| Rising income inequality is a trend that is self expanding. |
| The 400 wealthiest Americans have a greater combined net worth than the bottom 150 million Americans.
The top 1 percent of Americans possess more wealth than the entire bottom 90 percent. In the Bush expansion from 2002 to 2007, 65 percent of economic gains went to the richest 1 percent. In his important new book, “The Darwin Economy,” Robert H. Frank of Cornell University cites a study showing that among 65 industrial nations, the more unequal ones experience slower growth on average. Likewise, individual countries grow more rapidly in periods when incomes are more equal, and slow down when incomes are skewed. That’s certainly true of the United States. We enjoyed considerable equality from the 1940s through the 1970s, and growth was strong. Since then inequality has surged, and growth has slowed. Source: "America’s ‘Primal Scream" By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF - NY Times - October 15, 2011 As middle class wages stagnate and working class wages decline, each is forced to borrow in order to maintain their lifestyle. Who do they borrow from? The answer is...Who has money to lend? The wealthy invest their money in ways that make it available as loans to working people. They fund everything from mortgage backed securities to big banks that distribute credit cards. All of those loans require the borrower to pay interest to the lender. The worker pays interest to the wealthy. This transfer of wealth from the workers to the wealthy makes the workers poorer, and the wealthy richer. Since the workers are poorer, they have to borrow more, which the ever wealthier rich are eager to lend. |
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