The Christmas Holiday Season, more than any other time of year, highlights the horrendous disparity between the American socioeconomic classes. While the wealthy shower one another with extravagant gifts and engage in excessive consumption, the poor can barely make ends meet, often forced to choose between holiday gifts and the staples of survival.
In my judgment, the wide gulf between rich and poor in this country reflects the distorted priorities of our economic system. The pay structure of corporate executives is based on profit margins, not on job creation or the social value of their goods and services. At our universities, where the cost of tuition is becoming formidable, football coaches are paid more than ten times the salaries of the best professors. And, throughout our society as a whole, we reward entertainers, athletes and other celebrities far out of proportion to their value to society.
The stories of Christmas, from Bethlehem to Scrooge to It's a Wonderful Life, focus on the simple values of fairness, decency and the common good. Philanthropy and charity, while honorable, are not the answer to the tribulations of the less fortunate. Rather, an effort to reset our priorities and to ensure that all citizens both contribute to and benefit from the vast resources of this country will be essential to our future prosperity. If we fail to do so, other, less desirable forces will surely emerge.
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