Culture.

Editor,

The problem with the USA is cultural. Think Jonas Salk.

Doctor Salk saved humanity from the scourge of polio, and he did it to contribute something valuable to the human race. He didn't patent his vaccine. He didn't use it as a crowbar to pry what little wealth every working person on the planet managed to accumulate into his own pockets.

Fast forward to now.

Every day on the Dealbook pages in the NY Times yet another corporation swindles millions, yet another bank steals billions, yet another trader, lobbyist, or executive pays a ridiculously small settlement and admits no wrongdoing.

"Think" tanks on the right think of ways to murder thousands of civilians in developing economies to steal their resources, disenfranchise minority voters, bamboozle the public with made-up "facts" so that giant corporations can continue to steal with impunity and destroy the very web of life that makes our existence possible.

People used to take pride in what they contributed to society. Here in Canada people still do. But in the USA the only reason anyone does anything is for money. And the more money someone has, the more they figure out how to steal with ever diminishing effort.

Yes, the American political system is sick: from "news" that amounts to lies and politicians who work for multi-billionaires. But American society is sick. Structural racial inequity, criminalization of race; cynicism, solipsism, militarization of the police. The list goes on and on.

Re: "The Middle Class at Center Stage" (7/25/2013)