Wealthy pay their own way

Mr. Pete Scobby’s May 22 letter (“American dream’s a fantasy”) is an un-American, leftist diatribe, castigating the rich as “parasites” because they receive tax breaks. (He names General Electric and Exxon in this regard but fails to include the massive, union-supported General Motors bailout.) He does not recognize that his despised rich invariably educated themselves, worked, saved, probably lived frugally and invested in order to ensure their future.

My concept of a parasite is very different. Are not those who deliberately live beyond their means, are unemployed while assuming the government has an obligation to support them, who fail to provide for the future but claim a right to that which the “rich” have accumulated, drug abusers and criminals, the illegals who occupy our schools, hospitals and jails, or any who claim an entitlement to a standard of living they have not earned the true parasites?

If Mr. Scobby is employed, it is probably because the “rich” invested in his employer. If he is not working, but lives off others’ tax dollars, then who is the parasite?

George A. Bratina

Spokane