Where's the Voice of the Young People?

My generation once shouted down the establishment,
protested the war, rejected material possessions. Then the draft ended
and we lost our idealism.

Now we run the wars. Our arrogant old generals refuse to admit that we
don't need the bloated monstrosity that sucks nearly a trillion dollars a
year out of the economy. Martin Luther King said it over 40 years ago,
when he condemned the spending of billions on war instead of on
education and society.

And now we run Wall Street. The Gordon Gekkos of my generation insisted
for years that the economy would grow if the rich were taxed less, for
they would spend their money on new business, research, and jobs.

In 1980, when the go-getters in my crowd were settling into management
positions, the richest 1% of America already had a big slice of the
total income pie. About 1/15 of the pie. Over the next few years they
cut a second piece of the same size for themselves. Then they cut a
THIRD piece! Three times as much in 30 years, not from working that much
harder than everyone else, but from tax cuts and deregulation in the
financial industry.

Most of you come from hard-working middle-class families who are
struggling more than ever before. If your family had the same size slice
of pie as in 1980, based on your contribution to our steadily-growing
productivity, you would be making $10,000 to $20,000 a year more than
you are now.

The money was taken away by financial experts who have devised
intricate, cunning methods to manipulate the money systems, all the
while lobbying for lower taxes and less government interference.

So now it's 'legal' to call income "carried interest" instead of income.
This is a type of capital gain, like stocks, except that you don't have
to possess any capital. It's like a bank robber saying "it's not money,
it's only paper."

And now it's 'legal' for CEOs to backdate their stock options to a time
in the past when the price was higher. Like changing the numbers on a
lottery ticket.

The bank robber and lottery thief would probably go to jail.

My generation has devised a system in which one man can make enough
money in a year to pay the salaries of every police officer,
firefighter, and public school teacher in the city of Chicago, while
paying a lower percentage in taxes than the people cleaning his offices.
A number of hedge fund managers did this.

That's why many of you young people don't have a job.

In 1980 1 out of every 15 dollars earned in America went to the richest
1%. Now it's 3 out of every 15 dollars. That's an EXTRA TRILLION dollars
a year that goes to the richest 1%.

Money that should be spent on education and jobs for all the people who
contributed to our productive economy, and for those of you graduating
from high school or college. Instead it's being held in escrow. The
richest 500 corporations are sitting on $2 trillion in cash.

The richest 1% call for taxes on soda pop and online gambling to solve
the nation's budget problems. They say "don't tax the most productive
members of society" while making most of their money on non-productive
financial strategies. They cry 'socialism' at any mention of new taxes
while demanding a bailout of their failed financial institutions.

It's your problem now, young Americans. You don't have much money, but
you have untapped power in your ability to communicate and organize
online. You need to start reminding each other that 1 out of every 5
income dollars goes to the clever little group of people who learned how
to change the numbers on the lottery tickets.