Filthy rich and taking even more

REPUBLICANS DON'T want to extend unemployment benefits, at Christmas of all times, because it will add to the federal deficit--yet they are foaming at the mouth to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy even though it will add $ 700 billion to the federal deficit.

Excuse me? Explain that one to me. While you're at it, explain why the tax cuts for the rich haven't created any jobs yet in the 10 years they've been in place. That "trickle down" ideology tends to fall a bit flat in that regard.

It should be noted that the wealthy of this country were taxed at a rate near 70 percent back in the 1940s, and, yes, they still lived "high on the hog," they still enjoyed the lives of celebrities. What did we do with all that tax money? We built the infrastructure of this nation with it.

To whom much is given, much is required...I've often heard that said. A person making millions of dollars a year has no need for tax cuts, yet the rest of us do.

Perhaps it is easy to be apathetic about unemployment benefits when you have a job, as many of the wealthy undoubtedly do. But, I challenge people to imagine what it would be like in this economy if you were unemployed, had searched for a job (not a burger joint, but a living wage job), and had come up empty with your savings gone, no medical insurance, no 401(k) and, now, no unemployment assistance. What would you tell your children when Christmas came and went without gifts, without a big dinner?

The situation for those of us lucky enough to have jobs is better, sure. But at what cost? The working class of this country work far harder than most corporate executives do for their income, yet they are persistently asked to sacrifice more and more.

All the while, those who need for nothing are given additional tax breaks that they don't need; free-trade deals so that they may make more money off the backs of enslaved foreign workers; and are catered to by both political parties and the media.

Our economy is in shambles and instead of asking the rich to pay a little more in taxes, the poor and working class are expected to take cuts in Social Security and Medicare! How many people do you know, especially the elderly, that can afford to take cuts to their Social Security and Medicare?

Perhaps there's simply a fault in the system itself. Perhaps those in control are in the pocketbooks of corporations who wish to keep the turmoil going, to keep people poor, to keep adding to the disparity that grows every day wider and wider between the "haves" and the "have nots," to keep adding soldiers to the ranks of the military to go and fight the wars of their choosing. Because, when there are no jobs to be found and you can't afford college, what else is there to do? Join the military! Fight for your country!

If you manage to get back home in anything other than a body bag, the government and their corporate deities will be sure not to pay you a "living" pension and not to pay for the psychiatric treatment you'll likely need for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Randy Nunley, Tullahoma,Tenn.