This moment, just as it was with Roosevelt, is a turning point in our history. President Obama confronted the economic elites. Will the 1 to 2 percent of the highest income earners (corporate Wall Street) continue to define our market economy without meaningful government controls or financial regulation?
For the last 20 years or more, the conservative leadership formula has been to promote the “trickle-down theory” — which means to allow the elite all the advantages of the market economy and all the controls over our so-called “free-enterprise” system. The figures clearly indicate the 1 to 2 percent income earners are getting richer and are doing so at an increasing rate. On the other hand, the vast majority of workers/middle-class income earners have none to very little average increase in earnings during this same 20-year period.
The fallacy that millionaires and billionaires create jobs in the economy continues to come from the Republican/Tea Party leadership. The economic elites are now paying very low income taxes. Why? When unemployment is extremely high and wages of workers are relatively low in our current history?
Furthermore, during the last two decades our market economy, controlled by this elite group, has increasingly outsourced investments and jobs. For example, by closing U.S. factories and participating in an unbalanced and unfair global economy dominated by multi-national corporations, the economic elites have moved their operations to Third World counties. President Obama wants these negative economic trends changed. America needs a wise plan for developing our own industries and manufacturing, such as the president’s jobs program.
President Obama has stated we have a choice whether to allow this imbalanced economic situation to continue or not. The ballot box is where we make our choices, by voting in the 2012 congressional and presidential elections. I only wish that, as a Guam voter, my vote would count for our president.
BRUCE G. KAROLLE
Tamuning, Guam
