logicus@ssc-vax.UUCP (James Cameron) (03/23/84)
J. Lipiano shows an incredible amount of ignorance and arrogance in his note on taxes. He accuses Roosevelt, Johnson and Reagan of being "self serving wise old men" for their introduction of social security, Medicaid, Medicare and, in the case of Reagan, higher taxes due to defense. First of all, if Mr. Lipiano were better informed, he would know that under Reagan, inspite of defense spending, income taxes have fallen. This is one reason we have the deficits we do. I find it difficult to understand how someone could not be aware of this. Second, Mr. Lipiano shows absolutely no appreciation of the Depression years in this country, and why Social Security was brought into being. Similarly, he shows no appreciation of the reason Medicaid or Medicare were brought into being. All he decries is his lower standard of living now because of these programs. Who is self serving? Evidently, Mr. Lipiano feels he is owed something in this society and, moreover, has no obligations to anything or anyone but himself. He strikes me as being typical of so many "college educated" people of the post Vietnam era. He is ignorant of much of the world around him, he has little knowledge of this country's or other countries' pasts and, finally, is pretty much wrapped up with his standard of living.