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Complaints of 'unfairness' overlook economic realities

Re: It's not class warfare, it's just unfair, June 10.

The unfair world as described by Molly Ivins seems to ignore some realities. For example, it seems when the super-rich get richer, it does not mean you and I must get poorer. Usually it means we have better products, better services, more luxuries and a host of new and improved market choices.

It also seems to be a reality that it is easier to make a million dollars when one already has millions in the bank. This is not a conspiracy; it is just a real-world incentive for those who desire wealth to earn money and invest wisely.

It also seems a reality that a well-designed tax cut tends to cause the economy to grow, which means more people pay more taxes, thereby increasing total tax revenues. But it is also true that tax cuts tend to go to those who actually pay taxes. This is not a scheme to favor those with large incomes; rather, it just happens that income taxes tend to be paid by those who have incomes.

If Molly Ivins really wants the economic classes to pay the same or similar percentages of their incomes in taxes, it would seem she surely is supportive of a flat tax. So what are the chances Ivins and her ilk will support a flat tax or some sort of fair tax? Now we face yet another reality: The chances are nil. It is up to you and me to ponder why.

Re: It's not just class warfare, it's just unfair.

The number of households has increased 27 percent since 1980. Over the same time period, the number of households with more than $10-million has increased more than 400 percent to 338,400 families. This is bad news?

What do the rich do with their money? They either spend it or invest it, generating more jobs.

While it is unfair that the rich might pay a lower tax rate, it is counterproductive if they pay a substantially higher tax rate.

Bible knowledge is essential

Re: Bible is the foundation of U.S. culture, June 10.

As David Gelernter points out in his article, we are raising a generation of young people so profoundly ignorant of the Bible that they are no longer able to comprehend much of our literature and the history of Western civilization.

I have been an English teacher and a Bible teacher for many years. I can assure you that without a working knowledge of the Bible, students will fail to adequately grasp many of the most significant writings in our cultural heritage. Allusions to the Bible are deeply imbedded in such works as Moby Dick, The Scarlet Letter, Paradise Lost and Pilgrim's Progress, not to mention the writings of William Shakespeare, Feodor Dostoevski, William Blake and countless others.

I wish I could say that at least the churches are making up for the lack of Bible knowledge, but I see little evidence of that. I teach Bible to adults from many denominations, and I am amazed at how little they know about the Bible, even after years of listening to sermons. Perhaps it is time for more churches to teach the Bible systematically instead of entertaining their congregations with funny stories and unedifying psycho-babble.

Distinctions in teaching religion

Much of the current discussion regarding "teaching religion in the public schools" fails to make the important distinction between the language about religion and the language of religion. The former is now taught in our public colleges and university departments of religion. It deals with religion as an essential part of the literature and cultures of both the West and the East. What is not and should not be in the curriculum is the language of religion: courses that treat the biblical text as sacred and literal and amount to a kind of "religious instruction." The key is having faculty who know the difference.

Until we have secondary school faculty qualified to teach religion as an academic discipline perhaps it is best to leave "religious instruction" to religious institutions and the family.

Community-based care still elusive

Re: Hope for community-based care, June 4.

The Florida Health and Human Services Board, whose major purpose is to "put community into community-based care," is as pleased as the St. Petersburg Times to see that the Safe Children Coalition of Pasco and Pinellas has, as you put it, "restored a sense of optimism that maybe - just maybe - child welfare privatization will yield lasting success this time around." Alas, our optimism is not nearly as high as yours. Here are some of the reasons.

To be successful, community-based care for abused or neglected children must intimately involve a wide range of civilian organizations, not just those "stakeholders" that are under contract to provide the services. Such community involvement has not been achieved in Pinellas, Pasco, Manatee or Hillsborough counties.

The report card that gives the Pinellas coalition a high "B" for overall performance is based on evaluations by the contracting agency, the Department of Children and Families, hardly an unbiased body. There has been no independent evaluation of any "community-based care" efforts in Florida.

Granted, things are very likely better in Pinellas County now that the Sarasota Family YMCA has assumed the contract. But Sarasota Family YMCA is not really a Pinellas or Pasco community agency. It is a Sarasota County agency chosen by DCF to assume the Pinellas-Pasco contract because, in the view of DCF, it had done a good job in its own community.

What we have in many Florida counties is a system of lead agencies that sub-contract to other agencies that actually provide the services that have been provided for years to children and families.

What is needed is an independent evaluation of community-based care. Such a review will find that we are not close to meeting the criteria for a truly community-based system. We don't even meet the standards set up in Florida Statutes 20.196. More information can be found on the Web site of the Florida Health and Human Services Board (http://www.fhhsb.org)

The no Wal-Mart challenge

Re: Tense annual meeting awaits Wal-Mart, by Robert Trigaux, June 3.

Do I remember when Wal-Mart began there were signs everywhere stating that everything there was made in America? Robert Trigaux brought to my attention that Wal-Mart now urges suppliers to have their wares made overseas by cheaper labor.

I live in a tiny town, Sun City Center, where Wal-Mart is by far the only place to find items from office supplies to sewing needs.

I do love a challenge, and have decided to see how much money I can not spend at Wal-Mart. With proper planning I can make it to Brandon, Tampa or Sarasota often enough to satisfy my needs. Thank you, Mr. Trigaux.

[Last modified June 14, 2005, 01:24:19]