My Point of View by Alan B. Arends

I ran across one of the sayings of Will Rogers and it goes like this, “The short term memory of the American voter is what keeps politicians in office.” When we have over 60 percent of the people in this country saying we are going in the wrong direction, maybe we had better look at the people who are in office and we might need a change.

I use the Internet just about every day, and I do like it. I am thankful to the person or people who invented it and I hope that they make a lot of money for what they did. Now some providers want to develop new techniques and faster speeds for clients and they think they should get paid for their efforts. Everybody would still have the availability of the Internet, but if you were willing and able to pay for the new services, it may create an unlevel playing field for some users.

U.S. Sen. Al Franken is against paying a company for new and improved services because some people and companies will have an advantage. This type of philosophy, that everyone needs to have a level playing field, is definitely a disincentive to discover new things or to work harder to get ahead.

There are things about the Affordable Care Act I just do not understand. In 2010 there were 49 million uninsured Americans. There were only 7 million who signed up for insurance in 2013 and 5 million of those received a subsidy. How can this be called successful and at what cost?

Under the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies are going to be required to pay out 85 percent of premiums for services. How is this going to bring more efficiency and lower costs? It means the more insurance companies can charge the more money they will have.

Franken thinks this will lower health costs? Most small employers (less than 50 people) are seeing their health insurance costs increase by 40 to 60 percent. This is something they cannot afford and many are dropping their group insurance requiring their employees to buy their insurance on the open market.

What was once a benefit paid by the employer as a tax-deductible expense is now being paid by the employee with after-tax dollars. This definitely is a tax on the hard working lower and middle income people in our country and Franken and state Rep. Shannon Savick are for this.

We are only beginning to see the detrimental effects of their policies. We want a vibrant economy with a lot of good-paying jobs. We want people off the government welfare check and on the private sector payroll. We want balanced budgets where we don’t hand off big government deficits that will have to be paid by our children and grandchildren. Yet both Franken and Savick are for increasing taxes and placing more stifling, unreasonable regulations on the private sector.

Here are some ideas that could be considered and may help the private sector again become the economic engine that makes this a great country. First, lower corporate taxes, so that they can be competitive with other countries.

Give them incentives to eliminate their tax by paying their employees higher wages. Any employer that paid a minimum wage equal to the poverty level, which is about $40,000 per year or $20 per hour, would have zero taxes to pay.

Second, bring the $1.7 trillion that businesses have in foreign countries here with zero tax withheld. Let that money work here providing for more and better jobs.

Third, create incentives for doctors and hospitals to provide better lower cost health care. Reward them to set up clinics that promote better lifestyles, so that we can cut down on obesity and diabetes and increase physical activity level.

I, too, believe we are headed in the wrong direction and that my grandchildren will not be able to live the lifestyle I have been able to enjoy. We do need taxes and regulations, but big government and high taxes put the politician in charge of our lives and we become nothing but puppets waiting for our check from the government.

 

Albert Lea resident Alan B. Arends is a member of the Freeborn County Republican Party.