The U.S. public sees a danger in the nation’s growing income inequality and says the rich don’t pay their fair share of taxes (click on chart to enlarge), according to a new Pew Research Center survey released yesterday.
Nearly six in 10, or 58 percent, say the rich don't pay enough in taxes, while 26 percent believe the rich pay their fair share and 8 percent say they pay too much.
How would you like a 100 percent boost in wages?
If you’re in the top 1/1000th of the U.S. income earners, you already got one. Since 1980, a household making $1.5 million in 2010 has received a pay increase of more than 100 percent, after adjusting for inflation, according to New York Times reporter David Leonhardt (click on chart at left to expand).
Leonhardt points to inequality and a long-term slowdown in the economy as behind the nation’s current woes. This economic slowdown began after the 2001 recession, which never had a strong recovery.
The phrase “trickle-down” economics has always been ripe for derision. Not only because it doesn’t work —the idea that if we ply the rich with more money from taxpayers’ pockets some eventually will “trickle down” in the form of jobs and prosperity is a myth. But also because, let’s face it, “trickle down” conjures up a variety of images we won’t mention here.
Now, cartoonist Mark Fiore has created an animated video , “Once Upon a Trickle Down,” that puts the entire corporate/Republican-backed theory and its effects into an easy-to-understand children’s rhyme. Here’s a taste:
There are responsible tax cuts—and then there are tax giveaways for the already really rich.
In discussions over extending the Bush tax cuts, Republicans propose massive tax giveaways for the wealthy while the middle- and lower-income families would pay slightly more, according to a new analysis by Citizens for Tax Justice ( CTJ ) and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy ( ITEP ).
Indiana’s Gov. Mitch Daniels, who gave the Republican response to President Obama’s State of the Union address last night, represents all too well the sad decline of the national Republican Party. As suggested by the Twitter hashtag #MitchFail, Daniels was an improbably bad choice to represent a party already facing questions about its commitment to the 99 percent. (Feel free to post a message to Daniels at his Facebook page: www.facebook.com/mymanmitchfans .)
Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) supposedly wants to talk about the nation’s inequality—but not to just anyone. Cantor, at the last minute, canceled an appearance this afternoon at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was slated to speak. Curiously enough, Occupy Philadelphia had organized a march from City Hall to the campus to protest Cantor’s speech. But Cantor’s not giving a reason for the cancellation.
Ja-Rei Wang, AFL-CIO Media Outreach fellow, writes about her experience with Occupy Wall Street in New York City.
I was one of more than 1,000 students, working families, parents, freelance artists, union members, health care providers and immigrants who weaved through Manhattan’s sidewalks to Washington Square Park to protest the growing wealth inequality in our country, rising unemployment, powerful corporate influence on politics and the need for financial reform, among other concerns. The marching contingent was made up of a diverse group of people of all ages, genders and ethnicities taking part over the weekend in Occupy Wall Street’s “International Day of Action.”
Income inequality has become so severe in this nation that people in Really Important Positions (except for most Republicans in Congress) are starting to take note—and issue warnings.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) blusters about not passing the American Jobs Act because he and other Republicans don’t want to raise taxes. But the Jobs Act would only raise taxes on the very richest of the rich—and that’s what he and other corporate puppets don’t want.
It’s been four years since low-wage workers got a raise. Sign the petition to tell Congress it’s time to raise the minimum wage.
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