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Page 10 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, June 19, 2020 ~ Guest Commentary ~ To Have and Have Not By Richard Umbro S everal hundred cars inching along the side of a highway, some of them expensive models, idling away costly gasoline, the occupants talking on cell phones with a hefty monthly price tag. Their destination at the end of the line is a bag or box of food for free, purportedly due to not having enough money to buy any. What’s wrong with that picture? The cause and effect of the aforementioned are multifaceted, most prominent is the perception that a robust economy exists, when in facuality it does not. Particularly less when a crisis arrives in the form of a lethal pandemic. It is a false economy. An economy that devolves into two distinct camps. Those who have and those who have not. Rather than dwell on analytical statistics and archaic mathematical minutiae, several alarming points of fact are to be noted: both on the national and local levels. At one time on the national level our country employed tens of thousands of workers in the shoe, garment, automotive, major appliance and component parts industries, in the manufacture and retailing of a domestic product. These companies provided defined pensions, livable wages and health plans. However, most corporations, through avarice and indifference, decided to shut down factories, lay off all workers and ship all their tooling and expertise to foreign countries, leaving a vast irreversible void in the economic infrastructure. The resulting consequences cast most of the middle class into the throes of those on the lowest rung of the socioeconomic ladder, creating a virtual caste system, ripe for a Marxist-Lenin ideology of division and social unrest. To exacerbate this inequity, corporations set up their ~ LEGAL NOTICE ~ MALDEN BOARD OF APPEAL PUBLIC HEARING The Malden Board of Appeal will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, July 8, 2020 6:30 pm Eastern Time (US and Canada), via remote hearing, on Petition 20-003 by Patrick P. MacDonald, Esq. on behalf of Hashmat Rauf for a variance of MCC 12.16.010 Chapter 12 of the revised Ordinances of 2020 as amended of the City of Malden. Formerly known as Section 400.1.2.1 Chapter 12, of the Revised Ordinances of 1991 as Amended of the City of Malden - Namely, Dwelling – Single Family Dimensional Controls of Lot Size, setbacks and lot coverage as per Plans RES-032321-2020 at the property known as and numbered 45 Valley St, Malden, MA and also known by City Assessor’s Parcel ID # 141-797-715 The hearing will be hosted by the City of Malden on Zoom and will be accessible to members of the public who are invited to attend and provide comments via remote participation by accessing the following link and/or telephone: Internet Link: https://zoom.us/j/96860868824?pwd=Qm1Lc3I1UXU5OE05ZGdvRWU3N DJWQT09 Webinar ID 968 6086 8824 Password: 277685 Or iPhone one-tap: US: +13126266799, 99650222676#,#,677510# or +19294362866, 99650222676#,#,677510# Or Telephone: Dial (for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location): US: +1 312 626 6799 or +1 929 436 2866 or +1 253 215 8782 or +1 301 715 8592 or +1 346 248 7799 or +1 669 900 6833 International numbers available: https://zoom.us/u/acNcTcik5k Additional information, Petition & plans available for public review in Office of Assessor, 110 Pleasant St., 3rd floor. Malden MA or online at www.cityofmalden.org or https://permits.cityofmalden.org/EnerGov_Prod/SelfService By: James O’Brien Chairman June 19 & 26, 2020 headquarters in foreign countries offering 15 percent income tax, thereby eluding the 35 percent tax mandated in the United States at the time. This led to enormous profits that did not trickle down to the disenfranchised. In place of investing these profits into factories, growth and jobs, it was funneled into stock buybacks, stockholder dividends and all about Dow Jones and Wall Street. This division of the income and wealth gap grew exponentially, giving rise to the phenomenon of a monetary oligarchy, resulting in 95 percent of the wealth owned by 5 percent of the populace – a fragile house of economic cards destined to fall at the least ill wind. When a majority of the people are working two jobs to make ends meet and are still in poverty, more than meek protest is inevitable. The staccato cadence of jackboot, brown shirt and anarchy are not far in the distance. “Those who refuse to remember the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them.” If a worker relying on food stamps and living on a low wage cannot produce a product as simple as a roll of toilet paper because that factory has been closed, then the rich man that was responsible for that imbroglio cannot go out with all his millions to buy one; there are none! That in its simplest form, bizarre as it sounds, is the epitome of an economy gone awry.” “A roll, a roll, by kingdom for a roll.” The following is not political; it is merely an opinion afforded by a many-splendored democracy that “We The People,” live in. Nationally, there are 435 United States Representatives and 100 Senators at a combined salary of over 93 million dollars per year, and they must share most of the blame for a flawed economy that only had the appearance of robust. Did they not hear that weakened economic tree fall in the forest? Of course they did! Their response was anecdotal, with one group offering legislation aimed at mitigation, that was either too weak and full of loopholes that did not pass muster. A partisan group attempted to weaken the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Dodd-Frank Act, regulatory legislation aimed at eliminating fraud. A third group, “Janus faced” and egregious, attempted to expand the nefarious practice of gerrymandering legislative districts; that is inherently a form of voter misrepresentation and suppression. Lastly, the ever-present lethargic group, that does nothing except tiptoe through the tulips and trip the light fantastic. Not to be excluded from fault is the Judiciary Branch, that seemingly august body of nine men and women who put on long black robes and refer to themselves as the Supreme Judicial Court. Most of the time their decisions are justifiable and equitable. However, some are questionable and are open to criticism. Decisions that inadvertently affect the economy, as finding in favor of “Citizens United,” a five to four majority vote. This allowed large corporations, under the guise of “corporate personhood,” unlimited amounts of money to be spent on election campaigns under the First Amendment free speech rights. If a nine member Bench has an agenda, their five to four decisions allow candidates for office their own agendas to fashion another 2008 meltdown, enlarging the economic crack in the democratic foundation. As to the issue of gerrymandering, on June 27, 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that Federal Judges have no power to stop politicians from drawing electoral districts to expand their party’s power. An imminent implosion of the Judicial, Legislative and Executive branches. Walk down any Main Street small town U.S.A. and you will view the transformation of an industrial based economic giant into one of a service and hospitality connected one. Gone are the ice cream parlors, curtain shops, candy stores, drug stores, large retail chains and bakeries. Replaced by signs in garish neon proclaiming the following: “We buy gold, checks cashed here, for lease/sale, lottery tickets, pawn shop, marijuana sold here,” also empty stores with plywood covered front doors. An ugliness to even rival the picture of “Dorian Gray.” City Councils have a duty to fund liabilities and face pressure to balance a budget. If they don’t do enough, there is a shortfall, if they do too much it may become “draconian.” A small business owner’s worst nightmare is to observe workmen installing parking meters and kiosks at his front door, while opening his mail to find his taxes have gone up. Perhaps a fresh perspective utilized will be to invite a large, quality, well-established retail store to the downtown area, offering them a tax incentive to anchor the Main Street. Small stores will feed on the aftermarket flow. Revenue derived from lottery, parking tickets and casinos is ephemeral and fallow; it is without root and destined to bear tainted fruit. After reading this article, you may have surmised that this writer is in the autumn of his years. And if you did the math, you are correct; I am well into my octogenarian years. I focus now on prune juice and Bengay – don’t laugh, you will get there, too! I have lived through 15 Presidents, have seen good times and poverty, have been in bread lines and chow lines, drove cars with a clutch. Worked for a short time COMMENTARY | SEE PAGE 11

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