Forum Post: On the topic of the rich getting richer

Capitalism was meant to be a balance between consumer and producer; between worker and employer; and a three-way balance between government and businesses and the people. Today this balance is no more. It has been destroyed by greed. Corporations have bought politicians, and have unfairly influenced how laws and regulations are written, at the expense of the general public. It is easy for those with jobs to tell the unemployed to get a job. The problem is actually getting a job when the person seeking a job doesn't have the qualifications for the position offered, or there are 500 people applying for 15 positions offered. How does an unemployed person force an employer to hire them? The truth is that the unemployed are not in charge of their own fate. Corporations control the fate of the poor and middle-class. The more corporations squeeze consumers and try to maximize profits at the expense workers and consumers, the more society as a whole suffers. This corporate greed is ultimately short-sighted. It is time for the mega-rich to realized that they need the poor and middle-class as much as the lower classes need the wealthy. Bill gates is not going to be able to plant his own corn or beans. Warren Buffet may know a lot about stocks, but can he fix his own plumbing or change the oil in his car? Is the chairman of Goldman Sachs going to starch his own shirts? If the wealthy continue their war on the poor and middle-class, there will be backlashes. Nonviolent protest, such as the Occupy Movement, are a benign response to the social pressure from above, but he wealthy should beware. The harder the 1% push, the more they risk a more violent backlash. The "Marie-Antoinettes" on Wall Street need to be mindful of the fate of the real Marie-Antoinette. Corporations complain about uncertainty, and use this as an excuse for not hiring. Yet, they hold and have amassed an enormous amount of wealth. In the process, they are compounding the uncertainty they claim they want to mitigate. If corporations really want economic stability, they need to begin hiring and paying LIVING WAGES. Living wages provide economic stability and prosperity to the poor and middle-class. This in turn provides for more consumption of the products and services provided by the corporations. The solution to the current economic crisis lies with the business community, not government. The corporate world needs to recognize and acknowledge that they alone have the power to correct the mess THEY created.