Greed

Photo: Peter Petraitis

Current statistics show that 50% of America's yearly income is earned by 20% of the population, those who earn over $100,000 a year.  Those living under the poverty line, 17% of the population, earn approximately 3% of the nation's annual income. Meanwhile, our Congress is dithering over whether to extend tax breaks to people earning under $250,000 a year, as though people earning between $100K and $250K are part of the middle class. They are not. That group is part of the wealthy class.

The "populist uprising" of the Tea Party and its aligned Libertarians centers on eliminating taxes and further deregulating business, so it may continue to drive wages to the cellar. Those between the 17% below the poverty line and the 20% above the $100K per year income represent the middle class, 63% of the population. A growing portion of that 63% are edging toward the poverty line. This middle class will not be served by the Tea Party or the Libertarians.

This time in American history will determine whether the nation will tip into the kind of republic found in the Third World, where the elite prey on the poor to maintain their privileged lifestyle. The Tea Party and the Libertarians, being financed by the 20% at the top of the current social pyramid, feel perfectly comfortable with allowing the nation to slide in that direction. A nation without a public health care system, without publicly funded higher education, without social security.

In my opinion, a humanist cannot support a political movement which facilitates greater disparity in the wealth distribution of the nation. Greed is not consistent with humanist values.