When will the people wake up?

Connect the dots, people!

The US doesn’t have a budget crisis. We just have a bunch of free-loaders who don’t want to pay their fair share.

No, not the firefighters and teachers jamming Wisconsin’s state capital protesting their governor’s blatant attempt at union-busting — after giving massive tax breaks to businesses. The freeloaders I’m talking about are America’s super-rich.

From the 1940s- 1980, the tax rate on the highest earners in America was 70% or higher. In the 1950s, it was 91%. Today it’s 36%. Even with deductions and credits, the rich used to pay a much bigger chunk of their income in taxes. Today, the country which has so blessed the richest Americans gets a thumb in the eye as a thank-you.

Why don’t everyday working people look around and see the obvious connections between:

“… the explosion of income and wealth among America’s super-rich, the dramatic drop in their tax rates, the consequential devastating budget squeezes in Washington and in state capitals, and the slashing of public services for the middle class and the poor.” Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich in Huffington Post

Somehow the nation’s rich and powerful, and the flunkie politicians who do their bidding, have convinced working Americans that the government is the enemy.

The government’s not perfect. But even if you eliminated all waste, fraud and abuse, it’s a drop in the bucket compared to getting the rich to pay their fair share.

Look at the richest 1-2% of Americans, who control an unprecedented share of the nation’s wealth. Then ask yourself, ask your neighbors, ask the rich themselves, “Why aren’t you doing your part to help rebuild the economy that’s been so good to you?