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4A Daily News – Saturday, September 8, 2012 Opinion DAILYNEWS RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Greg Stevens, Publisher gstevens@redbluffdailynews.com Chip Thompson, Editor editor@redbluffdailynews.com Editorial policy The Daily News opinion is expressed in the editorial. The opinions expressed in columns, letters and cartoons are those of the authors and artists. Letter policy The Daily News welcomes let- ters from its readers on timely topics of public interest. All let- ters must be signed and pro- vide the writer's home street address and home phone num- ber. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and cannot exceed two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section of those submit- ted will be considered for publi- cation. Letters will be edited. Letters are published at the discretion of the editor. Mission Statement We believe that a strong com- munity newspaper is essential to a strong community, creating citizens who are better informed and more involved. The Daily News will be the indispensible guide to life and living in Tehama County. We will be the premier provider of local news, information and advertising through our daily newspaper, online edition and other print and Internet vehi- cles. The Daily News will reflect and support the unique identities of Tehama County and its cities; record the history of its com- munities and their people and make a positive difference in the quality of life for the resi- dents and businesses of Tehama County. How to reach us Main office: 527-2151 Classified: 527-2151 Circulation: 527-2151 News tips: 527-2153 Sports: 527-2153 Obituaries: 527-2151 Photo: 527-2153 On the Web www.redbluffdailynews.com Fax Newsroom: 527-9251 Classified: 527-5774 Retail Adv.: 527-5774 Legal Adv.: 527-5774 Business Office: 527-3719 Address 545 Diamond Ave. Red Bluff, CA 96080, or P.O. Box 220 Red Bluff, CA 96080 Congratulations on having the courage — or whatever — to state in the paper that Doug LaMalfa's family gets a very large and gener- ous farm subsidy every year — while stating he's one of us. Us don't get all that government money free. Tricky politics Editor: Also about Jim Nielsen not liv- ing in that ridiculous double wide trailer in Gerber. Collecting per diem every day nearly while actu- ally living in the very nice house in Woodland. I wonder how much that cost to never be addressed as it should have been. And who are all these con- stituents that he is so popular with? Makes me wonder if anybody is really paying attention. Thankfully, I have never voted for either man and hopefully never will. want ads so all the Help Wanted ads are in the same place instead of all over the page, I'm sure those who are job hunting would be thankful. No I'm not one of them. Now if you could just fix the Thelma Longo, Los Molinos Editor: I was able to watch part of the Democratic convention. I tried but just couldn't go the whole thing. What a pathetic show. They took God and Jeruselem out of the script, then put it back in without a proper vote. They did a democratic shove it down their throats. This time they shoved it down their own throats. Couldn't happen to a better group. What horrified me was half those attending wanted God and Jeruselem out. Our American cit- izens. If they don't believe, fine, but those of us who do, leave it alone.We have rights too. Elizabeth Warren of Massa- chusetts running for Senate is absolutely right. The system is rigged. That's about the only thing she said that was true. She implies it's all the Republicans fault. Mitt Romney isn't even elected yet. He's rich, he's a crook, bad guy, fake. Shows how bias and ignorant this woman is. Takes two to tango, babe. She stated on her registration papers for office that she's American Indian? There was a big deal about that a few weeks Convention ago. She's desperate and will do anything to get in Congress. This country didn't get in this mess by one party. The Republicans don't agree with all the give-aways the dems want and they try to hold the line on taxing the middle- class. Rightfully so. I wish they would have passed that law to tax the rich more. Then Obama wouldn't have that to taut as saving the economy. He'd have to find something else, which I'm sure he would. He has much to pick from in his term, point a fin- ger, it failed. Your Turn huge college loans because so much of the money is funneled into buy-outs and pensions and don't forget donating to the democratic candi- dates to get them in so they can continue what they do so well, rob, steal, cheat, and com- plain. They're good. California's middle-class is in jeopardy because of all the perks, pensions, etc. of the unions, main- ly the teacher's union. Look at what was in the paper this week. The teacher's union has taken this state completely over and still complain they don't have enough. These are people teaching our children. Teaching them right and wrong, etc. Sad, sad, sad. The good and decent teachers feel the shame more than those greedy takers, to be sure. They have a conscience. Our students graduate with Our poor children don't have sup- plies because we bad citizens won't give them more money. If we give them a dollar, they spend 5-cents on the kids, take the rest for them and theirs. They are God- less and shameful poor excuses of the human race. Try to take any perk away, they scream bloody murder. Make them pay part of their pension, more tears. The private sector pays 15% for their pension, emplo yer -emplo yee combined. Try to get these nuts to pay 5-7%, when they make a bet- ter wage anyway, and they're dev- astated. They won't take a cruise this year. Poor things. I'm completely disgusted with this state.We're trying to move out of it, and hopefully will some day. Bernice Cressy, Cottonwood Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 6031 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319-2102 STATE SENATOR — Doug LaMalfa (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 3070 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 651-4004; Fax (916) 445-7750 GOVERNOR — Jerry Brown, State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 445-2841; Fax (916) 558-3160; E-mail: gover- nor@governor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE — Wally Herger (R), 2595 Cean- othus Ave., Ste. 182, Chico, CA 95973; 893-8363. U.S.SENATORS — Dianne Feinstein (D), One Post Street, Suite 2450, San Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 393-0707. Fax (415) 393-0710. Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (510) 286-8537. Fax (202) 224- 0454. Muddled Middle Class conflict Commentary The middle class has gotten a lot of lip service from both major political parties this cam- paign. One party claims it can rebuild the middle class, while at the same time accusing the other party of being "redistribu- tionists." The other party says it will defend the middle class. Each party accuses the other of "class warfare." It would be comedic if there haven't been some real concerns for the mid- dle class lately, and not just because it is an election year. No one is quite sure just what the middle class is, but a great deal of our citizenry declares that they are part of the middle class. In a recent Pew poll a majority of those interviewed said that a family of four would need to have an income of at least $70,000 per year to live a middle class life. It is debatable whether or not that is the right amount to make "middle class" life happen, and certainly the amount needed would vary based on place of residence. (Think of rents in Red Bluff ver- sus New York City.) For the purpose of this article, I am going to say the middle class includes households in the middle twenty percent of all incomes, i.e. those between the 40th percentile to the 60th per- centile of household income dis- tribution,. The range of house- hold income for that "middle" would be from would be from $38,004 to $61,720 in 2010 dol- lars. (For comparison purposes, the median or 50th percentile of household income for Tehama County was $38,137, and for California it was $60,883.) [All figures are available at the U.S. Census and are in 2010 dollars unless otherwise noted.] liars figure, but the average of all household incomes in the Unit- ed States for the same time peri- od was $70,422; which means the "average" household had significantly greater income than those in the top of the mid- dle of the income distribution above; that is the average house- hold made about $9,000 or 14 percent more than those at the top of the middle income group above. I know that figures lie and The average household income for the bottom 90 per- cent of households in the United States was $30,374 or less than half of the average for all house- holds. expressed about the increasing- ly larger share of income by the top earners compared to most of us. Part of the Occupy movement was an attempt to generate concern over that growing disparity in incomes as well as allegedly corrupt bank- ing operations and the very high CEO salaries of those allegedly cor- rupt banks. Timothy Noah of the online magazine Slate has noted move so far beyond the "mid- dle" and the bottom 90 percent, upper level incomes must be considerably higher than the middle 20 percent, and they are. For example, at the 80th per- centile, income was $100,065, and at the 95th percentile house- hold income was $180,810. In other words 95 percent of households earned less than $180,810 in 2010.. Those of us in the bottom 99 percent likely know the top one percent starts at $382,593 and climbs upward to average out at $1,243,516. That's right, the average income for the top one percent is $1,243,516. It is this widening spread between the top tier of earners and the rest of us that worries some commentators. Some have calculated that the richest one percent of Amer- icans now take home almost 24 percent of the total income, up from just short of nine percent in 1976. In order for the average to The numbers above show why there have been concerns States now arguably has a more unequal distribution of wealth than traditional banana republic countries like Nicaragua, Venezuela and Guyana. the United was in its infancy, some thinkers postulated we were in the begin- ning a new era of the 99 percent against the one percent. Because of the unruliness of the participants and the disregard of private property by some, those thinkers recalled the uprisings against wealth and oppressive working conditions over a cen- tury earlier; some evoked mem- ories of the Anarchists who once flamed across the social horizon in violent protest against a variety of social ills, including property, government, wealth, and oppressive working conditions. For those thinkers the new Occupy movement was about to reach tsunami stage. As most of us know the Occupy wave was not big enough to surf. When the Occupy movement As I have mentioned before, a recent poll conducted by the Aspen Institute and the Atlantic Joe Harrop strong feeling. For modern day anarchists the question is whether or not the "masses" will become ener- gized enough to try to "over- throw" the system that has cre- ated these new disparities in income. For other observers the question is whether or not the "market mechanism" will work to bring more of the fruits of opportunity to more of us. This most likely will be an ongoing tension in a country which praises capitalism, competition, and equal opportunity. In com- petition there are always win- ners and losers. Each political party will make promises to the losers; the question is what could one party or the other do to allow the system work better for more of us. Magazine indicated that while the American people are not happy with the status quo, while they think there is too much money in poli- tics, and while they believe there is too much corruption, they still have a strong feeling that with hard work anyone can achieve their social and economic goals in this country. In the eyes of many we are still the nation of opportunity. This dogged optimism is a major part of the social glue that holds us together; and both parties play upon that Joe Harrop is a retired educator with more than 30 years of service to the North State. He can be reached at DrJoeHarrop@sbcglobal.net.