Dear Editor
My hat is off to William Wardill, who wrote the commentary, "Restore balance between needs and ability to pay," in the Dec. 1 issue of the News-Optimist. He began the piece very well with a reminder of "the almost unimaginable level of exploitation generated by the industrial revolution" and of the important role of labour unions in "the struggle for justice for the workers."
However, he didn't point out that, for at least several decades now, the increasing wealth, power and size of giant corporations has been undermining the position of the unions. The middle class, made up to a large extent by much-better-paid workers after he Second World War , had become a major part of our society, and a major part of our consumer driven economy. But now, while national GDP has been increasing rapidly, most of that new wealth has been going to the very rich, while workers - and even most of the other members of the middle class - have been finding their incomes either falling or remaining static. The result has been an erosion of much of the middle class, and an increasing gap between the very rich and the rest of us.
This recent recession is an example of how unequal our economic system has become. While the large financial institutions and giant corporations generally were responsible for the sudden downturn in the world economy, two years later, big business, as exemplified by Wall Street and Bay Street, has generally recovered. Large numbers of ordinary folks have not, and are either worried about losing their jobs, or worried about how long they will be out of a job.
So far, this disparity of wealth has not gone to the point of no return, although it is much worse in the United States than here. We are still far from being like a "banana republic," because we still have a fair sized middle class. So far, reasonable people could still find ways to ensure a more equitable distribution of wealth, but the further we continue on this downhill slide, the harder it will be to get back to a point where families might still be able to that their children could have at least the same quality of life that they have enjoyed.
Meanwhile, instead of worrying our neighbour may be making a better income than his job should allow, and that maybe his union is being too concerned with his well being, it might be more productive to wonder why top executives in large corporations make more on the first day of a New Year than even the best paid workers make in an entire year.
Russell Lahti
Battleford
