This election-era talk about lifting, taxing or not taxing America’s middle class doesn’t land or resonate with me. When I hear numbers like the possibility of $250,000 tax breaks for the wealthy, it’s drowned out by the white noise poverty thrums through my head or the rumbling hunger makes in my gut. It’s official: I am distracted by my own poverty.  

Every construction manager understands that sometimes there’s just no way around taking a break from the job — between bad weather, lost materials or John Kasich, something is bound to slow down production. Highway workers outside of Columbus today found out the hard way that just about anything can send you home early — hardhat and lunchmeat sandwich in hand.  

Even as reckless Wall Street investors ring the alarms and bellow about needing $700 billion in taxpayer money to avoid an economic meltdown, some of them are trying to pin the blame on lower- and middle-class homeowners.