To Rep. Tom McMillin
Good Evening,
In a Free Press article today regarding the passage of SB 7 it states that you have said that this change will bring significant relief to taxpayers, possibly reaching into the hundreds of millions of dollars. You are quoted as saying, "We don't know precisely what the savings will be, but they will be large. Will you please explain to me how, as a taxpayer, I will be saving money? I am one of the public employees who have already lost wages in the form of an additional 3% tax on my earnings to pay for someone else's future benefits. I will now be paying 20% of my health care costs. I don't know as of yet what my salary will be this year as our contract is being negotiated, (dare I use that word?). I will be paying the same amount of income tax on my earnings as I did last year. I don't see where I am saving money. Private sector workers who are not losing wages to new laws, are still paying the same amount of tax on income so how does this change save them money? I fail to see the wonderment of this and so many other laws that have been passed under this administration. I have said all along, I am willing to "share" the sacrifice, but I am not willing to carry the entire burden. I am not willing to lose money, job security, and professional dignity. I am not willing to sit back and watch those much less fortunate than me be desimated. How do you sleep at night Mr. McMillin? Please do not respond with anything about how you too will pay more for health care. If you would be willing to reveal your net worth, I would be happy to reveal mine. I know you too took a pay cut, but you still have a $10,000 expense account, I do not. You also have been at your job for far fewer years than I have been at mine and have less education, yet you earn what I do. So, just tell me how I am saving money, how all the new laws will make my life better here in Michigan, how the new laws will be better for my children and grandchildren. Oh, I might mention that my son and daughter-in-law are teachers and have two small children. The hit they have taken has changed their life style, which was pretty moderate to begin with. How has your lifestyle changed? Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I await your response.
Letter to the Free Press (similar to above)
I read the article in the Free Press regarding the passage of the law that will now require Michigan public school and local government employees to pay more of the cost of their health care insurance. In this article, State Rep. Tom McMillin is said to have stated that this change will bring significant relief to taxpayers, possibly reaching into the hundreds of millions of dollars each year. He is quoted as saying, "We don't know precisely what the savings will be, but they will be large." So I wrote him and asked him to explain how, as a taxpayer, I will be saving money. I am one of the public employees who have already lost wages in the form of an additional 3% tax on my earnings to pay for someone else's future benefits. I will now be paying 20% of my health care costs. I don't know as of yet what my salary will be this year as our contract is being negotiated, (dare I use that word?). I will be paying the same amount of income tax on my earnings as I did last year. I don't see where I am saving money. Private sector workers who are not losing wages to new laws are still paying the same amount of tax on income so how does this change save them money? Then I read a letter to the editor and was chastised as a greedy teacher wanting nothing more than to continue to suck dry the public trough. Dear writer of that letter, the public did not elect this administration to decimate the middle class. Those who did vote for the governor because he stated he would "reinvent" Michigan, I am sure did not see that to mean businesses would get big tax breaks and the workers of this state would pay for that. Make no mistake, cut taxes for businesses and they will pocket the profits and no jobs will come. Make the lives of public employees and the working poor more stressful, less profitable, less secure and they won't spend a dime of their cut salaries on anything not needed. I would say the Governor is definitely reinventing Michigan so he is doing what he said he would, and we need to vote him and his cronies out before there is nothing left of Michigan to save.
To Mr. Henderson, editorial page editor of the Free Press, (damn I misspelled editorial!)
Dear Mr. Henderson,
As the editoral page editor you have a responsibility to presents facts to counter facts printed in your paper. Here is what I am asking you to do, write an article that presents the fact about ACT as a profit making enterprise. Write an article that compares the percentage of 11th grade students tested from state to state because not all states test 100% of their 11th graders as Michigan does. Write an article that explains what a subgroup is, how many students it takes to make up a subgroup and how a very large district will have many more subgroups than a very small district. Write an article that speak to the fact that the United States tests students at a far greater rate than any other country and those other countries do better on standardized tests because they do not rely on them to determine their excellence. Write an article that expains just what the ACT test was originally designed for and what is has become and why. Write an article that exposes that we are only allowed to give diplomas to students who can do a curriculum that is not necessary for all of the type of work a society needs to function and that many of these professions are trades that hands on experience is necessary for not lecture hall experience. Write an article that speaks to the cost of college that puts students into lifelong debt, but once graduated all a new graduate can find is a minimum wage job with no chance to move on up. Write an article that explains why a factory worker, good job by the way, needs a college degree at all. Write an article that explains what college or career ready means, because I think it means you show up on time or better yet, early. You work hard and don't complain. You listen, you show respect, you ask appropriate questions, appropriately, you desire to learn more and do better, you can work with others, you know when to speak up and when to shut up, and you are accountable for your actions or inactions. What test tests these skills? Write about that. I would, but I am a teacher and I just don't have the time.
(Made an error on my zip code, soooo, sent this to Mr. Henderson)
Zip is 48187 by the way, typo. Another skill those who are ready for college or a career should have, that of stepping back, reviewing and amending. Time tests do not allow for reflection, why don't you write about that.
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