LETTERS: MAKE COMPLAINTS TO LEGISLATORS ABOUT INEQUITIES

To the editor:

The recent Speak Out comment, "Whining about the rich," deserves comment.

Between 1947 and 1973, median family income grew at an average annual rate or 2.5 percent, which doubled income in 25 years. In the 24 years after 1973, the median family income grew at 0.35 percent, which would double family income in 198 years. Between 1977 and 1999, the after-tax income of the top fifth increased by 43 percent, the middle fifth by 8 percent, and the bottom fifth lost 9 percent. The top 1 percent gained 115 percent. Comparing CEO pay to the average factory worker, in 1980 the ratio was 42, in 1990 it was 85, in 1999 it was 538, and in 2000 it is projected at 691. In contrast, the workers who now have a higher education level and between 1973 and 1998 increased productivity by 46.5 percent have actually lost ground economically. If the playing field were level, the median hourly wage would have been $17.27 per hour in 1998 instead of the $11.29 the workers received.

The often repeated comment that the poor are lazy and do not try to better their lot in life. This is the ultimate in convoluted logic. Mothers increased their working hours by six weeks between 1983 and 1997. Fathers increased theirs by four weeks during the same period. They have worked hard both mentally and physically.

Government, the big chief, bought by vested interests, creates the conditions that maintain a plentiful supply of labor at the right price. Government makes agreements that take away the market for workers, thereby keeping down labor competition. Over the years, especially the last 25 years, Congress has unwittingly kept labor costs down and substituted a minimum wage. Government also is largely responsible for dumbing down our citizens by holding down the market value of intellectuals through importation of less expensive foreign talent.

Bottom line: It is our elected representatives who pass the laws that make the rich richer and the poor poorer. So gripe to the only people who can level the playing field, your elected representatives.

VICTOR L. BRANT

Cape Girardeau