The gulf between the lower and upper classes in America probably has never been this wide. Forget the middle class that once tidily supported both, it is gone. Gone. In its place we seem to have a structure in which the rich on Wall St. get richer by buying companies, splitting them up, laying off the employees, and making a killing on the stock prices. The profit from having created nothing but misery for those directly affected, is then placed in off-shore bank accounts, using every available tax loophole on the books. A second set of books NOT for show to the govt is always a good idea, too.

We seem to have a structure whereby the balance of power among our three branches of fed. govt seems to have all but disappeared. Congress refuses to work with the President, who must then cut Executive Orders to get much of anything done; and over at the Court, the Nine Blind Mice are kowtowing to Big Business and rolling back nearly every law passed, that attempted to eliminate Jim Crow. Our schools are more segregated than before. Campaign contribution limits have been removed. In other words, the 3-branch system of checks and balances has failed all of us.

We fix a crumbling infrastructure by: not sending $6B from a supposedly empty U.S. Treasury, to fight Ebola on another continent somewhere. At the same time, our govt found millions for police cameras, though their court-worthiness seems in question; and millions to house thousands of illegals on our military bases. In the meantime, our homeless, our mentally ill, our poor wander the streets looking for food shelter, clothing, hope, opportunity.

In the meantime, our Congress passed last Spring, a comprehensive Farm Bill that, oh by the way, cut $8B from the Food Stamp Program, while continuing an 80 year old program to pay farmers not to grow crops. There is your partial answer to fixing social welfare for you.

In the meantime, you and I are subsidizing Big Oil, farmers both corporate and family, and yes, even Wal-Mart ($7.8B for them alone. Go figure)

In the meantime, Sandy Hook storm survivors are not being given grants from their own govt to re-build what insurance won't cover, but rather are being given loans they cannot afford to begin to pay back. Foreign aid to countries who hate us cotinues, however.

Schools continue to lay off staff, yet remain bulky in overhead depts. On this side of the river, Il has 862 school districts. That is an avg of somewhere in the vicinity of $80k annual salary for each superintendent, plus secretaries, asst. supts. and their secretaries, their office buildings, parking lots, fences, office supplies, cars, computers, software, etc. Here in Clinton Co., there are 12 such districts, for just, count 'em, 20 schools. One of those 12 districts is bemoaning laying off staff, but refuses to consdier consolidation down to say, 4 districts. The savings of the 8 supts'. positions alone would be about $640k annually. But, nope, no one wants to change the status quo. Around here, a citizen's group is going to try for the fourth time this coming Spring, to raise local taxes instead. Amazing.

I taught in AZ for the last 10 of my 20 years in that state. Property taxes there are roughly a fourth of what they are in IL. Teacher salaries are abysmal, teacher turnover rate is high, and student achievement is low. AZ schools have also had state funds withheld and re-directed elsewhere, for years. Their most recent example was in their news last week, when it was revealed the statehouse folks found over $800k to spend on new furnishings.

Fix the infrastructure? Fund schools properly? Better government? All possible. Without citizen involvement and state and national leadership consisting of mostly common sense, nothing will change. We all will sit here next Dec shaking our heads at the year just concluded, bemoaning the facts that nothing changed, nothing improved.

Just my opinion, of course.