To the editor:

A reaction letter was published on July 3 in response to my letter of June 20. I was touched by the lifetime of triumphs and tribulations described by the author. My sympathy goes out to him for his health struggles, particularly waiting so long to receive the disability benefits to which he is entitled.

Wait times for approval of Social Security disability benefits are atrocious. According to AARP, “Average time to get initial decision on benefit claim has doubled since 2016 … SSA officials largely pin the breakdown on chronic underfunding. The agency’s administrative budget has shrunk by 19 percent since 2010 …” Republicans in Congress have proposed a further $450 million cut to Social Security’s administrative budget for 2025, which would further exacerbate the problem. Republicans have also proposed other cuts to Social Security and Medicare. A Democratic President would prevent these cuts from being enacted.

As the reaction letter pointed out, some Americans struggle financially while others live in a financial bubble. According to the Federal Reserve, the total net worth of the bottom 50% of Americans is $3.8 trillion. Hence, the average net worth of a person in the lower 50% is about $22,000. For the top 1% the total net worth is $46.2 trillion. The average net worth of a one percenter is more than $13 million. This inequity is almost criminal. The top 1% do not work 600 times harder than the bottom 50%. Many of them have inherited their wealth and don’t work at all.

The main achievement of the Republicans in the Trump administration was to lower taxes for the rich with virtually no change in the tax rates for poor people. The rich got richer; the poor stayed poor. Using loopholes, the rich do not pay their fair share of taxes. As reported in VOX, “Over several years, billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Michael Bloomberg, among others, paid no federal income taxes at all.”

In 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act was passed with only Democratic votes. The law contains provisions to help ensure that rich people and big corporations pay more of their share of taxes. No one who earns less than $400,000 per year will be affected. The government can use the additional money to provide better services to Americans, including staff to process SSA disability applications more efficiently.

Sherwin Skar

Marshall