^[1]

By Paul Bucheit

On the first day of Christmas my employer gave to me a penny for every $3 ^[2] the richest 130,000 Americans make. It’s been a national tradition since 1980.

^[3]On the second day my doctor showed me TWO Americans needing mental health care, but only one of the two could afford treatment ^[4]. The doctor informed me that the fifty states have cut $1.8 billion ^[5] from their mental health budgets during the recession, and that the 2013 Republican budget proposes further cuts. “It’s crazy,” I protested. “Some states are allowing guns ^[6] in schools and daycare centers and churches and bars and hospitals, but they’re cutting mental health care?” The doctor just nodded in frustration.

On the third day The Economist ^[7] told me that it costs just THREE cents ^[8] in administrative expenses for every $100 raised through a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) in the United Kingdom, versus $1.42 for the personal income tax and $1.25 for the corporate income tax. With up to THREE quadrillion dollars ^[9] in total U.S. financial transactions, we could replace federal income taxes with a tiny FTT.

On the fourth day a food pantry gave me FOUR dollars worth of food. That’s about what food stamp recipients ^[10] get each day through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). To pay for rent and utilities, a family of three gets $400 per month ^[11] from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), which comes to about FOUR dollars a day per person.

On the fifth day a financial advisor introduced me to his FIVE richest investors, who were the only ones out of 100 Americans to increase ^[12] their wealth over the past 25 years, by the impressive rate of almost 20% ^[13]. It’s like that throughout the entire country, the advisor said: only 5% took almost all the gains.

Five golden rings, indeed.

  ^[3]