To the Editor:
There is much finger pointing over rising prices and rising inflation. Workers do not contribute to rising costs. What do they control other than the work of their hands?
Compare wage increases over the last 40 years with CEO and executive remuneration, along with shareholder dividends. In recent years, there were record profits and executive remuneration by companies – including gasoline companies – while employee wage increases have been minimal in comparison.
The differentiation between executive and worker pay has widened from 50 times greater to hundreds of times greater in current times. High interest rates simply mean money flows upwards to those that have, with a greater burden on those who had to borrow.
Food stamps and other such federal programs are not so much about helping the poorer strata of society but supporting employers from paying wages that enable employees to live financially independent of such aid; in short, such programs are backdoor subsidies to employers.
Surely, we have reached the days when we can challenge the validity of record profits while the employees are living below the poverty threshold and qualify for government assistance.
Richard Jacobs
Anthony resident