Serenity

SERENITY © Scott Monteith

11" x 10.5" Charcoal and India Ink




last month a proposed minimum wage increase was shot down by Republicans only to reemerge this month. except this time there was a catch-22 attached. ten years ago the 18 richest families in the United States started lobbying Congress and setting up non-profit organizations to convince the public to to save them more than $71 billion by doing away with the estate tax. only the super wealthy end up paying this tax but of course they are the ones whos money keeps growing just because they have so much of it. if you put $100 in a savings account or into anything to increase your fortune it does not grow as quickly as a million. the 99.73% or the rest of us dont pay because the ceramic bird grandma left you isnt worth squat. but the fortunes Sam Walton left his family, well, they dont want to have to shell out anything this decent man left them. if he could see them now he would likely have gone the way of Gates and Buffet. Wal Mart is evil. CA pays most of the employees insurance in this state because Wal Mart is too cheap to.

the state of CA also has a higher minimum wage for waitresses and those who earn tips. with the proposed federal "increase" those people could lose more than $5 an hour in CA. one out of eight people live in CA. thats a lot of insurance, a lot of state paid medical, a lot of low income, and a lot of kids on free lunches. can America really afford to keep shopping at Wal Mart? can we really afford to let $71.6 billion go into the pockets of the most greedy people in the world who didnt even earn the money themselves. okay, so Paris Hilton has a song but she didnt make all the money herself. its only your future and your kids future.