CONG. ROSKAM NEEDS DETOUR ON ROADMAP TO RUIN
April 21, 2011
Congressman Peter Roskam
150 S. Bloomingdale Road, Suite 200
Bloomingdale, IL 60108
Dear Congressman Roskam,
Your latest email blast “Did you hear about Rep. Paul Ryan’s Path to Prosperity?” begs the question: “Who’s Prosperity?”
It certainly isn’t that of the middle class or the needy. Rep. Ryan’s roadmap demands trillions of dollars in cuts to health services and medicare, environmental protection, infrastructure rebuilding and education, all to pay for trillions in tax cuts for the super rich.
Rep. Ryan and your vision of government, as one of the rich, by the rich and for the rich, is a radical one which will dismantle the enormous middle class I grew up in during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Working at good jobs for the past 43 years thanks to the benefits that middle class gave me, I contributed steadily to the social security and medicare programs I am now drawing on. Those were programs which alleviated economic suffering for both my parents who began their working life at the beginning of social security in 1935, and finished their working life half way through Medicare’s second decade in 1979.
Sadly, 1979 marked the zenith of that great American middle class, built by entrepreneurs paying a 92% tax rate in 1952, who didn’t let high tax rates keep them from creating tens of millions of GOOD middle class jobs. These programs remind us of the highest purpose of government – to uplift and care for the entire society based on a fair and equitable taxation system.
That middle class began to disintegrate in the early 1980’s when the super rich decided that even the 70% upper income tax rate at that time was too great to bear. Voila, utterly forgetting recent history, they created the myth that even that reasonable rate cost jobs. So they dropped the rate to 50% in 1982 under President Reagan and down to 35% under President Bush in 2003. The result? Millions of jobs disappeared overseas, virtually overnight, while the upper 10% of the rich increased their wealth enormously at the expense of everyone else.
Now your new superhero Rep. Ryan is proposing trillions more in unconscionable tax cuts, down to 25% for wealthy individuals and corporations to feed their insatiable thirst for unlimited wealth. Rep. Ryan’s plan may have passed the House with the help of your vote, but it’s Dead On Arrival in the Senate, not to mention a certain Presidential veto. Ryan may have more to worry about than failing to destroy the middle class. Rob Zerban, small business owner and Kenosha, WI county supervisor, will be challenging Ryan in 2012, in a state where the middle class is newly energized by Governor Scott Walker’s clumsy and heartless effort to abolish public workers’ collective bargaining rights.
Congressman, your Path to Prosperity is simply a Roadmap to Ruin. You should turn your eyes around, look deep into your heart and your soul, and contemplate taking a detour.
Respectfully yours,
Walt Zlotow
IL Sixth District Resident
Congressman Peter Roskam
150 S. Bloomingdale Road, Suite 200
Bloomingdale, IL 60108
Dear Congressman Roskam,
Your latest email blast “Did you hear about Rep. Paul Ryan’s Path to Prosperity?” begs the question: “Who’s Prosperity?”
It certainly isn’t that of the middle class or the needy. Rep. Ryan’s roadmap demands trillions of dollars in cuts to health services and medicare, environmental protection, infrastructure rebuilding and education, all to pay for trillions in tax cuts for the super rich.
Rep. Ryan and your vision of government, as one of the rich, by the rich and for the rich, is a radical one which will dismantle the enormous middle class I grew up in during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Working at good jobs for the past 43 years thanks to the benefits that middle class gave me, I contributed steadily to the social security and medicare programs I am now drawing on. Those were programs which alleviated economic suffering for both my parents who began their working life at the beginning of social security in 1935, and finished their working life half way through Medicare’s second decade in 1979.
Sadly, 1979 marked the zenith of that great American middle class, built by entrepreneurs paying a 92% tax rate in 1952, who didn’t let high tax rates keep them from creating tens of millions of GOOD middle class jobs. These programs remind us of the highest purpose of government – to uplift and care for the entire society based on a fair and equitable taxation system.
That middle class began to disintegrate in the early 1980’s when the super rich decided that even the 70% upper income tax rate at that time was too great to bear. Voila, utterly forgetting recent history, they created the myth that even that reasonable rate cost jobs. So they dropped the rate to 50% in 1982 under President Reagan and down to 35% under President Bush in 2003. The result? Millions of jobs disappeared overseas, virtually overnight, while the upper 10% of the rich increased their wealth enormously at the expense of everyone else.
Now your new superhero Rep. Ryan is proposing trillions more in unconscionable tax cuts, down to 25% for wealthy individuals and corporations to feed their insatiable thirst for unlimited wealth. Rep. Ryan’s plan may have passed the House with the help of your vote, but it’s Dead On Arrival in the Senate, not to mention a certain Presidential veto. Ryan may have more to worry about than failing to destroy the middle class. Rob Zerban, small business owner and Kenosha, WI county supervisor, will be challenging Ryan in 2012, in a state where the middle class is newly energized by Governor Scott Walker’s clumsy and heartless effort to abolish public workers’ collective bargaining rights.
Congressman, your Path to Prosperity is simply a Roadmap to Ruin. You should turn your eyes around, look deep into your heart and your soul, and contemplate taking a detour.
Respectfully yours,
Walt Zlotow
IL Sixth District Resident
posted by Walt Zlotow at 5:58 PM
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