Wealthy Vs Middle Class (Not Democrats Vs Republicans)

As we get ready to begin 2012 we start to hear the two parties ramp up the rhetoric about how much they are going to do if they were to be elected. There is a lot of flip-flopping on issues and finger-pointing on bad bills and people that got in the way of good bills. They are all such good debaters that they all sound right when challenged. And the issues and bills are so complex that it’s tough for anyone to decipher b.s. from truth.


Nonetheless it seems a lot of us try to pick the lesser of two evils. Maybe the ideology of one party sits better with you than the other, or maybe one party says they will add jobs to the field you work in, and that’s how they get into power. So we end up electing somebody that vows to change things, or help to return things to the way they were, or maybe keep things status quo (if they’re already good).

People discuss and argue a lot with their friends, family, and co-workers about which party should be in office, and particularly about who should be president. But what strikes me is that while we are all distracted by arguments on ideologies and details, the gap between the wealthy and the middle class continues to grow. Large companies outsource their labor to foreign companies and import materials without tariffs. The outsourcing costs us jobs and the jobs we are left with pay less. More and more people find themselves out of the range of middle class and in the range of needing government assistance.

According to stateofworkingamerica.org (Economic Policy Institute) the richest 10% saw over 50% of the income growth over the last hundred years (ending in 2008) while the rest of us shared the remaining 49% of income growth http://stateofworkingamerica.org/who-gains/#/?start=1918&end=2008

It only makes sense that the people at the head of these companies are making money hand over fist since the CEO’s are seeing the large bonuses each year. But I don’t think the answer is salary caps, because this could easily lead to corrupt politicians favoring one CEO over another. Instead, let’s bring the work back home by imposing some tariffs to level the playing field. How else can our labor fairly compete with the labor the rest of the world can offer?

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