Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

letter to the editor:

Koch brothers are doing us wrong

In his inevitable fashion, Sen. Harry Reid is right again. He was spot on when he said former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney didn’t pay income taxes for 10 years.

We learned that Romney claimed his income as “deferred income” and deposited it directly into his $100 million IRA. Most Americans don’t have that advantage and are subject to a yearly maximum on IRA contributions. Most Americans can’t claim all of their income as “deferred”; that perk is reserved for the wealthy.

Reid is right about the Koch brothers’ intentions to control our country and its citizens.

The GOP and the Koch brothers are trying to repeal or neuter legislation that protects workers, middle-class citizens, the elderly and the needy. The legislation in question addresses discrimination, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, public education, unions, unemployment benefits, the minimum wage, food stamps and the U.S. Postal Service.

During the 2012 elections, the Koch brothers donated $400 million to GOP candidates. Today, the Koch brothers, through their nonprofit organizations, have expanded their self-indulged yearnings and are focused on individual state issues. They are attempting to inject themselves in all areas of public life, like economics, academia, the environment, the law, veterans’ needs, health care and education. Remember when the Koch brothers were contemplating buying the Tribune Media Group? My word!

The Kochs aspire to create a “free economy” where working, middle-class people have no rights or protection. The only category where the U.S. leads the world is in military spending, and where has that led us? Ask military veterans.

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