The 10 wealthiest people in the country have all, in spite of the recession, increased their wealth in the past year.
Over 15 percent of all Americans now live under the poverty line, which is more than ever before - further evidence that the gap between the rich and the poor continues to grow.
And the first shall remain first.
The American dream of rising above your socio-economic status is dead.
According to Time magazine, “Americans have much less mobility than people in European nations.
We have a belief system and an idea about ourselves that doesn’t always align well with the facts.”
In other words the American Dream is a myth.
The CEO of a company can make millions a year while the janitor makes $8 an hour.
Is one person worth 1,000 times more than another if both work hard at what they do?
Who set this ratio?
Avarice has become the ethical foundation of our free market system. Wouldn’t it be more just if the top earner made only 20 times more than the lowest paid worker?
That’s not radical socialism, it’s just fair.
Is it moral or ethical to have the rich accumulate more and more while the poor lose ground?
Can the Republicans honestlysay that the needs of the poor, the old, the needy (like the 24 percent of Arkansas children that occasionally go to bed hungry) are more important to them than the rich accruing even more wealth and special interests of the big banks, drug makers and the oil companies?
I submit that it is time to reduce the gap between rich and poor, to lessen our focus on material standards and increase emphasis on social needs and the quality of the social environment.
When altruism trumps greed, we will all enjoy a more harmonious society.
RICK BURNS
Bella Vista
Opinion, Pages 5 on 10/14/2011