Who's Gonna Pay?

The right is tense because those left wants to tax the rich to pay for the poor. (Okay, to pay for more than the poor, but you get the idea.) We have expenses, you see, and we want the rich people to pay. "Socialism!" some cry, and it does make us wonder.

Last year we got a notice from our employer. Our insurance premiums were going to go up significantly? Why? Well, it was because of the president's health care plan. "It won't raise taxes," he assured us, but that was because we're going to pay for it in other ways. So even though I've had medical insurance for my entire work life and have used precious little of it, I'll be paying for others to have insurance because the president says so.

But this isn't about the president ... or even the left. I just heard a news item a few weeks ago that all the major cellphone carriers are going to boost their prices. Why? What is getting more expensive that they would need to do that? Well, it's all those precious little apps for smartphones. They have to pay for them somehow. So how are they going to do that? They're going to make me -- someone with a simple, stupid phone and no apps at all -- pay extra so everyone else has them.

And then I heard the other day that movie theaters are raising their prices. For what reason? Well, it's those 3D movies. They're expensive! So they're not going to charge people who want to go see those movies to pay for them. They're going to charge everyone.

It's an increasingly common theme. Make everyone pay for it, even if they don't use it or need it. Sure, I don't have to go to the movies (and I will, in all likelihood, make even less of the rare visits I do today), but much of this is not optional. Spread the cost out for a relative few to have privileges. Make everyone pay for it. You may call it economically savvy or good business or wise government. To me it seems a lot more like injustice, making people pay for things they don't want, don't need, don't use, and can't afford.