To the Editor:

Richard Crump's letter in the September The Best Times made assertions with which I disagree.

Regarding his views on costs and prices: During the negotiations on prescription drugs in the health care bill, pharmaceutical corporations refused to negotiate prescription drug prices, resulting in Americans being saddled with some of the highest prescription prices.

Mr. Crump further asserted, "from the 1983 tax law to 2008, more wealth was created in America than in the previous 200 years ... Seventeen of those years (1983–2008) were under Republican administrations." What he failed to note was the vast income inequality between the super-rich and the working poor between 1983 and 2008. The slide to oligarchy continued: In 2008, income average was as follows: the top 0.01 percent, $27,342,212; the top 0.01 to 0.1, $3,238,386; the top 1 percent, $1,137,684; and the bottom 90 percent, $31,244. The disparity continues.

We now have a government of, by, and for the corporations. In elaboration: Unions became ineffective due to "right to work" (financed by corporations); corporate lobbying and greed; corporate control of the audio, visual, and printed media, resulting in a wealth of misinformation; and apathy of the electorate.

Mr. Crump has sympathy for the oil corporations, and I grant there are fluctuations in costs and profits. But the fact remains that the fourth-quarter profits of 2010 for ExxonMobil were 53 percent, and ConocoPhillips experienced a 2010 fourth-quarter profit surge of 59 percent. The nonprofit Institute for Policy Studies (a community of public scholars working with social movements to promote democracy and challenge corporate influence) stated that 25 of the 100 largest U.S. corporations paid their chief executives more last year than they paid in federal income tax. Those CEOs averaged $16.7 million in salary and other compensation. Rupert Murdock's paycheck jumped from $16.8 million to $29.4 million.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently made one of its poorest rulings in decades, enabling corporations to finance political candidates by unlimited amounts. When corporations continue to outsource jobs and manufacturing to other countries and import goods to the U.S. that are made in China, etc., the situation will worsen for the laboring class. The Kansas City Star (a Murdock publication) outsourced advertising and some financial responsibilities to India, and I cancelled my subscription. I recently made two personal calls—first to a credit card company regarding billing and second to a computer protection company. With whom did I speak? Someone in India unable to answer my questions. Those jobs should have been provided to U.S. workers. Ten of the wealthiest members of Congress voted to extend the Bush tax cuts benefiting corporations and the super-rich. We would all benefit if the bipartisan bickering would stop and the emphasis be placed on what's best for our country.

Any person who goes to the polls without making a diligent effort to discern the issues and where the candidates stand on those issues should not vote. If in doubt, follow the money trail. If this democracy is to survive, it's time to work toward returning our government to a true democracy—one of, for, and by the people.

—Helen McCracken, Shawnee