Bill Sykes' Newsletter from America.
(Special Edition - Mid February 2003)
An ex-Brit gives his views-(without fear
or favor)---of the American Scene
State of the Union.
 Mr.
Bush in his State of the Union message talked about tax
cuts which, in his opinion, will lead to improving the
state of the economy. The good old “trickle down”
theory, which gives the rich large tax breaks with the
idea being that the money will eventually trickle down
to the lower echelon workers, (now unemployed), in the
form of job opportunities. Wonder what time frame Mr.
Bush had in mind?
One of the tax cuts Mr. Bush made public is relief from
taxes on future dividends and interest, which he states,
if passed by Congress, will stimulate the economy. Not
much relief will come the way of Senior Citizens who depend
a great deal on dividends and interest, (which incidentally
are at their lowest ebb in years), to bolster their retirement
and social security benefits. In many cases Senior Citizens
are faced with surviving on their monthly pittance, whilst
house taxes, automobile taxes, health care and insurance
costs, to name but a few, are escalating.
On the other end of the scale, members of the elite hierarchy
are in many cases using illegal and corrupt practices
to stash away millions of dollars for their own retirement.
 When
the Baby Boomers get to retirement age they will find,
unless the current situation doe not change for the better,
that there will be no Social Security benefits available,
because the Government in its wisdom will have robbed
the till and used the money for their own pet projects.
If there is an American reader out there who disagrees
with my belief that Social Security and Medicare benefits
were intended to be untouchable, perhaps he or she can
put me straight.
Health Care premiums will be so high that the lower echelon
workers and retirees will not be able to afford even a
Health Maintenance Organization, (HMO), which by that
time will not be accepting anyone over sixty five years
of age because that is where they see their profit margins
diminish, for as every one knows that in general the senior
citizen is the one that needs an ever increasing amount
of medical care.
So for the British readers out there, now you have my
input on the American health care system, I have a question
for you: How is the good old British National Health System
doing these days?
We welcome feedback about any of the contents
of these newsletters. Please send all correspondence to
bill_sykes@huddersfield1.co.uk
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State
Of The Union.
