Pump from profits, not hardworking people

In the picture of U.S. financial problems that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke described [“Bernanke says nation must face up to debt,” Business, April 8], there is a figure he refuses to acknowledge. He painted a scene in which working people must accept higher taxes or further destruction of social services, education — our quality of life — because the U.S. economy is “fragile.”

But Bernanke ignored the sacred cow of profits that actually takes up most of the picture.

Working people are devastated by the greed and criminal actions of banks and other financial institutions. Nearly a million homes have reverted to bank ownership and countless foreclosures are still coming. Millions of jobs have disappeared and many will never reappear.

It is time to dig into the massive profits of the banks and corporations. Milk that sacred cow of all its stolen wealth. Tax the rich and demand that they “face up to the debt” before they have the gall to expect more blood from us turnips.

— Tamara Turner, Seattle