The class divide in
the United States has widened considerably as a result of the
economic crisis.
For the working
class, life has become incredibly difficult. If you are a student,
you face tuition hikes and higher fees and the need to take out more
loans. If you are a worker, you face pay and benefit cuts or being
laid off—and a job market in which job seekers far outnumber job
openings.
For the wealthy
owners and top corporate bosses in this country, you and your
companies are enjoying record-breaking profits, huge bonuses, lower
taxes, and for some companies like General Electric, no taxes at all.
According to
CNN.com:
“Of the nearly 14 million people now counted as unemployed, a
record 44% have been out of work more than six months. Before the
most recent recession, that figure had never reached 24%.” These
numbers represent real people with families to support and bills to
pay!
A July 2 New York
Times article reveals how exceedingly well top corporate executives
are doing compared to the average worker:
“The final
figures show that the median pay for top executives at 200 big
companies last year was $10.8 million. … That works out to a 23
percent gain from 2009. … And it’s not as if most workers are
getting fat raises. The average American worker was taking home $752
a week [about $36,000 a year] in late 2010, up a mere 0.5 percent
from a year earlier. After inflation, workers were actually making
less. … Most ordinary Americans aren’t getting raises anywhere
close to those of these chief executives. Many aren’t getting raises
at all—or even regular paychecks. Unemployment is still stuck at
more than 9 percent.”
Soaring corporate
profits are lining the pockets of the wealthy, who by virtue of mere
ownership of capital, land, or rental property can maintain a
luxurious lifestyle without working at all. Such owners are the least
productive people in our society. They are leeches sucking our
communities dry. They suffered only minor losses during the recent
crisis, or none at all, because their pawns in Congress and the White
House bailed them out with our tax dollars.
While people are
evicted every day in this country, with many becoming homeless, as
more workers find themselves laid off, as more students face the
decision to drop out of school and get a job to pay fees and loans
they cannot afford,
the rich stay safe and comfortable with the profits we produce
continuing to roll in.
There needs to be a
change in this country, we need socialism!
