It's not surprising. We've all had help from the government. I got a good public high school education, a free ride to a state university -- now that I have money, I give some back. I would not have been able to do everything I've done without the postal service, Amtrak, the federal highway system, air traffic controllers... Shit, if it weren't for the fire department, the office where I got my start in 1997 would've burned down in 1998 (the building two doors down burned to the ground but the FD put it out before it spread further).
And now that I'm running my own business, it's helpful that I'm not paying income taxes on money I use for business expenses, including paying people who do work for me. Not sure that as a startup I could afford to operate without that. And god knows how much I now use the subway to get to meetings, and I'm happy that stimulus money is being used to start a subway line up Second Avenue (finally!) to alleviate the zoo that is the Lexington Avenue line... I only wish they'd put even more money to make it happen more quickly and get more people to work.
And man, I know I've worked hard, but I have had so many 50-50 breaks that could've ruined me but instead made me more successful.
Why on earth shouldn't I be willing to put money back into the system so it continue to help not just other people, but myself as well, and give a little more security to people who end up on the wrong side of those 50-50 situations? We know that Mitt arranged his life so that he couldn't possibly be anything but superduperultrawealthy, even if he failed, in ways that don't seem terribly kosher. Why shouldn't we at least make sure that other people can take risks without ending up destitute?
-Z |
