Paul Buchheit writes for Buzzflash at Truthout:
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses…I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” These words, from poet Emma Lazarus, were inscribed on the Statue of Liberty over 100 years ago. Today the golden door has a lock on it, paid for with record profits from the health care, education and financial industries.
- We’re Near the Bottom of the Developed World in Children’s Health and Safety
- We’ve Betrayed the Young People Who Were Advised to Stay in School
- The Main Source of Middle-Class Wealth Has Been Largely Wiped Out
- We Give Prison Sentences for Smoking Marijuana, but Not for Billion-Dollar Fraud
- You Can Have Health Care, If You Pay for It
Conclusion
Privatization simply hasn’t worked for health care, mortgage banking, higher education, or prison management. There is little incentive for profit-motivated firms to invest in disadvantaged or underemployed Americans. That’s why taxes are necessary – to provide for the common good, and to return some of the gains from 60 years of productivity to the great majority of Americans who contributed to our growth. Unfortunately, the golden door on the Statue of Liberty seems to have an invisible hand holding it shut.
Read the complete article with further information about each point at BuzzFlash.
A Celebration of Reading 