people, homosexualsbut his theories allowed oth-
that one person can create; On a community scale, be- be bound together by one the assembly line, which al- and gypsies led to the exter- ers to do so. Factory workers
ideas that can change the ing an individual and accom- idea and explode it. In Egypt lowed him to pump out carsmination of 11 million peo- mass-produced Henry Ford's
world. And while it is a team plishing much is fairly easy. no one person was the leader, from his factories at a light- ple. The power of one can cars, and now we seek the
effort that gets things done, it It just takes some motivation. The champion that united niflg fast rate. People in these change the world for good or idea of a new revolution for
starts with one person, or One person with a good idea the people of Egypt was the assembly lines did not have for bad. transportation. One person
rather one idea through a can group together a few oth- common goal of freedom, to be experts since they were To change the world at a can change the world with
person, er people and accomplish What they want is to have a only working on one part of global level, one must repre- the ideas they create.
Gandhi could never have much. There are already democratic government in the car. In a few days of sent a truly great idea. An The power of one is the
freed India had not thou- groups like Rotary, S:clubwhich they have rights. The training they could be faster idea that is different, asgreatest force on this earth.
sands peacefully protested and Boosters that only need inspiration of democracy and than anyone else at building Ralph Waldo Emerson put it, In it lies the motivation to
with him; Egypt would re- one person to present an idea liberty is so great that it has their part in the assembly"Whoso would be a man mustchange the world as we know
main under Mubarak's rule to make a real change. Even now spread across the Mid- line. Mr. Ford was then able be ~ nonconformist." The it. While people are mortal,
had not millions run to the without these groups all it die East like wildfire. Sud- to create cars that everyone people who are remembered the ideas they represent are
streets with the idea of liber- takes is a few people with a denly, after only a few days could drive. After that, cars for having changed the world bulletproof. Every great
ty. If only one had protested good,idea to clean trash from of emancipation in Egypt,revolutionized the way we are those who developed movement has been started
in Cairo nothing would have a park, or run a bake sale for several Mid East and North live today. We could travel con~plex "out-there" ideas: by an idea. These ideas creat-
changed. Even Sir Isaac New- a good community cause. WeAfrican countries have en- farther faster. Every part of EinStein and the theory ofed by the power of one can be
ton stated, "I walk on the see cases like this every day tered turmoil, the peopleour society was changed be- rela everlasting. The power of one
backs of giants," meaning as we go on errands and dri- wrestling for freedom from cause of one man's idea; that non will continue to shape our
that his work only came from ve around the town. Howev-authoritarian regimes. Liber- is the power of one. indi world in ways we cannot
the work of others, er, the things that one person ty is an idea that has motivat- The power of one is not al- thin imagine.
However, if not for Gandhi can do alone are small. When ed so many people and hasways used for good. A perfect ly rr
then thousands would not an individual wants to do changed the face of our world example of its corruption is me8
have peacefully protested something important, they numerous times. The ideasAdolph Hitler. He led the corn
tivity, Gandhi and the
.violent revolution. These
viduals stand out. They
aselves did not personal-
ake the change happen,
ning that without others'
bined work their dreams
Rubalcava~Cunan is a junior
at Quincy High School.
Guidelines for Letters --
All letters must contain an
address and a phone num-
ber. We publish only one
letter per week, per person
and only one letter per per~
son, per month regarding
the same subject. We do not
publish third-party, anony-
mous, or open letters. Let-
ters must be limited to a
maximum of 300 words. The
editor will cut any letter in
excess of 300 words. The
deadline is Friday at 3 p.m.
(Deadlines may change due
to holidays.) Letters may be
taken to any of Feather Pub-
lishing's offices, sent via fax
to 283-3952, or e-mailed to
mail@p umasnews.com. J
Thanks
There is so much "nega-
tive" in the world, both lo-
cally and worldwide, I
would like to compliment
the Feather River College
athletic club for providing
students and community
members with a place to
keep us physically, fit and
helping us to achieve our
goal of staying in good
health.
The club is especially
LE " ' EDIT
T T E R S t: o t l:l. e O
" -- __ ---- --__ __
good at helping the older was on call and quickly that they need. This is al- ~ e night yet -- I
members of the communitytook care of my needs, ways one of the first ques- would say it might.
(including my husband and After I Was taken to my tion,s they ask me. We are A~'e labor unions essen-
me). The athletic club is room the nursing staff was also blessed to have an im- tiaE
rarely without people who amazing; Nlevennghn and mediate response team peoI
are working out in one way Pamela were outstanding right here in Plumas Pines. indi
or another. It is hoped that just to name a few. I wasDue to the many prayers hell:
the college will continue to blessed to have Dr. Colinof family and friends I am his
keep it open, even if small Kopes-Kerr, M.D., as my home and I thank God daily tion
cuts need to be made in attending physician. He is for my friends and family. But
hours, new to the area and will be Who says God doesn't an- drec
Thanks to the Feather covering both Portola andswer prayers? fello
River College for their posi- Graeagle. Jane Valentinett
rive efforts. We all know the struggles Graeagle/BlairsdenNow
Glory Kellett of Eastern Plumas Hospital ten
Meadow Valley to provide medical care to Death notice just,
the people in the Porto- The news coming out of men
Positive la/Graeagle and surround-Wisconsin is stunning. It re- new
This is my first letter to ing areas. I want to express minds me of the vote, in over
the editor but felt compelled my appreciation to Tom 1860, by South Carolina bor
to share my experience and Hays, chief executive offi- state legislators, to pull stru
share some positive newscer of the hospital, for his their state out of the Union, wor]
for a change, tenacity in searching forwhich set off the Civil War. livat
Although I have lived new medical care and for That war cost the North and I
in Plumas County for more bringing Dr. Colin Kopes-South over 600,000 lives; I ploy
than 30 years I have never Kerr to our "little" town. I wonder where this new fun- un io
had the "pleasure" of being feel confident of the care we damental law by the Repub- the _~;tockholders, not the
admitted in the Eastern will receive here in Graea- lican legislatuye in Madison employees. The stockholder
Plumas District Hospital. gle. Being in the property to end labor unions amongcouh[n't care less about the
I had to go to the emergency management and real estate state employees will lead. wor~
room for medical care early business in Plumas Pines To another civil war? Judg- tall'
Friday morning March 11.for 30-plus years I feel very ing by the vehemence of the denl
I received medical care in- confident in assuring ourmultitudes of union work-CE(
stantly by their staff and new homeowners and po- ers and sympathizers who salar
thanks to Anna for her tential buyers that we can crowded the state capitolir
assistance. Dr. Swanson provide the medical care immediately after the vote pay
They are to working
le. Without unions the
¢idual working-man is
less. If he doesn't like
rage or working condi-
~, he can quit, period.
if he is backed by hun-
s or thousands of his
workers -- in a union
~en it is another story.
his employer must lis-
.. and if the cause is
it will mean an adjust-
: by the employer to the
situation. In this way,
many, many years, la-
in this country has
ggled to achieve safe
:ing conditions and a
le wage.
understand the em-
er's hatred of labor
as; the CEO represents
ing man, who, incidem
, supplies his divi-
s. The big-business
who makes an annual
y including bonuses
the millions, would
fis employees nothing
-- not a red cent if he
could. I know, I was among
them for years; they are a
hard lot, who climbed the
corporate ladder by pleas-
ing the CEO (and stockhold-
ers) not the employees. If
this death notice to state
employees' labor unions
spreads to the private sec-
tor, as it may, it will be a
national catastrophe ... I
kid you not.
Tony Van Hemert
Quincy
At what risk
This should be a happy
day, St. Patrick's Day, but
I'm afraid to say after re-
ceiving all this bad and
alarming news about Japan,
the 9.2 earthquake, the
tsunami and now this nu-
clear meltdown about to
happen. God, please help
save these poor unfortunate
folks during this time of
great need and desperation
and may our Lord Jesus
help comfort and heal all
His children in need.
And please listen to us
"oh nation of fools," little
See Letters, page 10B