I’ve seen many letters to the Star that have made my blood boil, but Wednesday’s letter by Arthur Shimkus, the siddah yoga, really blew the lid!

I’ve been homeless three times in the last seven years totalling about seven months. I’ve slept at Public Action to Deliver Shelter, in my car and in an abandoned house, but never once did I blame lack of government intervention.

Mr. Shimkus believes wealth should be robbed from the “rich” to give to the “poor,” but if you liquidated all the assets of the wealthiest Americans and divided it equally for the rest, at best we’d all get a few hundred dollars each.

The damage, however, would be enormous. Incentive to build would be crushed, and millions would lose their jobs.

asn’t Mr. Shimkus ever heard of killing the goose that laid the golden egg?

I’m sure his answer would be a statist one: government control of all property.

As for the homeless, the answer is less government intervention and robbing through taxation. This will increase employment, competition and freedom.

In a truly free market (which we no longer have), when the rich get richer, everyone benefits, and charitable donations for the truly needy increase dramatically.

The real struggle isn’t rich v. poor, it’s freedom v. statism. If anyone has “messed values,” it’s Mr. Shimkus, and if he tries burning our flag in my presence, I’ll take that burning flagpole and make him a human shish-ka-bob!

Ted McCarron

John Birch Society