The economy may appear to be turning around, but in Washington, by the most favorable measure, unemployment is now at least 8.6 percent.

Here on the Eastside, people are still losing jobs and homes, small businesses are still closing, social services are reduced and families are forced to dip into their pensions and children’s college-education funds to pay bills and mortgages.

Meanwhile, corporations just scored their most profitable quarter on record; companies are sitting on two trillion in assets. While CEO compensation soars and the bubbly flows on Wall Street, everyone else continues to shoulder the burden of the worst downturn since the Great Depression. Those who still have a job have seen their fortune and security decrease in direct proportion to the increases enjoyed by CEOs and foreign bond holders.

Our state representatives have to choose between people and corporations. Will we protect safety-net programs that help families through economic hardship and create jobs, or will they continue to give tax breaks to out-of-state corporations with record profits? Similarly, will Congress allow the middle class and unemployed to be blackmailed unless the wealthy get their way again?

It’s a decision they must make, as there will be consequences. If things get worse, people won’t be able to stand for it. The current situation and trend is as unfathomable as it is unsustainable.

The American Dream was about and for people, not a just a few ever-failing upward fat cats and corporations.

Tamara Crane, Woodinville