The rich get breaks as poor still suffer

The next big battle shaping up in Washington is about raising the debt limit. The U.S. has had a debt limit ever since it was first set during World War I. That doesn’t stop the growth of debt because they keep raising it. The reason we have a national debt at all is that we spend more than we take in. So the debt just grows and grows. One would think that someone would have figured this out by now.

I don’t know how much we give to other countries, but it’s a lot. Just military assistance alone would be truly mind boggling. It would be safe to say that we have had some dollars invested in every war in the world since World War II. We spend billions on tax breaks for large corporations that are thriving. These same corporations pay CEO’s millions of dollars in salaries and bonuses. Of course these corporations return the favor with millions of dollars in campaign donations. It makes one wonder who Congress really represents.

The U.S. economy might be improving some, but it is still a shambles and has been since well before a recession was declared in 2008. Recessions reduce the income and quality of life of most average Americans. They also reduce the income of the U.S. itself. Unemployment is still too high. Underemployment is probably even worse. Then there are the unemployed who have simply given up. The unemployed citizen with no income pays no taxes.

The $20 million-per-year CEO gets a break on his/hers. The rich who don’t have to work pay a lower rate on the income from their billions than the average citizen does on the earnings from his or her labor. Meanwhile partisan politicians point fingers and play the blame game while solutions stare them in the face.

Ron Flowers

Elk Grove Village