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Here's a letter sent to Daily Observer regarding "Can Affirmative Action Work in Liberia?" by Professor Armaso Bawn:

Mr. Editor,

Writing about Affirmative Action in Liberia, Professor Armaso Bawn argues that "the well-to-do do not want to pay taxes because of the loopholes available to them and the have-nots are too poor to pay anything." (Re "Can Affirmative Action Work in Liberia?")

In support of his argument, he rhetorically asked: "Did you know that in the United States the lion’s share of income tax revenue comes from common working people as opposed to the big businesses"?

In other words, majority of the U. S Government income tax revenue comes from "big businesses"

Really???

Ok, let's see: According to the Internal Revenue (IRS.gov), the gross collections (revenues) for individual income taxes in 2007 and 2008 were $1,366,241,437,000 (1.4 trillion)and $1,425,990,183,000 (1.4 trillion) respectively.

Compare to the gross collections for corporation income taxes aka "big business" in 2007 and 2008 which were $395,535,825,000 (400 billion) and $354,315,825,000 respectively.

As you can now see, Profession Bawn assertion that "in the United States, the lion’s share of income tax revenue comes from common working people as opposed to the big businesses" is a factually inaccurate.

The facts contradict Professor Bawn's fantasies..

Here are my comments sent to Liberianforum.com regarding "(Firestone) Worker taps 650 trees for three dollars and nineteen cents" by J. Yanqui Zaza:

Mr. Editor,

No one is defending Firestone for paying its tappers "$3.19 to tap 650 trees" nor does anyone think that Firestone shouldn't provide tappers with protection against "potentially blinding latex"--BUT let's compare Firestone tappers to other tappers in Liberia...

In other words, if you say Firestone Tappers are the being paid $3.19 cent to tap 650 trees, then how much are tappers, who are exposed to "potentially blinding latex" from the rubber trees on Nikita Zayzay farm in Zorzor are being paid to tap 650 rubber trees?

Also, how do you explain why "profiteers" like Firestone invest overwhelmingly in more affluent countries that have higher wages, higher productivity and higher profits than poor countries with corrupt politicians and cheap labor like Liberia??

The sad irony of all this is that people like Nikita Zaza who are demonizing Firestone are providing NOTHING to these poor tappers except their Soviet style rhetoric... (profiteers! profiteers! profiteers!)

But can their hot air Soviet-style rhetoric replace the much-needed income that Firestone is providing for these poor tappers? Hell no!