Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Wealth Inequality in America

Mr. and Mrs.Average American - you need to look at this video of perceived distribution of wealth, the perceived ideal distribution of wealth, and the reality of distribution of wealth in America as seen by 5000 Americans polled by a Harvard professor and economist. This is going to shock most of
 you. 
 
 

Why has this happened in America where a strong Middle Class is so necessary to maintain a healthy political, social and economic climate in a democratic society?

I credit the conservative movement's successful effort to redistribute the wealth in America since the 1980's  through the following policies:

A. Beginning in the 1980/s , the implementation of "Reaganomics" as a national economic policy promoting the "Trickle Down Theory" of economics

B. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich's "Contract with America" implemented in 1995 by the Republican-dominated Congress.

C. Special interest lobbyists who have provided campaign donations and other "perks" to get special tax incentives and tax deductions for their clients that have allowed money to flow to the top 1% .

D. The failure of Congress to set a national minimum wage that keeps up with the rate of inflation.

E. The decline in the percentage of unionized workers from a high of nearly 34% in 1954 to a low of 11.3% in 2012.

F. The implementation of  Free Trade treaties and the resulting flow of manufacturing from America to "off-shore" manufacturing sites cost millions of American jobs. (See page 15 of the the pdf document "Effects of NAFTA on US Employment and Policy Responses" by Christopher J. O’Leary, Randall W. Eberts, Brian M. Pittelko)

G. The unrestricted flow of capital to "off-shore" banks where they cannot be taxed.