Editor, Gazette-Journal:

In last week’s paper, Katie Thompson (“Rich people are far from slavery,” Dec. 19 Readers Write) took exception to my assertion that rich(er) people are becoming slaves to poor(er) people.

Let me provide an illustration:

Imagine that every month a ‘poor’ person comes to your door and demands you give him $50, and you are required by law to give it to him. You do this month after month. Some months you may have unexpected expenses and don’t have money to spare. No matter … you must keep back money from your own needs in order to have $50 when the doorbell rings. Are you not a slave to the bell-ringer? He stands there demanding the fruits of your labor with no compensation to you. Is this not slavery? It doesn’t matter is you are worth $250 million or $250 thousand … taking from you without compensation is the whole issue … it’s the definition of slavery.

&nb...