This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
All of the hoopla about gun and marriage rights, religious freedom, austerity, abortion and the deficit, among others, are just smokescreens and distractions from the real problems and the real solutions that never seem to be addressed.
The biggest problem: Our politicians are completely bought and paid for by Wall Street, big business and the ultra-wealthy. Politicians do their bidding because they give them lots of money.
Big business paid our politicians lots of money to change the rules in their favor, send our jobs overseas and bring Third World individuals here, paying them much less than an American expects: a living wage with benefits.
Wall Street and the wealthy investment class (who don't work and never have) destroyed our economy, destroyed our manufacturing base and were rewarded handsomely for that by our government with our tax money.
Currently, Wall Street pays no taxes or fees for any stock transactions. It's time it started paying for some things and stopped leeching off of us.
A minuscule tax applied to each stock transaction would generate billions for health care, education and jobs — things that really matter.
Daniel Fjeld
Taylorsville