Re: Mr. Dan Rucker’s and Mr. Hal Wilder’s Nov. 9 letters on the Occupy protests:

I'm sorry, but these two gentleman seem very much out of touch with most Americans' problems. In the last 30 years, the top 1 percent in America have seen their incomes rise exponentially by 270 percent. Middle and lower income earners have enjoyed a meager 20 percent increase in their income earnings.

The top 1 percent pay about 17 percent of their income into taxes, while a bus driver earning $26,000 a year pays closer to 22 percent.

What would be so wrong if the working class could experience at least a 100 percent increase in their earnings as a "thank you for all your help" from Corporate America. Top earners and corporations pay little to no federal income tax due in large part to our labyrinthine tax code and Bush tax cuts for the rich.

Corporations repeatedly claim they can no longer operate in a profitable manner within the U.S. economy due to the burden of government imposed regulations, yet they post ridiculous fourth-quarter profit statements (i.e., Exxon Mobile: up 40 percent, BofA: more than $6.2 billion).

To say the working class is not working hard enough, not putting in its fair share, is nonsense. As a country, Americans work some of the longest hours per week of any developed nation in the world. The numbers say the rich are doing just fine, getting richer even. So if the hard work of millions have rewarded the top 400 with increased income, why haven't the 400 reciprocated the favor? After all, doesn't hard work deserve a reward?

The answer is simple. Greed. America affords these industries and corporations their success; it's time they ante up.

- Matt Jackson,



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Comments » 5

sslocal writes:

Out of a job Matt?

WaywardWillie writes:

in response to Hey_Scapegoat:

(This comment was removed by the site staff.)

(This comment was removed by the site staff.)

GOSC writes:

"The answer is simple. Greed."

Sadly and without question, Greed is part of it, but only in a simplistic approach could it be the comprehensive answer.

Corporate and millionaire welfare is a complex, nonpartisan and insidious problem. People earn good livings determining ways to escape tax liability and regulations to impact their bottom lines, which when done legally, is acceptable and expected by their customers. Pushing those limits past the edge of legality are the only instances when greed can be applied, and as long as the efforts stay on the defined side of legal, the practice is acceptable and should be.

Lobbyists spreading disinformation and shaping our present cultural attitudes towards profit and what constitutes success affects our concept of greed and what drives people and businesses to do what they do. I can't say that a CEO who receives a $10B bonus is greedy for accepting it. But I'm willing to consider whether the practice is appropriate, especially in instances where a company needed an intervention to literally survive.

Success and greed are not explicitly linked, regardless of what's being expressed in media today.

There are other more clandestine sins operating in our business and political culture today that are not in the best interests of our republic.

CaptainOchre writes:

It's the wealthy's CUSTOMERS that put us to work.

Chilibreath writes:

in response to WaywardWillie:

(This comment was removed by the site staff.)

As a counter to your hateful/angry post, I say we need more healthy (grounded) opinions like the sort that Scapegoat puts forth. Aside from your one-party one-opinion diatribe, we still have the 1st Amendment, and that grantees freedom of speech for all, assuming that foul language is not used. That you find fault with an opinion that is counter to yours is a personal issue, not something that is deserving of censorship.


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