Letter 34

American society prioritizes property rights over human rights. And it isn't even close.

Despite a chronic shortage of funds for public education, the rich are undertaxed by the standards of any other developed country.

The health care system does not prioritize public health, rather it is willing to allow millions to sicken and die to preserve profits for a very small rentier class controlling the insurance racket.

The historic gains in productivity of the last 60 years have profited the owning class and speculators to an absurd degree, while workers' wages have remained stagnant.

The right to sell and own firearms has been prioritized over the lives of schoolchildren and other civilians to such a degree that daily mass shootings are considered a normal occurrence in American life.

Whenever policy solutions to the problem of endemic poverty are proposed, the answer is always that there are not enough funds. In the face of this, the unwillingness to tax wealth and financial speculation, to the degree that stock speculation is actually subsidized by taxing speculation profits at a significantly lower rate than wages is startling.

Tax exemptions and even direct subsidies to already profitable businesses amount to hundreds of billions a year.

Legislators, and even judges are subsidized by private interests, and are beholden to those interests.

As a result, both of the duopolistic political parties prioritize the stock market, which is personally relevant to a very small segment of the population, over public health and welfare.

Wherever you look, you cannot credibly argue against the proposition that American political culture prioritizes property over people in every aspect.