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This column reflects the opinion of the writer. Learn about the differences between a news story and an opinion column.

Support the middle class

Your March 18 feature depicting the downward pressure on the American middle class verifies this principle: the COVID-19 response needs to support and revive that diminishing class and the bottom 92% who make $150,000 or less annually, according to 2018 income figures.

Middle-class folks working in small businesses, education, health care, the armed services and local government employees provide the front-line services all Americans enjoy. Think nurses, teachers, plumbers, tech and mail persons.

The IRS website shows that during WWII the top income tax bracket was 90%. That meant the U.S. had less debt with the domestic engines poised to hum in 1945. With our recent trillion-dollar billowing deficit, which benefits mainly big business and high income earners, we cannot afford to indulge big oil/shale in the COVID economic package. In May, 2019, the IMF estimated that fossil fuel subsidies amounted to $5.7 trillion for 2017 alone. Oil bailouts take us backwards as a nation and a planet.

Call Patty, Maria, and Cathy! State that you oppose more bailouts for big oil and shale. We cannot afford to go bankrupt and backwards to maintain the current down-spiral on the backs of the 92%! Beyond bailout, think retool towards a sustainable future! Call today, our Congress debates!

Carol Ellis

Spokane

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