The country's leaders are mainly interested in helping the
banks and other large financial institutions. They don't care much about the
rest of us. The recovery on Wall Street bears little relationship to what is
happening on Main Street. The "human" economy, the one where people
live and work and buy products, is suffering even as Wall Street and the stock
market boom. The honchos at the top need to come down from their ivory towers
and walk the streets and see and feel how the people are actually living. They
should talk to real people and not only the rich who don't know, or even care
to know, what needs to be done to help the bulk of the American public. They
spend their time worrying about haughty international adventures and problems
elsewhere. They need to concentrate on what is happening right here in America.
The bulk of American people are stuck in a permanent
recession with no way out. Many people are suffering. They are, in many ways, the
victims of our lopsided economy. The
upward mobility that made us the envy of the world, and always gave us our hope,
is now history. If you are born poor, the chances are that you will remain poor
and your children will have no better lives than the one you got.
Meanwhile, Corporations are making record profits. Their
main interest is to take advantage of the situation. They have little social
conscience. They strive to fleece the public of what money they have left in
any way possible. This applies to most sectors of the economy ranging from
health care to education to manufacturing. Every time I visit a doctor's
office, a clinic or a hospital for example, I feel that I am entering a den of
thieves looking for ways to stiff me more and more. Most of what they do is to find
ways to exact more money, mostly as unneeded tests, expensive procedures,
hospital stays and massive overcharges. The main purpose of these organizations
is not your health but their profit.
Our representatives in Congress are failing to represent the
needs of the majority. Instead, they mostly represent the interests of those
who, through the legal bribes called campaign contributions, ensure their
re-election. Being elected to Congress is no longer about public service. It is
about enjoying a cushy job (with good health insurance) and joining the class
of the rich and famous. It is about having the connections to help your
children and those of your friends and associates get better jobs. The rest of
us have no one to care for our needs. We are the forgotten majority.
It cannot continue this way. Something must be done. I'm
afraid we can't vote our way out of this situation. We really need a revolution
to redress the balance and address the needs of the silent majority. We have to
force the changes we need. We need to get together, be tough and demonstrate
relentlessly for more economic democracy. Masses of Americans need to March on Washington,
occupy government buildings and force the passage of the necessary changes in
the laws that govern our country. Interestingly, our demands will not differ
significantly from those made in the March on Washington fifty years ago where
Martin Luther King gave his famous "I have a dream' speech.
We desperately need to equalize our economy. The rich, and
very rich, are just a tiny minority. We have the numbers to outvote them. The
majority should rule. At a minimum, we should be able to agree on and force
changes in the system along the following lines:
1.
The government should financially support those
earning less than poverty level incomes to bring them up to that level.
2.
Any income, from any source, above that level
would be taxed at a progressive tax rate the exact level of which would be
determined in accordance with the prevailing budget needs.
3.
Corporate income would be treated the same way.
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