Taking From the Poor, Giving to the Rich

Here’s an interesting post from Jared Bernstein on the growing economic gap between rich and poor.

Compiled from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) statistics, here’s some highlights:

• $400 billion was transferred from the bottom 95% to the top 5%.
• The share of income held by the top 1% has climbed from 9% in 1979 to 18% in 2005.
• By 2005, the average post-tax income of the bottom fifth was $15,300, the middle fifth: $50,200, and the top 1%: $1.1 million.

Now I don’t want to turn this into a “class issue,” but isn’t this a class issue? And isn’t it partly a class issue because our government has become a government not by and for the people, but by and for large corporations and special interests?Government needs to end policies that support the rich: aka “trickle down” policies. Because it is not trickling down, it is trickling up. Our current policies are eroding the middle class and bankrupting the poor to support corporate welfare.

We need a return of people-based government and economic policies. Policies and tax codes that don’t give disproportionately to those who do not need it. We should fight for economic policies that help small- and medium-sized businesses and encourage competition, rather than encouraging monopolies and “no-bid” wins for the biggest businesses.

The Economic Policy Institute and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities both have more.

Luxury …