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Letter: Politicians swayed by richest of rich

The Columbian
Published: September 19, 2014, 5:00pm

For three decades after World War II, the tax rate for the rich was never below 70 percent and the economy grew the most in history. But since the 1970s, taxes for the rich have continued to decline, and wages for Americans have been stagnant or gotten worse.

The facts now and what has happened since the late 1970s are astonishing. Dr. R. Reich, senior fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economics, wrote that in 2013, the medium income for a U.S. worker (in all industries) was $62,546. Americans work an average of 4.6 percent more hours more than the typical Canadian worker, 21 percent more than the typical French worker, and a whopping 28 percent more than your typical German worker, according to data compiled by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof. But our wages (median per capita income in the U.S.) are less than wages in Canada and Northern Europe. Canada and Northern Europe have more disposable income than we do even after taxes.

One reason wages are so low is that all the productivity profits by corporations are going to the top .001 percent of Americans. The very rich are pouring their money into influencing politics and thus our politicians are doing the bidding of the rich by keeping their taxes low, and not doing what is good for the majority of Americans.

Lucy Krantz

Ridgefield

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