Tax aversion sending country into gutter
The most recent food scare over eggs is just the latest example of the result of four decades of the rabid deregulatory anti-government, anti-tax mania that has gripped this country since the passage of Jarvis-Gann.
Starting with St. Ronnie and embraced by every subsequent president, it has led to the hollowing out of the nation. As we spend $1 trillion a year on defense, there is less and less to defend. Jobs have vanished along with the middle class. We are now an economy of burger flippers, clerks and cashiers. Those good paying jobs are not going to return soon.
I don't ever recall any national food scares or recalls growing up in the 1950s when the government did its job to ensure the safety of the food supply, and effectively regulated so much of the rest of a prosperous economy, and when the top tax rate was 90 percent.
To listen to those who controlled the purse strings for so many years starting in 1995 - who were so absolutely profligate when they had the checkbook - scream about the deficit and debt is hypocrisy on steroids.
We watched as our leaders committed war crimes that would shame any people, and continue to this day. We follow policies that will bring blowback of unknown proportion.
As our infrastructure crumbles around us, we still decry taxes as the bane of existence. If there were a Nobel prize for stupidity the U.S. would win, unanimously.
Vince Coyle
Carson City
Billionaires' charity could be the answer
I heard on the TV that Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and others of the Forbes' Richest list are considering giving away half of their riches to charity. Since they made their fortunes in the United States, consider the old adage, "Charity begins at home," and give it to the United States Treasury Department to lower the deficit.
As President J.F. Kennedy said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."
Wouldn't it be wonderful to have America on a sound footing?
Nola Schroer
Carson City