Overleveraging by Wall Street is an acute, but not the core problem of our economic system. Two-thirds of our economy is based on consumer spending, yet corporations, under free-trade agreements, shipped our good-paying manufacturing jobs overseas. Until a critical mass of Americans once again have jobs that pay a living wage, freeing the financial system up won’t, by itself, turn our economy around.

America needs living-wage jobs. The best way to jump-start our economy is with a taxpayer-funded rebuilding of our national infrastructure. Yes, the money will have to be borrowed and repaid. In return, such a project will provide living-wage jobs to stimulate the economy and we’ll end up with a modern infrastructure that should serve us well for many decades.

The free-trade agreements our government has entered into must be re-examined.

When corporations refuse to pay a living American wage for the sake of short-term profit, they sow the seed of an economic downturn. Let’s hope we’ve learned our lesson.

Ron Warner

Bangor