By Madeline Janis. Originally published in the Los Angeles Times. September 21, 2011.
Earlier this summer, the L.A. City Council ended the fierce competition for the multimillion-dollar food concessions business at Los Angeles International Airport, awarding contracts to three food service companies that will bring a variety of new local restaurants to the airport.
President Obama threatened to veto any deficit reduction package that doesn’t include higher taxes on the wealthy. It’s a welcome sign that Obama is demanding that wealthy Americans -- that have seen their incomes and wealth increase dramatically while working families are falling further behind -- do their part.
Republicans, conservative think tanks and pundits are trotting out their standard, and getting somewhat tiresome message points about how taxes on the wealthy will be a “job killer” and that asking the wealthy to do their part for the country is somehow “class warfare.”
“No great project was every proposed in the interest of the great unorganized public that groups of wealth seeking special privilege do not oppose it with a desire to divert the benefits for their personal gain.”
By Isaac Shapiro, Economic Policy Institute. September 6, 2011.
The House Republican majority has spent much of the last year, and will likely spend much of the fall, criticizing what it considers job-killing, uncertainty-generating regulations, and holding fast to the belief that deficit reduction should not include increased taxes. In contrast, the nation’s business economists overwhelmingly think the current regulatory environment is good for the economy, dismiss the possibility that government-caused uncertainty is a major factor holding the economy back, and believe deficit-reduction should include tax hikes.
Found on Facebook. Originally submitted by Laura S.
