This cannot be allowed to happen. Working people and the poor have sacrificed enough. The giant shift of wealth that has occurred in the last 40 years towards the wealthy must cease and be drastically reversed. For society to regain any semblance of equilibrium, wealth must be re-distributed on a magnificent scale, since any society that intends to meet the basic needs of its citizens -- food, housing, health care, education -- is utterly incompatible with the current situation, where a small group of billionaires enrich themselves by bursting financial bubbles and war profiteering.
The White House and Congress will do anything to avoid the urgently needed tax increases on the wealthy that the economic situation demands. All kinds of complicated tax increases on the working and middle-classes are likely to be proposed, such as the European-style Value Added Tax, and other taxes on consumption.
Labor unions and community organizations must unite to demand that the very wealthy -- the top 5 percent of the population -- and corporations pay for the economic crisis that they've manufactured. The enormous national debt and the dire need to maintain and expand social services make this demand especially urgent. There's no time to waste.
And, while placing the major burden of taxation on the rich who can afford it is an obvious necessity, a redistribution of existing wealth would be only a temporary solution to the current economic crisis. A basic restructuring of our society --Â taking political, economic, and social control out of the hands of the tiny group who have wielded power since the founding of this country --Â is the only road to a prosperous and sustainable future.
Shamus Cooke is a social service worker, trade unionist, and writer for Workers Action (www.workerscompass.org). He can be reached at shamuscook@yahoo.com
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