I was fascinated to read Andrew Sheldon's March 23 letter, "Let's celebrate the progress of the few wealthy." His theory that we would all be better off without government is so absurd that I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Not content that, in America, the income gap between the top 1 percent and the other 99 percent is the greatest since 1920, and that one in six now depend on food stamps to survive, he prefers "to see more money in the hands of the wealthy"!
A recent article in Forbes Magazine (not the most radical publication), titled "Income Inequality Is What's Destroying America," states that from 1966 to 2011, incomes of the bottom 90 percent grew by just $59 while incomes for the top 10 percent rose by $116,071. Over the last 30 years, the typical worker's pay has grown by 5.4 percent, while CEO pay has increased by 875 percent, now averaging $10 million and rising to $400 million!
We only need to glance at the pages of the International New York Times to see how these so-called "custodians" enjoy spending the wealth of America.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.