Re: “Billionaires: World is richer for their innovations” [Dec. 14, Northwest Voices]:
The letter writer apparently assumes that all people protesting income inequality want all wealth to be distributed evenly across all households. This is false. Capitalism is about wealth maximization. However, billionaire CEOs have created a system that privatizes their profits and socializes the losses.
How many tax breaks do they get? What happens to communities when large companies close a plant or move? Do they provide help to communities when they leave? Our country provides the infrastructure and security that is vital for businesses to succeed. Could these billionaires amass such wealth elsewhere? The question must be how much wealth is too much.
Providing subsidies should no longer be considered an undeserved handout. It is a new reality that rising costs are becoming impossible to pay. A subsidy that baby boomers enjoyed was the federal and state governments paying 75% of tuition. My husband worked full-time throughout his college career. It took him 10 years to get his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering, but he benefited from the subsidized tuition of the time and earned enough to pay his portion while going to school. Subsidies will never make people rich, but it might keep them in the workforce and provide stability.
Kathleen Sidwell, Seattle