Monday, April 4, 2011

Dear Mr. President,

Here’s a few statistics to ponder:

·         From 2000 to 2007, the richest 10% of Americans received 100% of the average income growth; in the post-WW II period, they received 33% of the income growth

·         In 2009, the richest 5% of Americans owned 63.5% of the nation’s wealth (the richest 1% had 38% of it) while the bottom 40% owned 0.2%

·         In 2010, 25 hedge fund managers pocketed $22 billion whether their funds did well or not

·         $22 billion would pay 441,400 people an average annual salary of $50,000; enough, a new study says, for a single parent with 2 children to maintain a stable middle-class life

·         The unemployment rate for March was 8.8%; 13.5 million Americans are out of work and that doesn’t include those who have fallen off the unemployment rolls

·         Many of the new jobs being created do not pay enough to meet minimum basic needs: food, clothing, shelter and transportation

·         14.3% of Americans fell below the official poverty line in 2009. (To remain in the middle class, a family requires an income roughly 3 times the official poverty level income.)

·         In February, there were 225,000 foreclosures filed by lenders. There are approximately 2 million foreclosures right now

·         Last summer your administration launched a $1 billion program to help the jobless pay their mortgages until they could find a new job. To date, not a single application has been accepted.

I could go on but you get the picture. The maldistribution of wealth in America is appalling and getting worse. (That tax cut for millionaires you signed last year didn’t help either.) Why is it the Treasury Department had $700 billion to bail out banks but no money now for state and local governments who are cutting services, reducing health care benefits and laying off teachers, police and fire fighters? How is it we spend $13 billion a month for war but there’s no money to fix our crumbling infrastructure: roads, bridges and public facilities? Why did the fat cats you bailed out on Wall Street and Main Street get their million dollar bonuses this year (thanks to the U.S. taxpayer) but Mr. Dudenhoeffer’s $247 a week unemployment checks will end on August 1 when Florida cuts unemployment benefits? How does he buy food, pay rent and put gas in his car to continue his job search? Our priorities are all screwed up. And the Republicrat obsession with cutting the budget instead of salvaging what’s left of the middle class bodes ill for the future. Mr. President, does any of this worry you? It does me.