To The Editor:
When rich conservatives start complaining about high public school costs or about high local taxes it sort of irritates me. Wages as an aspect of the distribution of goods and services have gone down drastically for most Americans since Ronald Reagan's presidency.
Minimum wage would be $25 per hour if it had kept up with our productivity but because rich corporate employers were so greedy they kept wages low so their pay would go up. Also, they cut their own taxes from 70 percent to 30 percent and now they can't understand why we can't afford our schools or infrastructure rebuilding.
They say that people who can barely survive on 10 bucks per hour aren't paying enough taxes. And they complain, "Oh poor me! I cut the federal income tax and now my local taxes have gone up in response." What a surprise. The conservative rich amaze me with their unmitigated ignorance of economy and history.
So my point here is this, if rich conservatives will go out and support a national minimum wage of even $15 per hour and support even a 10 percent rise in the top income tax bracket, then I can somewhat support the need to make the schools more efficient.
But until they show some consistency and humanity in their complaints about the poor little rich people who have to pay oh so much to live in Vermont, their hypocritical whining reeks of self-serving greed and lacks any sense of logic or humanity.
P.S. Mr. Simon, of course, you don't get to vote here just because you're rich enough to have two houses, one in a resort area with wonderful schools. Like the good capitalists say, if you don't like it vote with your feet. There are plenty of buyers to take your place.
Robin Lehman
Warren
