What Matters Most…Commentary by Jim High
At a recent Tupelo SPAFER RoadHouse meeting, SPAFER stands for South Points Association for Exploring Religion, we heard Marcus Borg say that the top 1% of the people in the United States own 46% of the wealth. An incredible figure, I must say. But here are some reliable numbers that show an even worse result of the wealth inequity that currently exists in our country.
Wealth inequality in the United States refers to the unequal distribution of financial assets among residents of the United States. Wealth includes the values of homes, automobiles, businesses, savings, and investments. Various sociological statistics suggest the severity of wealth inequality "with the top 10% possessing 80% of all financial assets and the bottom 90% holding only 20% of all financial wealth."
This is the real war going on in our country, the war between the rich and the poor. Put that way it is easy for the rich to say to the poor, "Go get a job, if you want to live like us." Put another way, the 10% (3,500,000 people) had better watch out because 90% (346,600,000 people) are being shut out of the system that has been structured to favor the rich and powerful. Throughout all recorded history this type of extreme inequity in the structure and workings of the economic system has caused revolution in every county in the world that has become so out of balance. The seeds of that revolution are already planted and growing in the Tea Party and other movements in our country.
Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan both explained justice in Jesus’ time and his message about the justice of Rome verses God's justice for the people. They also explained the two kinds of justice. Individual justice, which we all pretty much understand and accept, and systemic or structural justice, which we know and realize less about, but it is the systemic or structural justice in our country that has allowed the top 10% of people to acquire and hold 80% of the wealth in this country.
So what are we going to do about it? A great start is to extend the tax cuts for the middle class and let the Bush tax cuts expire for everyone above the $250,000 level of income, just as President Obama has proposed. Why does the Tea Party not see this? Why do middle class Republicans not see this? The only people who should be concerned about this are those few folks, percentage wise, who actually earn more than $250,000 in net income. Net income is what you pay tax on. That is the amount you have left over after all legitimate deductions. How on earth has this 10%, those with $250,000 or more, some with much much more, been able to convince the masses to make them even richer?
What Matters Most……..is that what we so desperately need in this country is some balance in wealth distribution. And the only place that we can look for help is to our governments, all of them, local, state and especially the federal government. The federal government is the institution that bears the responsibility for bringing proper justice to our economic system to insure that it works for everyone’s benefit, not the benefit of the few, who are rich already.
“Excessive dress prevents the body from moving freely.
Excessive wealth interferes with the movement of our soul.” ---Demosthenes
“The love of great wealth commands you, ‘Bring me your soul as a sacrifice,’ and people will do so. ---Saint John Chrysostom
“The desire for great wealth can never be satisfied. Those who have it are excited by the wish to have more, and yet more. ---Marcus Tullius Cicero
“If only people who seek wealth could clearly see what they would lose by having it, they would put the same amount of effort into getting rid of this wealth as they now put into acquiring it.” ---Leo Tolstoy
© 2010 #18 Jim High can be reached at P. O. Box 467, Tupelo, MS 38802-0467
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