[PEN-L:33223] Re: Re: Bush Administration On The Poor: Pay More Taxes!

[Bill Lear <rael@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thursday, December 19, 2002 at 09:32:34 (-0500) Ellen Frank writes:
>But shouldn't living standards be determined by
>what people contribute?  And shouldn't people who
>contribute more get more?  Rather than being
>penalized for their hard work and success?

So you are saying Ken Lay deserves what he gets and the janitors that
clean his office deserve what they get, even if the janitors "work
hard" and don't "succeed"?  How much of Ken Lay's "success" is due to
structural factors that favor the dishonest and greedy, that promote
those born with a silver spoon in their mouth?  What percentage of the
"successful" actually had to work their way up from the bottom?  Are
you saying nurses deserve what they get, and doctors, who have the
political power to lobby to reduce competition and thus enhance their
"success" by artificial means, also deserve what they get?  Does Bill
Gates deserve to have more money than a million people (or more) at
the bottom combined because he happened to roll the dice and get a
lucky break?  How much of success is due to factors other than "hard
work"?  I think if you look into it, there are many other things ---
among them dishonesty, greed, ruthlessness, and privilege --- which
contribute greatly to "success".

If your students can't argue their way out of a paper bag, you need to
help them.  Leaving simplistic formulations that equate "hard work"
with "success" is foolish.  You have to get behind these very extreme
abstractions and do the hard work of examining actual cases of
"success" and "failure".  A very different picture emerges out of this
effort than the one that makes a moral giant of Ken Lay and a runt of
"his" janitors.


Bill