Editor, Gazette-Journal:

I have a point to make about what I am seeing in corporate America and its effect on the middle class. Please let me tell it in story form.

Imagine you’re in a 1980s corporate boardroom, where a heated discussion is taking place over retirement plans and how to replace employer-managed pensions with employee-owned (and funded) savings.

"If we convince our employees that investing in stocks and mutual funds (401(k) IRAs) can generate much more money for their future than any company-owned retirement plan and we offer to match a small portion of their contributions, they’ll bite," one says. "We could even contract out the administration of it and save more!" yelps another, and bang, corporate America’s retirement system has changed.

One naïve executive (comic relief) states, "our employees have helped us make this company what it is. Stocks can be very unsafe, what about our loyalty to them and their futur...