The Militant - October 21, 2002 -- Letters

Vol.66/No.39 October 21, 2002

Letters

Takes issue with article on bonds
As a long-time reader and supporter of the Militant, I would like to comment on your article, "NY rulers use bonds to reap profits while they slash wages, services," in the September 23 issue. I am not a "NY ruler," but a retired schoolteacher who comes from a working-class family--all of whom were lifelong union members, like myself. I have chosen, however, to invest my savings in tax-free municipal and state bonds, rather than the stock of companies whose profits come from exploiting workers at home and abroad. In addition, I thereby avoid paying income taxes to finance various wars and other horrors sponsored by the federal government.

By investing in tax-exempt bonds, I also know, like many other working people, that my savings are being used for the operations of local and state education, housing, highways, etc., in the interests of the public. As a matter of simple fact, I have not become a millionaire from my municipal bond earnings or from any other source. If your philosophy calls for wiping me out, I hope you can understand why I cannot accede to it.

Would it not be better to advocate increased income taxes for high-income people and to attack even such people as the union leader, Dennis Rivera, who worked so hard to have taxes on cigarettes greatly increased--which mostly affects working people? Wouldn’t it be wiser to urge increased taxes for the rich and on corporations instead?

Beatrice Einhorn
New York, New York

See City bonds are not a public service

Workers killed in desert
The death penalty for workers plays itself out daily in the desert of southern Arizona. One hundred sixty-three crossed the border this last year only to die in the Tucson sector. Most came from states in central and southern Mexico. The deaths are due to U.S. immigration policy. The Southwest Border Initiative of 1994 concentrated Border Patrol agents in the busiest, largest urban corridors for border crossings. In Arizona those corridors were Nogales, then Douglas, then Naco. The areas left less guarded are the treacherous desert areas of the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation, where temperatures are in the hundreds, there are no sources of water, and entrants must travel hundreds of miles to find a road. Almost half the deaths occurred on the reservation. Since 1995, 2,000 entrants have died trying to cross the southern border.

Betsy McDonald
Tucson, Arizona

The letters column is an open forum for all viewpoints on subjects of interest to working people.
Please keep your letters brief. Where necessary they will be abridged. Please indicate if you prefer that your initials be used rather than your full name.

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