I DO NOT UNDERSTAND

I really do not understand how the administration in Washington can repeatedly claim that the nation’s economy is in fine shape. True, the unemployment figures are not particularly high but there seems to be no record of how many middle class Americans were forced to take lower paying jobs, with fewer or no health or retirement benefits. Others have been forced to take pay cuts in their union contracts. It is no secret that plants have closed all over the country (and particularly in North Carolina). Our airlines and auto industry are struggling. Jobs have been outsourced overseas. The trade imbalance is phenomenal. The national debt is rising dramatically. Almost everything we buy is manufactured in China. Our country continues to borrow money from China.
So, on what does the administration base its claim that we have a healthy economy? I DO NOT UNDERSTAND. Could it be that the stock market is doing well? But the companies on the stock market are making profits due to outsourcing, and only the company executives and stockholders are feeling the good effects of this so-called healthy economy. Retail sales are also used as an indicator of a healthy economy. But too many of our middle class Americans are continuing to buy the imported Chinese and other Asian products and are going deeper and deeper into debt – credit card debt. I do not see our economy as a healthy one. The national and personal debt is rising. We are becoming less and less a producer nation and more of a debtor nation. To make matters worse our President is still pushing for tax cuts for the wealthy Americans who really do not need them. Basically they are living the dream of an economy that is very healthy FOR THEM. How does he intend to pay for these tax cuts? Our country will go deeper into debt, and cut programs that help the poorest among us. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND why any Middle Class Americans continue to support the policies of this administration.

The Four Americas

During the last presidential campaign John Edwards spoke often about “Two Americas.“ Right now I see our country as divided in 4 distinct groups – “Four Americas” At the very bottom are the illegal aliens who are willing to work at wages well below the poverty level. Our representatives in Congress seem unwilling to stop the flow of illegals into our country most likely because the employers who donate to their campaigns are pleased to get low wage workers. Then we have our own citizens who receive the minimum wage or slightly above. They are the working poor who live pay day to pay day, cannot afford health insurance and find themselves in rising debt. Some even become homeless due to illness or national catastrophes. The minimum wage has not been increased in 7 years. At the very top are the really rich who have found their taxes reduced by this administration and congress. This group includes the owners and executives of corporations, politicians, some doctors, lawyers, and other very well paid professionals. Sandwiched in the middle are the rest of us – the Middle Class that is really the American ideal, the backbone of our society. But with rising health insurance costs, mounting gas prices, escalating housing costs, and job layoffs due to massive corporate cutbacks, the middle class is facing more and more problems. The American Dream is fading.

With the country so divided into four distinct segments we are now confronted with natural disasters – hurricanes that decimated a large area of the gulf coast region. The cost of rebuilding will be huge. The cost of the war in Iraq is phenomenal. President Bush asked Congress to “cut back” on programs – programs that help the working poor and the middle class. He asked all of us to accept our share of whatever hardship is necessary. But what about the richest members of the “ Four Americas”? He wants to cut their taxes even more. To do this he needs the support of Congress. We, the vast middle class voted for our representatives in Congress. They should address our needs, and help the poor among us– not enact legislation to make the richest group even richer. What hardship is proposed for the ultra rich? None whatsoever. We must tell our Representatives to support the middle class and the poor and stop catering to the ultra rich.