[Editor's Note: We originally ran this article in July, and with the "Fiscal Cliff" looming and our president and elected representatives in the House and Senate in heated negotiations in an effort to avoid sending us over it, we feel it's time to dust it off to remind everyone of what's at risk: Survival Security and Earned Benefits programs.

Democrats are calling on everyone to do their part as we have historically done as a nation in times of economic crisis (top marginal tax rates were raised from 24 percent to 63 percent during the Great Depression, and continued to rise as we entered World War II, reaching a high of 94 percent).

Republicans are asking the poor to take a hit as well, with changes to our Earned Benefits and Survival Security programs. While we recognize that we need to address the shortfalls in these programs, we believe solutions lie in reducing the number of people forced to rely on them through thriving wages for workers, not in stripping benefits for those in need.

As one of our nation's Founders, 2nd president of the United States John Adams eloquently stated:

"Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for the profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, the people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness require it."

This article seeks to elucidate one of the most significant reasons our Survival Security programs have come into greater use in recent years: Major corporations like Walmart underpay their workers and use taxpayers to pay their employees, extracting enormous sums from our economy for their personal enrichment. This practice is in direct moral contrast with our country's stated objectives, damaging all of us, not just those who work for Walmart and other companies like them.

Please continue reading as we illustrate how this scheme works]: