DO YOU WANT TO GROW OUR MIDDLE CLASS SO WE CAN HAVE AN ECONOMY THAT WORKS FOR EVERYONE?

Lawrence Mishel, President of the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), published his statement on his recommendations for the White House on our nation’s economy. He stated, “Over the last 30 years, the United States has seen an unprecedented transfer of income and wealth. Trillions of dollars of income that formerly were shared with all income classes have been captured by the top 1% of Americans, leaving the middle class squeezed and lower income Americans suffering real hardships? In fact, since 1979, the share of national income going to the top 1% has more than doubled, thereby allowing them to enjoy more than $1 trillion a year in extra income”. Our situation in Guam is quite similar in that our middle class has shrunk drastically over the years. This clearly shows we must be doing something wrong. 65% of our population is under food stamps showing a significant drop in the quality of life for our people. Over the years, a small percentage of our island has captured a large percentage of our island’s income and caused a majority of the population in poverty level wages. Now we find ourselves in this economic crisis. There just isn’t enough money being circulated in our island. Working people either don’t have a decent pay or have been losing their jobs because of outsourcing of cheap labor. This isn’t right and it’s about time that we implement laws that benefit the working families of Guam and not just the privileged few.