ark@alice.UUCP (Andrew Koenig) (11/05/84)
J. Peter Grace has written a book called BURNING MONEY It describes in detail how horrifyingly effective the Federal government is at taking YOUR money and throwing it down the drain. For example: The Hospital Corporation of America (I may not have the name right) is a private profit-making company that builds hospitals. It has a staff of 50 and takes an average of two years to build a hospital. The part of the Veteran's Administration that builds hospitals has a staff of eight hundred (!) and takes seven years to build a hospital. If you read this book, you will learn just how a $7 hammer costs $436 when the Navy buys it. You will also learn other things: Since 1945, per capita income has increased by a factor of 7. Taxes have increased by a factor of more than 200. "Soaking the rich" won't work. If the government decided to confiscate all income above $70,000 a year, that would increase revenues by $17 billion. Big deal. Taxes are now the largest budget item for most families. It used to be housing and food. Oh yes. The Federal government spends $40,000 a year for each poor family in the US. Why are there any poor people? The author of this book is a registered Democrat.
mjk@tty3b.UUCP (Mike Kelly) (11/09/84)
Before you read the book Andy suggests, you should read "How To Lie With Statistics." From Andy's summary of "Burning Money", it sounds like a useful primer.
simard@loral.UUCP (Ray Simard) (11/19/84)
In article <525@tty3b.UUCP> mjk@tty3b.UUCP (Mike Kelly) writes: >Before you read the book Andy suggests, >you should read "How To Lie With Statistics." >From Andy's summary of "Burning Money", it sounds like a useful primer. I may be wrong, but this looks to me like a perfect example of a knee-jerk response in defense of a locked-up position. If Andy's summary of this or some other book had been aligned with your political philosophies, I doubt very much that you'd suggest the association you do above. My suggestion is to read the book first, and if you disagree with its findings, refute them. It casts a very poor light on your other postings, past and future, to display such a willingness to reject summarily this book's findings without doing your homework first. (Incidentally, at this moment, I'm about halfway through "Burning Money". I concur with Andy's assessment.) -- [ I am not a stranger, but a friend you haven't met yet ] Ray Simard Loral Instrumentation, San Diego {ucbvax, ittvax!dcdwest}!sdcsvax!sdcc6!loral!simard ...Though we may sometimes disagree, You are still a friend to me!