Potterville USA | The Salt Lake Tribune

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Do you live in Bedford Falls or Potterville?

Imagine your community as a village of 100 people, with Henry F. Potter at the top, taking 17 shares of the village's annual 100-share output. His 19 property managers demand 33 shares.

The remaining 80 serfs are left with the remaining 50 shares, 0.63 share per serf. The minimum cost of living is 0.5 share per year, so over time the retained wealth of the bottom 80 serfs is next to nothing, while the top people hold more than 80 percent of the village's wealth.

Does the above village describe your community? Would you put up with a situation like this?

This may not describe your community, but it does describe your nation! These are the ratios of wealth and income we put up with in our nation today.

Seventy-seven years ago Utah banker and longtime Federal Reserve Board Chairman Marriner Eccles likened such wealth disparity as a poker game where one player held all the chips so you couldn't continue the game.

If you do the math of the above village, and our nation's present wealth disparity, you can see why our economy can't get back up to speed again.

Steve Blackham

Centerville