Comment on Glen Beck Radio Show
November 12, 2008
A few days ago, I had the interesting pleasure of listening to Glen Beck’s radio program. As usual, Mr. Beck identified a real problem.
A sensible, reasonable conservative, he explains, rather eloquently, the theory of Senior Bush and Bill Clinton, a “national/ local” version of “trickle down economics.” He noted that excess taxation of small businesses and moderately wealthy people can ultimately block the “trickle down” effect to employees and ancillary service people. He is, undoubtedly, correct and points out that Mr. Obama will, wisely, hold off on ransacking the Bush tax cuts. He suggests that Obama is letting the Free Market Capitalist System help to cure our economy before we destroy it with socialist/collectivist miscues.
Beck further points out the fact that, in New York City, certain services will have to be cut (e.g. policemen) even as the city raises taxes and funds other less important projects. As usual, the honest Mr. Beck comes close to identifying the problem and solution, but gets carried away by not studying the problem “all the way.”
Mr. Beck’s criticism of a “bullet train” in California, for instance, ignores the possibility that this “extravagance” may end up saving, literally, billions of dollars over a few years and is probably a necessity for the bankrupt state as opposed to a liberal luxury. Cutting police forces and teachers’ salaries and firefighters and many other necessities is a direct result of a useless war in Iraq. I don’t believe that Mr. Bush can be compared to the illiterate infant with soiled diapers living in the White House, the one who, Beck pointed out, “reads at the fifth grade level, but received his degree anyway.” (paraphrased)
Mr. Bush could not read the history of the Soviet Union’s War in Afghanistan, the one which bankrupted them and led to the disbanding of their empire. The minimum of 3 billion dollars that this war is costing us (by the time we pay China their interest) includes all of that money that was supposed to go not only to police, teachers and firefighters, but to curing various killer diseases and to replacing stolen social security funds. Please remember that some 90% of the money sent to Iraq has gone Halliburton, Exxon Movil, Blackwater, Bechtel and 200,00 Bush/Cheney carpetbaggers to not produce oil, to not build schools, to not rebuild the infrastructure and to not allow soldiers to do their own jobs for 1/10th the cost of the Carpetbaggers.
I cannot agree more with Mr. Beck, also, that tax credits need to be extended for economic stimuli, as opposed to tax checks- First, for the fact that charging taxpayers, say, 1200 dollars, so that they can send it to a non-taxpayer, then sending another 1200 dollars back to a taxpayer, does seem to be a fools errand, doesn’t it? Second, it also wastes a large chunk of the stimulus package for administration.
Whether I agree with Mr. Beck or not, I always enjoy his honest attempts to find the facts and to admit to them wherever they may lead.
Allen Finkelstein, D.O.