> Instead of lowering those at the top to our
> level, why not try elevating people at the
> bottom toward the top?

Rick ... I agree with that whole post and I believe I have the same aims. Well Said!


lamontdc@adelphia.net

> Rick ... I agree with that whole post and I
> believe I have the same aims. Well Said!

I saw two interesting comments in this thread.. one was about "huge tax cuts" to which I would point out you can't have huge tax cuts without huge taxes.

The second of course is about CSX getting a write-off. Who among us is likely to not take a charitable deduction on our 1040?



superheater@rrmail.com

Mr Rowlands,

I believe that you may have misinterpreted both the spirit and the context of Mr. Yarger's remarks. I also think that some of your information about the current distribution of wealth in the US, and its effects, is incorrect.

> As a fellow railroad worker and
> preservationist my budget as well is pretty
> stretched working on my pet projects. But
> not once have I ever looked at a
> "wealthy individual or
> corporation" with disdain for their
> lack of supporting my causes. It is mine and
> the organization's responsibility to find
> the funding to accomplish our goals, and if
> our goals do not coincide with the interests
> of the wealthy, then they do not
> participate. This is how things are meant to
> be in our free market.

Mr. Yarger correctly identified that the working and middle class provide the bulk of voluntary charitable contributions (in terms of both time and money) in comparison to the upper classes.

> Why must there be such class envy in our
> country. I just do not understand it. All
> that I want is the same opportunities that
> everyone else is given, to make as much of
> my lifetime as I care to invest my hard work
> into.

Nobody wants to take away equal access to opportunity. Indeed, equal access to opportunities would not be an issue if we all entered the world with zero dollars to our name, and had to work from there. The fact is, we don't! A privileged few are able to benefit from the compounded wealth of prior generations, while the vast majority of us struggle to over come the poverty of past generations.

I do not want to work hard and become
> successful only to have some people turn on
> me because I have worked hard and became
> successful, and to penalize me for all that
> hard work.

What do you define as a penalty? Who is going to turn on you? I believe that if you have been truly successful and blessed the national economic system, then you have a moral obligation to contribute back to that system to help others - who may not have had the same opporunities as have you. Thus, the spirit (but not always practice) of our tax system is progressive - requiring a greater contribution from the wealthy to support the poor and middle class. The charitable exemption on your 1040 allows you to direct how a portion of your contribution should go.

> Perhaps someday Bob's and other like minded
> people's wishes will come true, and the most
> successful of us will not be permitted to
> reap the benefits of their labors. When that
> time comes, and its fast approaching, what
> will be the motivation for people to
> achieve?

There is only a finite amount of wealth that one can enjoy. It would take a tremendous amount of taxation to make any impact on the top 1% of the population that controls most of the wealth in our system. In terms of the motivation to work, I must ask you why you are involved with railroad and industrial preservation. If you are in it for the money, it would be much easier to scrap the equipment that you acquire than to preserve it. Rather, you act the way that you do because you find satisfaction in your labors, even if it brings you no money; or if puts you in the red. The unemployed and underemployed in our country are looking for just that - a opportunity for satisfying employment. Unfortunately, the very top 1% that I mentioned earlier has benefited from taking the best jobs in this country and shipping them overseas.

> Instead of lowering those at the top to our
> level, why not try elevating people at the
> bottom toward the top?

I couldn't agree more.

------

Why is it important to discuss this on this board? Very few railroad museums address the story of railroad workers, and their involvement in shaping the communities in which they lived, the companies they worked for, and our nation as a whole. While much of our knowledge and interpretation focuses on the technical aspects of railroading, we tend to forget the impact that technology had on shaping lives. A major reason why people do not find railroad museums relevant is that we fail to present the story of railroading in human terms. Telling the story of railroad workers is the best way into telling the human story of railroading.

rrhistorian@hotmail.com