Tucson Weekly LTE, Jan 5th, re Occupy Tucson

The Occupy Movement Serves as a Reminder of Injustice

The recent disparaging Guest Commentary regarding Occupy Tucson managed to take up considerable column space and managed to completely ignore the key issues that drive the movement.
The key issues were outlined by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz in May 2011 in a now-classic Vanity Fair article, "Of the 1 Percent, by the 1 Percent, for the 1 Percent." In short, massive amounts of money flows from the very wealthy (the upper 1 percent) and many large corporations (most of which pay no income taxes) into the pockets of the politicians, who then write laws to benefit their paymasters. The current stalemate we now see serves their purposes just fine, as the current laws favor the further accumulation of wealth and profits while shortchanging the citizens of funding for basic needs.
In fact, the majority of citizens are still fairly stable economically, including myself, but an ever-increasing number are suffering from a loss of jobs and poverty (one of four in Tucson). And with unexpected layoffs, even in the health-care industry, one never knows whether he or she may be next. There goes the income, the health coverage and, frequently, the home.
There is nothing that bothers aspiring and elected establishment politicians more than a persistent and highly visible reminder of the above facts and the need for a massive political housecleaning in the upcoming elections. So, do not go away, Occupy Tucson, as well as the hundreds of others in our country.
Raymond Graap

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