To the editor:

The recent article about the hurting middle class was no surprise. What hurts most is the lack of jobs. If the construction workers were back to work it would help immensely. The problem is we need a strong middle class to generate more house building, remodeling, car buying etc. Demand is what drives job creation and demand is produced by a healthy middle class.

Ten years of tax cuts for the rich have gathered too much money at the top. George Bush slashed the capital gains tax to its lowest level in 40 years, giving the wealthy, who live only off their investments, a 25 percent tax cut. The top end of the income tax bracket got a 4.6 percent tax break. The middle class received a 2 percent tax cut. Republicans in Congress will have no part of leveling the playing field. They accuse us of class warfare. They’ve now had those tax rates in effect for 10 years, and even in the six years before the Bush recession the unemployment rate rose.

Now the Republicans are pandering for more huge tax cuts for the rich saying, “It will generate jobs.” It didn’t work for Bush, and it won’t work now. Give back that 2.6 percent income disparity we lost and make the millionaires pay their fair share on their investment income. They did under Clinton and we had the lowest unemployment in the last 40 years as well as a healthy middle class.