Spokane7
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February 10, 2012 in Opinion
Letters
Dream of job creation
The current political fervor over class warfare, vulture capitalism, paying your fair share, 99 percent vs. the 1 percent, capital gains vs. earned income, and Occupy everywhere, all under the mantra of social justice, is as dangerous to our American way of life as the Cold War ever was. Lenin and Mao used this same rhetoric very effectively and succeeded in their desired result, which was to make everybody equally poor!
I would like to challenge every American to take a moment this week and look at your paycheck. Unless you work for the federal, state or local government, the name in the upper left corner represents an individual, a company, a partnership, or a corporation representing a group of shareholders that invested money and took a risk to try and make a profit. And, by doing so, they created the job that you have and are being paid to perform.
If, in the name of social justice, you want to bring them down, then you must consider yourself a socialist. Rather, the real American dream should be to work smart and get your name in the upper left corner. The choice is yours.
Randall W. Babin
Wallace
Great grades for CV
Recently the Central Valley School District sent out a newsletter to keep our community informed and involved. We read with interest about the many recent achievements of the district. To name a just a few:
• Recognized in the top 5 percent of highest performing districts in Washington state.
• A high school graduation rate of 88.5 percent.
• A state audit report of financial records with six consecutive years of no findings.
• State Patrol bus inspection with a pass rate of 98.8 percent.
• Reducing waste garbage fees with a cafeteria composting program.
• Students working to support Spokane Valley Partners with food and cash donations.
The communiqué went on to provide information on a forthcoming request for a three-year operations/ replacement levy. After reading about the district’s many significant contributions to our students and community, it made us appreciate just how fortunate we are to have such quality schools educating our children.
CVSD continues to excel even with reduced financial and staffing resources.
Congratulations to the students, staff and administration of Central Valley schools. Count on our vote of confidence for you in the February vote. We encourage the voters of our entire community to do the same.
Jay and Kay Walter
Greenacres
Vote yes for the levy
Having volunteered in Central Valley schools for the past seven years, I have been overwhelmed by the devoted teachers and staff. They work countless hours, well beyond the workday, to instill a love for learning and find new ways to inspire young minds. How could we even consider shortchanging our children and their teachers with further budget cuts?
This is not an additional tax, as some would have us believe. The levy simply allows the schools to function at their current level. Please vote yes for the levy.
Marianne Kartchner
Greenacres
Trudy Rubin: Egyptians say no to Islamists 
jimvw2 on February 10 at 7:04 a.m.
Re: Dream of Job Creation
So if I get Mr. Babin’s point, concern for justice and fairness is a precursor for communist dictatorship.
So I guess a passion for individual freedom an opportunity must be a precursor for fascism, right?
The facts are the facts. Since the Reagan administration, tax policy and trade policy have destroyed the manufacturing sector and unions in this country and the result has been an unprecedented transfer of wealth from wage earners to investors.
And when he looks at the upper left corner of his paycheck, he should understand that a good portion of the risk-taking to generate that corporate profit came from the retirement funds of government workers who invest their “socialized” block of funds in mutual funds and direct equity that fund most U.S. businesses.
In short, Mr. Babin, we are all in this together, public/private, union/non-union, worker/manager/investor. But we are not all sharing in the reward from our risk taking.
And you would do well to remember the words of Abraham Lincoln, a liberal Republican and founder of the party that now castigates workers for demanding some fairness in our economic system.
Lincoln said, “Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is superior to capital and deserves much the higher consideration.”
Defending the abuse of working Americans on some false hope that we can all be one per centers or that we somehow owe our incomes to vultures like Romney is where the Republican party has landed after 30 years of Reaganomics.
The fact that America’s working people are waking up to this fraud and demanding some justice in the rules we all must operate under is not a precursor to communism. It’s really a very hopeful sign that we are ready to reclaim our birthright and put capitalists back in service to this country instead of their stateless boards of directors.
As a citizen and an investor in America’s businesses through my retirement and investment accounts I expect justice and fairness in the system or the system needs to be rebuilt…and quickly.