LETTERS
11/19/2009
Seeking the truth
Justin Chapman’s article, “A New Way,” is absolutely brilliant.
Actually, I wonder if the so-called mainstream media journalists take their profession so seriously. I do not see a search for the truth from them, but rather the promulgation of what amounts to state-run media messages or even propaganda. But we do have the fabulous alternatives of the Internet, radio and one cable station.
No matter what his politics are, Mr. Chapman makes a fabulous journalist, because he is seeking the truth in the best way he can find it — and that is all any of us in America ask.
~FLORA PLUMB, LOS ANGELES
Works both ways
Last night on national TV Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pleaded with the government of Iran to show compassion for the three young US citizens who may be facing charges of espionage.
It is ironic that the very same secretary of state has turned a deaf ear on the international cry for compassion for the wives of two Cuban men serving long sentences in US prisons.
Gerardo Hernandez and Rene Gonzalez were convicted of conspiracy and other related charges for monitoring the activity of known anti-Cuba terrorists in Miami. They did this to protect lives in Cuba and are heroes in their country.
Since 1998 Adriana Perez and Olga Salanueva, wives of these men, have been denied the basic human right to visit their husbands in US prisons. Thousands of postcards, petitions and letters from Nobel Prize winners, members of parliaments from all over the world, US unions, intellectuals and local elected officials have flooded the office of Hillary Clinton asking her for compassion and to grant humanitarian visas to these two Cuban women.
While calling for compassion in Iran, she should remember that humanitarian gestures go both ways.
~ALICIA JRAPKO, OAKLAND
One small step
Few Americans deny the desperate need for health care reform. One group giving members of Congress big headaches on this issue are the seniors.
When many seniors hear that some in Congress want health-care reform to be revenue neutral, (meaning the reforms will pay for themselves), they become frightened. When these same seniors hear that billions of dollars can be saved out of the projected growth of Medicare, their fears often turn to anger.
One might ask, “Why do seniors act this way?” It is because they do not hear, “revenue neutral.” They do not hear “savings.” What they hear is, “Cuts to your benefits or increased costs to you, or both.” They are afraid and angry that their benefits will be reduced while their access to important medications will be further curtailed.
People, other than seniors, hear similar, scary phrases.
“Where will the dollars come from to pay for these services if not from cutting my benefits, raising my costs, or both?”
Thinking outside the box of “acceptable” alternatives is often a good place to start. M. Brian O’Shaughnessy, co-chair of the Coalition for a Prosperous America, has suggested co-coordinating trade policy with health care reform. One possible tool would be a border adjustment tax on imported goods. The dollars generated would be used to fund the new national health care system. What does this really mean for you and your family?
In 2008, the US imported about $2.5 trillion worth of manufactured goods. We exported about $1.8 trillion worth of manufactured products. This trade deficit represents a national loss of about $700 billion. According to the US Department of Commerce, our 2009 trade deficit, as of June 30, was about $173 billion in manufactured goods. The “border adjustment tax” mentioned above should have a new name, and I am going to call it a Value Added Tax, or VAT. A VAT would raise revenue from foreign businesses and producers rather than push the tax burden onto the backs of American taxpayers.
Who has this sort of tax? Well, everyone, save for the good old USA. When US companies sell manufactured items to our English cousins, the American companies pay a VAT to London. When US corporations sell high end, (or any end for that matter), to our Chinese friends they, the US corporations, pay a VAT to Beijing. The very same story is true for France, Germany, Japan, Italy and others.
What do our trading partners do with the VAT dollars they receive? Most of those dollars help pay the costs of their social programs, which include … health care. What irony! Americans do not yet have a national health plan, but American businesses help pay the costs of such programs in wealthy Western Europe every time we sell them a manufactured item!
Most of the other nations use an 18 percent tax rate on their VAT. If the United States had used an 18 percent VAT in 2008, the treasury would have received some $450 billion. If we had used, say, a 10 percent tax rate, we would have received, from Jan.1 to June 30, 2009, some $14 billion toward health care reform. The direct cost to the American taxpayer? None.
What is holding our country back? Would our trading partners be angry with us? Maybe — but it is difficult to imagine them being too angry if we do to them just what they have been doing to us. Might this produce the ever-feared “trade war?”
Possibly, but the US is the world’s largest single market for consumer goods. Would there be a trade war if the US does what the Japanese do, but do it with a lower VAT? Not likely.
Aside from helping to pay for social programs, such as health care, are there other potential benefits to a VAT? Yes! An American VAT would certainly drive up the prices of most foreign manufactured goods by a very small amount.
This would help level the playing field in industries that have been nearly wiped out by subsidized foreign competition. Now you know about thinking outside the box. We can provide insurance to the millions that do not have it, without raising your taxes.
The Chinese have a wonderful saying: “A journey of a thousand miles starts with but one small step.” Maybe the VAT will be our “small step.”
~ART ISGUR, OAK VIEW
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