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TygrBright

(20,733 posts)
Mon Apr 8, 2013, 04:36 PM Apr 2013

Dear President Obama- I'm happy to do my part.

I agree with you, we all need to try to live on less. Although I'm a member of the "99%" in America, I recognize that my modest prosperity and good fortune place me well into the top bracket considered as a citizen of the world.

America and other wealthy industrialized nations have for far too long consumed a disproportionate share of the world's resources, and have done so in a reckless, selfish, hedonistic fashion that is truly indefensible. In light of the misery experienced by untold millions for want of the simplest things I take for granted, it seems selfish and grotesque for me to complain about how the Federal Government will be managing and disbursing the retirement savings my spouse and I have trusted to you for many decades.

So, fine. I'm willing to do my part.

I'll be even MORE careful than I already am to not let my living expenses go up. I can't promise to switch to cheap, calorie-dense, nutrition-barren, industrially-produced foodlike substances, but it won't hurt me to skip a meal now and then, or forgo a few treats. I'll do my best.

However, I'd just like to be reassured that I and others like me aren't the only ones trying to move this mountain. So I'm assuming that if I'm willing to accept a lower return on the retirement savings I entrusted to Social Security, I won't be alone. I'd like to be assured that proportional cuts will be made in:

Military weapons research, development, and acquisition programs
Overseas military deployments and bases
All contracts to all private sector military contractors
Privatized prisons
Subsidies that benefit big business- in fact, all forms of corporate welfare, especially tax credits for offshoring jobs

I's like to be assured, too, that you and the Federal Government will be doing your best to raise revenues, including:

Strict enforcement of corporate tax codes
No more "sweetheart" price breaks for federal land and resource exploitation by extraction companies
A stringent audit program for individual income tax filings by everyone with a net worth greater than half a billion dollars
And more... I'm sure you can think of a few.

Finally, while I hate to back-seat drive, since I'm going to be making some sacrifices here I'd like to have a little bit of say in how the results will be used. I'd like to know that the money raised by millions of middle-class retirees making sacrifices will not be spent on stupid military adventurism and crony capitalism. I'd prefer to see it go to:

Re-building our infrastructure using sustainable, environmentally-friendly models
Re-creating a quality, equitable, universally-accessible PUBLIC education system
Re-designing (and implementing) the health care system to actually <gasp> provide quality health care, affordably, to everyone.

Do you think you can manage this?

If so, I got your back. I'm cool with the whole "sacrifice" thing.

If not, not so much.

Please answer soonest. I'm concerned, but hopeful.

apprehensively,
Bright

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Dear President Obama- I'm happy to do my part. (Original Post) TygrBright Apr 2013 OP
Very well said. annabanana Apr 2013 #1
Right there with you on this one, my dear Bright... CaliforniaPeggy Apr 2013 #2
I've sacrificed far more than my fair share. Time for the big boys to pony up. kestrel91316 Apr 2013 #3
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