Letters to the Editor - Jan. 3

Government isn't working for average citizens

 

 

To the editor:

 

What is the purpose of the state? The purpose of the state is to transfer wealth and power from the many to the few.

 

It does it well.

 

According to Business Insider, "The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer at a staggering rate. Once upon a time, the United States had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the world, but now that is changing at a blinding pace."

 

Here are some of the 22 things that Business Insider points to in support of that assertion.

 

• Sixty-six percent of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1 percent of all Americans.

 

• In 1950, the ratio of the average executive's paycheck to the average worker's paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 and 500 to one.

 

• The top 1 percent of U.S. households owns nearly twice as much of America's corporate wealth as they did just 15 years ago.

 

In every election the candidates, no matter their party, trumpet that they are going to work for "the little guy," "the working man," "the average citizen" and "Main Street, not Wall Street."