Charles Davenport is a schmuck!

Here is the link to Charles Davenport's recent article in the Greensboro News-Record

http://www.news-record.com/content/2009/04/17/article/charles_devportjr_where_s_the_outrage#nrcBlk_ArtComments

Here is my response:

In his recent editorial to your newspaper, Charles Davenport Jr. asks’ where's the outrage?’ over the Tax-and-spend government, which 'defies the law'. I will save the Constitutionality of health care reform and Davenport's other concerns of the 'Nanny State' for another day, but I will say this: 'promote the general welfare' is in the preamble to the Constitution. Health care reform is crucial to the overall health of our nation's economy, because like education, health care is by nature becoming more expensive relative to the cost of other goods in our economy.

So, the top 1 percent pays 39 percent of all federal income taxes. This is true. However Davenport and others who throw this out are being intellectually dishonest when they don't discuss the following salient points: the reason why the richest one percent pay 39 percent of all federal income taxes is because their incomes have more than tripled since 1979. Who would Davenport have pay more taxes, someone whose real income has risen by 1.2 million dollars, or someone whose income has risen by one thousand dollars, all the way up to $17,200 such as the bottom quintile? The fact of the matter is, the effective tax rate for the richest one percent has actually decreased nearly 6% since 1979. Tax cut for the rich long overdue? Mr. Davenport, it's already happened, but I'm guessing you know that, given your familiarity with CBO data.

In my work, I serve people in the bottom 20% of the economic ladder every day, and they are anything but 'slothful' or 'indolent'. May Davenport and others who disagree with me never have to choose between taking their child to the doctor for needed care or going to work to get a full paycheck, so gas for their twenty year old car can be purchased and the light bill can get paid in their rented single-wide, or the scores of other harsh decisions poor families face on a daily basis.

What I am concerned about is you don't see the top 5% at these 'Tea Parties'; it is those who stand to benefit from Obama's tax proposed tax policy. So, why do these 'Tea Party' participants continue to support policies against their own economic best interests? I think I know, but that, too, I will save for another day.