The South African Civil Society Information Service
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
4 Aug 2011
The richest 1% of US Americans earn nearly a quarter of the country's income and control an astonishing 40% of its wealth. Inequality in the US is more extreme than it's been in almost a century — and the gap between the super rich and the poor and middle class people has widened drastically over the last 30 years.
As low and middle class wages stagnate and unemployment remains above 9%, Republicans and Democrats are tussling over whether to slash funding for the medical and retirement programs that are the backbone of the US's social safety net, and whether to raise taxes — or to cut them further.
The budget debate and the economy are the battleground on which the 2012 presidential election race will be fought. And the United States has never seemed so divided — both politically and economically.
How did the gap grow so wide, and so quickly?
© Al Jazeera
Editor's Note: You might also be interested in reading: An Investment Manager's View on the Top 1%. An article that provides valuable insights into the top 1% by disaggregating it.
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How did the gap grow so wide so quickly?
Oligarchs and capitalists - they have outsourced labour resulting in unemployment in the US, whilst their bottom line grows as do their profits and bonuses.
The rich get tax cuts and the poor don't.
It's sickening how the greed and the power of money has infiltrated the Democrats - that there is basically no left wing in the US At all.
