Thursday, June 20, 2013

Why Inequality is Increasing

As long as half the population sees some gain in wealth, they vote to enable the rich to impoverish the poor. This explains the current politics of the country. In the chart below the problem lies in in center of the distribution where the gains in wealth are small. These people identify with the people at the very top and are more concerned about handouts to the poor than handouts to the wealthy and corporations in the form of tax breaks and loopholes, so they vote to dismantle unions and squeeze the working people that are losing wealth. As long as the wealthy elite that run the country can continue to throw this middle group a bone to keep them voting in the interest of the wealthy, inequality will continue to increase.
share-total-wealth-1983-2009