Income gap only will get worse

Contrary to what you hear, our major economic problem for the past few decades is governmental welfare for rich Americans and corporate monopolies.

Every year the economic chasm between the rich and the middle- to lower-wage earners widens. Currently, the top 1 percent highest-paid people in the U.S. get 23 percent of all income made yearly (the top 1 percent bracket starts at $388,000/year and goes up to folks like top hedge fund managers raking in over a billion a year).

That 23 percent of all U.S. income (sucked up by the top 1 percent) is more income than the entire bottom 50 percent all Americans earned last year.

This situation is the result of decades of thousands of lobbyists purchasing their own federal candidates and the congressional seats they put them in.

Then, they vote for deregulation of insurance, banking, health care, energy industry rules, more tax cuts for the rich and bigger corporate mergers allowing more layoffs. This, coupled with other benefits like the cheap labor advantage of 58,000 U.S. factories that closed during Bush’s eight years in office and moved offshore, is killing America.

Wake up, Americans. Time is running out.

Jim Peterson

Hoffman Estates