Those who criticize the Tea Party need to be sure of their facts. The letter in the Oct. 13 issue [of the Town Crier] is a good example of this failing.
To go through all of the purported facts in the letter would be well beyond 400 words. So, I will demonstrate its fallacy with the misdirected statement that “More than 50 million Americans are without health insurance.”
The facts are that:
- 9.6 million or 19.2 percent of the 50 million earn more than $75,000 a year and can easily afford healthcare;
- 8.8 million or 18 percent earn $50,000 to $75,000 and for them it may be a stretch, but it is within reach.
Unfortunately, Obamacare will increase their health care costs by 10 to 13 percent.
- 9.5 million or 19 percent of the 50 million are noncitizens and will not be covered.
- 14.1 million or 28 percent earn between $25,000 and $50,000. Many of these have health care available from their employer.
- 8 million people or 16.1 percent of the 50 million earn less than $25,000.
Assuming health care is needed for anyone earning less than $50,000, that is only 7 percent of our total population. Does the entire country require an expensive, ultimately one-size-fits-all health care program?
The Tea Party thinks not.
The Tea Party knows that there are more effective and much less costly methods to provide health care to those in need.
It’s not simply a question of defeating President Obama. It’s, do we need European socialism? Do we need a Keynesian government-controlled economic
system or a market-driven economic system that stems from writings of F.A. Hayek’s and Ludwig von Mises’s Austrian school of economics?
Since the government’s Keynesian economic policies have failed for the last three years and will continue to do so, the answers to the above questions are obvious.
C. Robert Ferguson,
Idyllwild/Claremont
