Letter: Middle class workers are real job creators

Who are the real job creators? Is it the wealthy? The Reagan Administration proved that by giving tax breaks to the wealthy so they could invest it. They called it "trickle down economics." The rich invested all right, but not necessarily in the United States. They invested in foreign countries, where the rewards were great and the risks low.

How about the big corporations? Are they the job creators? Give them some government subsidies and tax relief and they will expand production and hire more workers. Didn't happen. Instead they increased the pay packages of their top management. In a recent analysis by the Associated Press, the typical large corporation pay package for a CEO was $9.3 million. No corporation wants to hire workers when there is less demand for their products or services.

Who are the job creators? They are the middle class workers with disposable income. They create the demand for products and services. The middle class is struggling just to survive. Many have lost their jobs.

The answer to job creation lies in government spending. I know that's a dirty word for the "tea party" folks, but it worked in the Great Depression of the 1930s, reducing unemployment. President Roosevelt called it "priming the pump." Once the demand was created, private businesses began to hire again. So it makes sense to go with something that works rather than a plan that has been proven a failure.

Bob Van Velkinburgh

Syracuse