This page was last updated on December 7, 2010.
Congress must not cut aid to needy; Bruce F. Simmeth, Executive director - United Way of Beaver County; Beaver County Times; December 5, 2010. Though the letter appeared on the Times website December 5th, it didn’t appear in the print edition until December 7th.
This is the at least the 11th 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, here, here, here, here, here, 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.
“I understand that Congress is considering reducing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps.
“My concern is that Congress is considering this cutback despite the sharp rise in poverty caused by the recession. A recent Gallup Poll found that 18-20 percent of Americans said they didn’t have enough money for food at some time during the past 12 months.
“Although we strongly favor the passage of the Reauthorization Child Nutrition Act, we don’t feel that it should be largely paid for by a reduction in SNAP, which many Americans depend on to put food on the table.”
[RWC] Who is “we?” In this letter, Mr. Simmeth mixes “I,”, “my,” and “we.” Is “we” United Way of Beaver County?
“We also favor the extension of the Federal Unemployment Insurance Program on behalf of the millions of Americans who depend on these benefits because they lost their jobs due to the recession. I urge Congress to continue to treat the extended benefits as emergency spending so that they don’t require either increased revenues or savings cuts to pay for them.”
[RWC] In case you missed it, in the last sentence Mr. Simmeth wrote he’s is OK with increasing our debt to pay for his handouts ultimately paid for by you.
“I would also remind Congress that one of the strengths of America is the compassion and concern that we show our fellow citizens who are going through difficult times by providing them with a safety net of support services until they have the opportunity to find steady employment.”
[RWC] There is nothing compassionate about the government taking from one family’s paycheck to give to someone who didn’t earn it. There is nothing altruistic or charitable about telling government to rob from Peter to pay Paul. Compassion is when a person freely chooses to use his own paycheck to help someone in need.
© 2004-2010 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.