Wall Street or Main Street?

"For too long the value of work has been diminished by policies that have put Wall Street above Main Street." That's Bill George, president of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, writing on Labor Day in the Harrisburg Patriot-News.

Putting Wall Street first has led America to the place where those who grow rich from our problems have blocked the efforts to correct those problems.  Health care is a case in point. Health insurance premiums have climbed nearly 100 percent in less than 10 years and more and more Americans are becoming uninsured.  Yet during this same period, profits among health insurers have been up sharply.  Now, as the majority of Americans call for reform, the insurance industry is using its political connections and campaign contributions to bock reform. 

The negative consequences are widespread.  Wrote George, "The high cost of health care is killing jobs and diminishing wages, making it difficult if not impossible for businesses to compete with industrialized nations worldwide and further eroding the purchasing power of working families."

George recalled the '50s and '60s when the United States built a strong and prosperous middle class.  "When workers, represented by unions, had a larger presence in the economy, the nation enjoyed sustained economic prosperity.  Workers could afford to purchase the products they made and that other workers produced and provided.  We grew together as a nation." 

As unions have weakened, and as the cost of health care has increased, the compensation paid to workers has declined.  "The value of wages in Pennsylvania today is $2,341 less than in 2000 due to rising health care costs that have climbed four times faster than wages and three timnes faster than inflation during the last nine years," according to George.

"If we do nothing, health care will consume 51.7 percent of the median family income by 2016.  If we do nothing only the wealthiest people will have health care."