Let me get all this straight.
A portion of the tax money paid in by those who fall in the middle-income salary range is used to help the poor.
Some of that is a responsibility I can live with. I repeat, some of it.
Now, we’re looking at bailing out the rich, too? We’re actually going to reward corporate greed with $700 billion of our tax money? We’re taking care of crooked executives by offering them “golden parachutes” ? We’re considering all of this, when, despite a number of pleas, our federal government couldn’t find the money to help the city and county governments in Newton County rebuild after the May 10 tornadoes? Or make good on its promise to Miami, Okla., after the 2007 floods?
Those questions, in that order, have plagued me all week as I’ve watched the national news, waiting to see how someone else is planning to spend my next paycheck.
And, I’ve had to ask: “Does my government even still care about me and all my middle-income friends?”
Surely folks, the distinction of being what some refer to as “middle class” is quickly going the way of the dinosaur, meaning that soon we won’t have the strength or the desire to pull ourselves out of the mire because we’re carrying too many others on our backs.
“Middle income” describes a lot of the people I know. You know, people who work for a living, and who put their limited savings into a federally insured account. If they went out and lost a big chunk of their Friday paycheck on a risky venture, they know better than to expect much help.
About half (53 percent) of all Americans place themselves in the middle-income category according to the results of a Pew Research Poll released earlier this year. And, according to the poll, fewer Americans now than at any time in the past half century believe they’re moving forward in life.
Our kids are the ones who have to take out student loans because we make just enough so they don’t qualify for grants. And, we don’t make enough to pay the whole load for college.
We’re the ones who have to decide if a family vacation is out of the question when gas shoots up.
We take our lunches with us to work. We carpool with our neighbors. And, we have to make payments on our hospital bills because of the gap between what insurance covers and what the medical industry demands.
All because we are the responsible middle income.
So, pardon me if I don’t buy into this bailout. I don’t think it makes me any less of a patriot just because I’m in no rush to fork over $700 billion that won’t just come out of my pockets, but those of my children and my grandchildren.
I know, simply by reading letters from readers, that this past week you have felt much the same way I do.
Stuck in the middle and tired of it.
Carol Stark is editor of The Joplin Globe. Address correspondence to her, c/o The Joplin Globe, P.O. Box 7, Joplin, Mo. 64802 or e-mail cstark@joplinglobe.com.
Opinion
Carol Stark: Middle class gets second-class treatment
- Opinion
-
-
Our View: Victims should come first
Millions of dollars in donations have poured in from around the world since the May 22, 2011, tornado. Those donations represent money from lemonade stands, charity auctions, corporate gifts and celebrity checks, just to name a few. In fact, one year later donations continue to come to Joplin.
-
Beth Meeker, guest columnist: Same-sex marriage battle a quest for equal rights
I would like to take a moment to reply to guest columnist Anson Burlingame’s, “The Marriage Debate” (Globe, May 13).
-
Sunday Forum: 2012 graduation speakers key on tornado, mall school and president’s visit
Editor’s note: In addition to speeches by President Barack Obama and Gov. Jay Nixon, Joplin High School’s top students addressed graduates, faculty, parents and other guests packed into the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center on the Missouri Southern State University campus. Following are the text of those speeches.
-
Geoff Caldwell, guest columnist: Pack mentality takes truth as a casualty
President Obama’s Joplin graduation speech Monday showed that while there’s the political “right,” there’s also a very active “rabid” political right.
-
Your View: ‘Study’ can mean anything
A few evenings ago, I watched a television program on the science of marriage.
-
Our View: Support for museum
How can you tell the story of Joplin without the accounts of its mining history?
-
Our View: Finding middle ground
The G-8 summit held last week in Camp David ended as expected.
-
Anson Burlingame, guest columnist: Class of 2012 upholds character, hope
My oldest granddaughter was part of the class of 2012 from Joplin High School, and I attended the ceremony on Monday night.
-
Scott Charton, guest columnist: 'Deadline in Disaster' film a story about storytellers
Local newspapers are at their best when they help their communities confront, understand, endure and overcome shared challenges.
-
Our View: Make voting easiser
This year’s ballot will not include a proposed constitutional amendment that photo identification be required at the polls in Missouri. Good.
- More Opinion Headlines
-
Our View: Victims should come first
Raw Video: Gay Protest Blocked in Moscow
Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
CEO Salaries Become Sore Issue in Labor Disputes
