Bruce F. Simmeth – 3/18/07

This page was last updated on March 18, 2007.

Spending cuts hurt the poor; Bruce F. Simmeth; Beaver County Times; March 18, 2007.

The letter identifies the author as Executive Director of United Way of Beaver County.

This is the at least the fourth letter from Mr. Simmeth since June 2005 lobbying for more government redistribution of income/wealth. If you look at my previous critiques of his letters (here and here), you’ll find Mr. Simmeth tends to overstate alleged cuts and requests huge increases. In one case, Mr. Simmeth appeared to request a spending increase of from five to 10 times. In January 2006, Mr. Simmeth wanted federal taxpayers to increase their funding of the Low Income Heating Assistance Program (LIHEAP) by $2,000,000,000. I did not critique that letter (“Hike LIHEAP funding”; January 24, 2006) and it is no longer on the Times website.

While I applaud Mr. Simmeth’s efforts to help the less fortunate among us, I oppose the use of taxpayer dollars to fund any of these efforts. It’s wrong to take income from one person and give it to another, regardless of good intentions.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“A recent Associated Press analysis showed that the welfare state is bigger than ever, despite a decade of policies that were designed to move our poor citizens off of public assistance programs.

“Several programs for the poor, including Medicaid, food stamps and disability benefits, have many new enrollees. Although millions of former welfare recipients have been moved from welfare to work, the vast majority have been forced into low-paying jobs without benefits and with few opportunities to advance.”

[RWC] Note the language. “Former welfare recipients … have been forced into low-paying jobs …” No one forced anyone into a low-paying job. If the “former welfare recipients” had been qualified for better paying jobs, they would have gone into them. Does Mr. Simmeth recommend people stay on welfare indefinitely until someone is willing to overpay them?

“Despite the millions of our citizens who are living either near or below the poverty level, we continue to see budget proposals from the Bush administration that would continue the past freezes and cuts in domestic spending.”

[RWC] Please read the following papers for a discussion of poverty in the U.S.

Understanding Poverty in America (Backgrounder #1713); Robert E. Rector and Kirk A. Johnson, Ph.D.; The Heritage Foundation; January 5, 2004.

Poverty and Inequality; The Heritage Foundation; August 25, 2004.

The Data on Poverty and Health Insurance You’re Not Reading (WebMemo #556); Kirk A. Johnson, Ph.D.; The Heritage Foundation; August 27, 2004.

“For example, the administration’s proposed budget would eliminate entirely the Commodity Supplemental Food Program and Community Development Block Grants as well as significantly reduce funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program and the Social Services Block Grant.

“These continued funding reductions in domestic programming causes incredible stress for our local nonprofit agencies as well as for state and local government.

“Now is the time to call or write our two U.S. senators and our representative in the House of Representatives in order to express our concerns regarding the impact on our local communities of these proposed funding reductions in domestic programming.

“I also urge you to support the United Way of Beaver County’s campaign on behalf of our 21 member agencies. Our agencies continue to do all that they can to maintain important programs on behalf of their clients in the face of these continuing major cuts in domestic funding.

“On behalf of the United Way and its 21 member agencies, we thank county residents for their ongoing support.”