To the editor,
Forbes, an American financial magazine, announced its 2024 version of the 400 richest people in the United States. The combined net worth of these Americans is $5.4 trillion. The list is led by Elon Musk with a personal fortune of $244 billion. The least wealthy on the list has a fortune of only $3.3 billion. There were 415 American billionaires who did not have enough assets to make Forbes's list. The bottom 50 percent of Americans have an average net worth of only $51,000. This is remarkable in a country where Donald Trump and Republicans say the economy is in terrible shape. The tax cut for rich people that Trump enacted in his first term certainly helped the upper earners but did nothing for people of modest incomes.

Friday’s (10/4) labor market report showed surprising strength. There were 254,000 jobs created in September and the conclusion is that the economy is in remarkable shape. The unemployment rate fell to 4.1 percent, and wage growth was substantial. Biden-Harris have delivered the soft landing that economists said could not happen. Their economy has compiled the strongest real economic growth for any administration since Clinton’s second term. They have overseen the lowest average unemployment rate since Lyndon Johnson’s administration. Inflation is approaching the 2 percent target that the Federal Reserve has set, and the Fed has started to lower interest rates which will help all Americans, rich or poor. Inflation is a world-wide phenomenon with the USA having the lowest rate of the industrial world.

The disparity of wealth in America is a tragedy which can be addressed through progressive programs that focus on the needs of average Americans.

Louis Drecktrah

River Falls