A roaring stock market doesn’t make a healthy economy. The United States has the widest inequality of developed countries. Many people do without basic necessities such as medical coverage, quality education, shelter, food and financial security. Indebtedness grows ahnd life expectancy falls. The environment is being destroyed for profit. Political power is wielded by wealthy elites and big business, not the people. Without basic necessities, there is no freedom.

The U.S. was great when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal got us out of the Great Depression. The top marginal tax rate exceeded 90%. His policies damped down inequality and sustained a middle class for decades. We mobilized for war to fight fascism. FDR’s solutions expressed in his Second Bill of Rights, were written into constitutions in post WWII countries, but not in the U.S.

A strong social safety net can assure that everyone has the basics for a dignified life. A high marginal wealth tax can pay for investments in universal health care (including vision, hearing, childcare, and long-term care), public higher education, basic research, supplemented income for the needy, a well-maintained infrastructure, all of which would damp down inequality.

Study successful policies in other countries, like Finland, for improvement here.

Electing Sen. Bernie Sanders would restore FDR’s agenda, drain the swamp, and fight fascism again.

Robert Vogel

East Lyme