The dangers of letting money talk

Corporations have too much political, legal, and influential power in America.  The past decade has seen an increase in the powers of corporate entities and the super rich not seen since the days of the robber barons.  Continually decreased taxes on the higher tax brackets, artificially low estate and capital gains taxes, and a strict adherence to the 'trickle down' theory have left our middle class struggling, our poor teetering on the edge of poverty, and not enough services for the impoverished to go around.  The ratio of what top paid corporate employees make in comparison to an average worker are at their highest point since the 'gilded age' of the robber barons, when the poor literally starved while the rich built sprawling mansion complexes.  On top of this corporations, they themselves run by the ultra rich plutocratic elite, have seen restrictions on their influence and destructive capabilities decreased, including the recent ruling in 2010 of allowing corporations to spend unlimited amounts on elections.  Those who have fought hard to win this inequity, the top 0.5% of wage earners, truly believe they deserve their four homes complete with staff, four yachts, private plane, twelve cars, and two months of vacation a year, while the bottom 50% of wage earners (of those lucky enough to be employed fulltime) deserve just enough to barely pay the mortgage, put food on the table, and gas in their cars.  The law on the books even states that corporations MUST prioritize profit for their shareholders above all else, the practical result of which is that worker's rights and pay have decreased, what used to be two 40 hour jobs is often now one 50 hour a week job, ecological responsibility is on the way out, and business ethics in general tend to follow one rule "if it makes money, do it"!  So, the rich are getting so rich they could easily make you do anything, and I mean anything, for the right price.  Human life and suffering have become cheap: those who cannot afford to feed their kids obviously shouldn't have had them; the sick should obviously go into debt, because the healthcare market here is so fair and reasonably priced; the homeless and jobless just aren't trying hard enough; and so many other similar narratives bought and paid for by the ultra-rich, and distributed by their bought and paid for representatives, like politicians, corporations, and pundits.  Meanwhile 'We The People' have for the most part bought it hook line and sinker.  Who cares if your neighbor is drowning in debt and can't afford to get his roof fixed AND make payments on his house, as long as you've got yours.  We've forgotten to care about each other, identifying any, and every, person we don't know as 'the other'.  There is little, if any, sense of community anymore.  The news keeps us tense, afraid, and guarding our little patch of dirt fiercely.  The economic state keeps us squabbling over jobs, begging for benefits, and pretty fairly at the complete mercy of our employers.  While the state of politics keeps us fighting over which of two sides, both of which are wrong and do not represent us, is right.  All of this has happened with our tacit consent.  While we have been looking to those with the greatest wealth as something to be emulated, a gold to attain, and a lifestyle to be envied, they have been walking away with our rights, claiming they are owed more, stealing the wealth of our nation for themselves, and arguing that we should all have to beg them for scraps, because it is by their wealth alone that the economy continues.  This is wrong!  Those who do nothing are making billions, companies who do nothing are making billions, meanwhile jobs that actually produce something, instead of just pushing paper and serving the public, are disappearing at a rate never before heard of.  Our economy is in dire straights and allowing those at the top to keep more of the fruits of our collective labor will never help matters.  We, as a nation, need to stand together and loudly and constantly proclaim that rights and lives of the collective individuals that make up this nation are more important and should be given greater weight than the profits of our largest companies and the wealth accumulation of the already rich.  We need to agree that a man who hasn't worked a day in his life should be charged more taxes for having been born with money, than a man making 50k a year working as a plumber.  I urge anyone unfamiliar with our national tax rates to go take a good look at what people actually get charged.  Why should you only pay 15% in taxes for owning millions of dollars of shares in company, when the workers at that company making significantly less per month are expected to pay more.  We The People formed this government, and We The People need to take it back.  Most of our politicians have been bought, through donations, schmoozing, and influence brokering, by one or more corporate special interests.  Almost every industry in America has a lobby, that doesn't work for the workers of that industry, doesn't work for the streamlining of that industry, doesn't even work to make being in that industry easier, their only goal is to make it more profitable by requesting favors, promising favors, wining and dining, and making their voices louder than those of any politicians constituents.  Our companies are not our country.  Our people are our country.  We need to work together as the people of this country to demand that those taking the largest share of the pie give back a significantly larger piece, otherwise they will continue to get fat while the majority of us starve on the crumbs.