The Rocky Mountain Collegian

I am not surprised that this philosophy professor's answer to all of our economic issues, which I doubt he really understands, comes back to the government paying for and controlling more aspects of our lives. Point at Austria all he likes, I'm not impressed. I, too, have spent time in foreign countries where there is socialized medicine - Canadians come to the US to get the health care that they can't get at home; taxes are through the roof - in most EU countries people pay 35-50% of their income in VAT, income and property taxes and that is the middle-class. The wealthy pay more; unions are strong - during a 3 day stay in Paris I experienced 3 strikes, including airport baggage handlers, museum workers and Metro and bus employees. Tell me how that is being more productive and helping the French economy.

I am always glad to come back home to a country where I can work hard and earn a decent living and get to spend most of it as I see fit, rather than how the government sees fit. Some people in this country earn a lot more than the average, some a lot less than the average. Fair? Maybe, maybe not, but how do we know except on a one on one basis? Some people work harder, some work smarter, some get lucky, some don't want to work at all. I hear Democrats in particular saying that "it's not fair" that some people make more money than others and that it is the goverment's job to take away that maney and give it to other people who "deserve it". I think it's the government's job to facilitate people learning a trade and then learning to work to earn their own living, rather than facilitating them to sit at home waiting for their part of MY hard earned paycheck.

I did not come from even a middle-class upbringing, and at my first job after college I was earning more than my parents had made combined while I was growing up. I deserve to earn what I do, because I worked hard to learn a skill that not everyone has, and I got through school working part-time and with grants and loans that I am still paying off. Education IS the door to opportunity, government subsidy is NOT. Let's get it straight.