Community support raised money for Cure JM

 

Dear Editor,

Last weekend the Lake Stevens community came out and showed tremendous support for my daughter Tessa and Cure JM.
We asked for yard sale and baked goods donations and were overwhelmed with the support. Neighbors, friends, and total strangers delivered items, baked goods, and helped at the event.
Over $7,000 was raised from those who visited the sale on Saturday and Sunday, most paying more than the sticker price to support our cause.
One hundred percent of the proceeds go to the Cure JM Foundation, an all volunteer non-profit organization that funds research and support for Juvenile Myositis.
This is the disease our daughter, Tessa, and her friend Emma are receiving treatment for. Emma’s family is from Arlington and together we co-hosted the sale.
In two weeks both myself and Emma’s mom will be running in the Baltimore Running Festival on Team Cure JM as part of our annual family JM meeting and conference.
For more information you can visit www.curejm.org. Thank you to all who have supported us.

Julie Shevlin
Lake Stevens

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GM bailout has hurt our economy

Dear Editor,

You may have seen sound bytes in this election about the “successful bailout” of GM and Chrysler. Our president claims it saved thousands of jobs.
Several years ago the administration made an “investment” (meaning taxation) of $80 Billion for these two companies. The deal removed ownership of the shareholders (many of us owned GM common shares in our 401K) and handed it over to Unions and to the Federal Government who still own a substantial share.
In essence you not only lost any accumulated value but you also lost your tax money. GM is again selling cars, albeit not as profitably as before and they inaccurately claim to have repaid the debt, that’s the good news.
The bad news is the truth behind the results of that investment. Seventy percent of automobile production for GM is now in China. Dan Akerson, CEO of GM says so himself. In addition, you now have 11 joint ventures with GM doing design, engineering, sales and production in China with two large political organizations. SAIC, which answers to the elite of the Communist Party and FAW which runs Chinese Party controlled “state-owned” businesses.
Neither entity celebrates free trade, human rights, democracy or shareholder accountability.
GM also now has seven factories and four power train plants in the PRC. So the $80 billion dollar investment transitioned GM from a shareholder owned publically traded company to a 70 percent Communist China owned company just like that.
One of the key factors in this deal? GM was more than willing to transfer state of the art technology to the Chinese. I am not sure what is worse, GM owned by China, a UAW and the political elite or the scores of voters who cheer at the utterance of this story.
Just look who is taking credit.

DR Thompson
Lake Stevens

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Income tax could rid fees and tolls

Dear Editor,

The purpose of this letter is to advocate for Washington State to completely replace its current tax, fee and toll systems with a moderately progressive income tax.  
This idea is described in papers on a website: www.future4washington.webs.com.  The website also has a paper, “Please vote No on I-1185,” and provides an explanation of why.
The current Washington State tax system is not providing adequate funding for the government:
The state currently has a debt over $16 billion.
Tuition at the University of Washington has risen 342 percent in 22 years.
Even though the state’s population rises about 70,000 a year, DSHS has lost 3,855 employees since 2008.
In 2011, 15.4 percent of Washington households reported some level of food insecurity, which means they regularly struggle to get enough food for their families, according to the USDA.
The Children’s Alliance estimates that 440,000 children in Washington, or 25 percent, live in households where there is not enough to eat.”
“Each week, about 150 inmates arrive at the Washington Corrections Center for processing before they’re assigned a permanent home in the state prison system.”
I believe that a moderately progressive income tax would be a “credible plan” that both Republicans and Democrats should consider.  
Instead hundreds of foundations or caring non-profits attempting to respond to these problems, the taxpayers would be the “care-providers” that step in and provide funding to help public education, DSHS, and law enforcement to protect them.
An example is given on the website of a moderately progressive income tax.  The Legislature and Governor would design the actual progressive income tax. Philanthropists could take tax deductions in the amount of their charitable giving.
The same tax system would provide funding for employment training to help the unemployed go to work.
If you are interested in helping to financially support the research and websites or have any questions please contact me at 206-696-7612.
 
Eric Paulsen
Seattle
        
 

 

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