By Dennis Rahkonen

Highly profitable General Electric and Exxon-Mobil paid no federal income taxes in 2009.

Moreover, according to the Government Accountability Office, neither did two-thirds of U.S. corporations during recent years.

Also, roughly 40,000 American factories shut down during the past decade, often to rip off sweatshop employees overseas.

If the mega rich didn't have tax evasion loopholes larger than a gaudy, whirling Ferris wheel -- and if they possessed sufficient patriotism to hire Americans (at fair wages and with decent benefits) -- there'd be much less national debt for right-wing Republicans to demagogically point to in outrageously scapegoating public service unions, Social Security, and Medicare.

Just as typical workaday citizens obviously couldn't be blamed for the Enron, Tyco, and WorldCom debacles that occurred earlier in this century, they certainly aren't at fault for the housing bubble/derivatives fiasco that tanked our economy not that long ago.

School teachers, firefighters, sanitation workers, librarians, nurses, and police officers didn't send Wall Street into a calamitous tailspin in the autumn of 2008.

Why should they, and we, be forced to compensate for an irresponsible oligarchy's greed-created crisis?

Why should fat cats continue to sit on mountains of profit, derived through blatantly exploiting their workforces and consumers, while the U.S. majority grows more financially insecure and fearful with each passing day?

There's only one solution to what will otherwise be a constant, complete shafting of everyone in this country who doesn't luxuriate in plush, gated communities, with dutiful lobbyists and political reactionaries securely inside their silk-lined vest pockets.

As rebellious Europeans and North Africans facing similar assaults on their living standards have encouragingly demonstrated, a militant response is mandatory.

The time for decisive popular action is now.

Let's cut across ultimately inconsequential divisions -- race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc. -- and seamlessly unite to passionately defend labor, seniors, students, the ill, and all others targeted for brutal sacrifice by those shamefully unwilling to bear the appropriate cost of their own mammon-worshiping sins.

With deep disgust, we've witnessed treasonous betrayal by those who owe allegiance to the Almighty Dollar instead of serving the American common good.

We, the people, have the properly patriotic answer.

Eight words need to be emblazoned on our banners and chanted so loudly in street rallies from coast to coast that the plate glass windows on monopoly capitalism's skyscraping bastions will visibly vibrate with the resonance of our rising, eminently justified rage.

"Make the wealthy pay to save the USA!"

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(Dennis Rahkonen, from Superior, Wisconsin, has been writing progressive commentary with a Heartland perspective for various outlets since the Sixties)