March 17, 2025 Editor, The News-Gazette: According to Google’s AI, Gemini, in 1989, America was worth approximately $52 trillion, the top 1% owning 23%, $11.92 trillion. By 2022, America was worth $199 trillion, the top 1%’ owning 27%, $53.73 trillion. The bottom 50% owned 6%.
How did the top increase its share? Friends in high places who write tax laws. Congress, one side of the aisle, always campaigns to lower the highest individual tax rates — you can see who benefits. They also say corporations pay too much tax. Trump lowered them dramatically. We know who owns their stock, collects dividends and uses money not muscle to make money. When corporate taxes were cut, they didn’t pay better wages: they bought back stock to raise stock prices and paid higher dividends — to guess who? Republicans now gut environmental laws to increase corporate profits, to benefit who?
How many of the top 1% actually work for a living? The next move for the 1%? Musk financed Senate campaigns, giving Trump $250 million for his campaign, now another $100 million for Trump to go play golf weekly and support a $5 trillion deficitbusting tax cut for billionaires, while Musk and his nongovernment gnomes ransack your private IRS and SS records, planning to cut benefits by claiming nonexistent 100-year-old people are collecting.
And Ben Cline? Has he written to you about grenades he’s thrown himself on to protect Medicare and Medicaid, SS, education, medical research, vaccines, school lunches from being sacrificed to the super-rich?
No, he’s under his desk, hoping he can vote yes on the $5 trillion. He doesn’t want you to discover his part in increasing the “share” of the top 1%. Apparently, one can never have enough billions.
Cline’s reward for doing his lord’s work? Maybe a cushy retirement to a no-work corporate board. JOE PETITE Rockbridge County
