SUNDAY NEWS

In his column “Wildfire on Wall Street”, Associate Editor Gil Smart writes:

“These are the ‘99 percenters,’ young people with few prospects; their stories, many posted at wearethe99percent.tumblr.com, are heartbreaking….

“The system we have, our government as it exists, has been honed by and for the 1 percent. In this system money talks and everything else walks, and who has the money?…

“Americans have an abiding sense of fair play; we hold that so long as you play by the rules, you can succeed. But when the rules are changed midgame, it is natural, and right, for people to feel cheated…”

WATCHDOG: The demonstrations taking place across the nation have brought hope for the first time in years to this old fellow.  Now that the Jewish high holidays are over, he will order a sign stating “Medicare for everyone” and go down to join friends and the other demonstrators in Freedom Park in Washington D.C. for a day.

The cards are so stacked against 99% of the population …especially after the outrageous Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court… that big money interests have subverted what had been a successful combination of capitalism restrained by social democracy. They own both political parties!

Thus we are back in the age of the Robber Barons, and the laws that were passed under Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, FDR and Harry Truman and the fair income tax practices under Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon and even Ronald Reagan have been eviscerated.  Even when all forms of taxation are included,  unlike the past the riches people in the country pay no greater share of their income than the working class.

Only our young people can correct what we have botched up.  “May the force be with them!”

Oh yes, two wags of the tail for Smart.  After flirting with conservatism, he seems to be coming home.