Few Americans understand how serious income inequality has become in our nation. Opposite ends of the socio-economic scale have grown while the middle class continues to shrink. The truth is that starting at the bottom and working your way to the top is no longer a possibility. The 10 percent of Americans who control 90 percent of our nation’s wealth will never allow a working class person to move up in the echelon of the corporate world.

America is run by a little boy who supports a plutocracy; and a plutocracy cannot exist without fascism. Our nation is not only divided by its political beliefs, it is becoming a third world nation economically.

Sam Pizzigati co-edits Inequality.org. His most recent books are: ‘The Case for a Maximum Wage’ and ‘The Rich Don’t Always Win:’ ‘The Forgotten Triumph over Plutocracy that Created the American Middle Class, 1900-1970.’ He offers these facts about how serious this problem has become, and how dangerous the implications.

“Rising inequality, this federal study makes clear, is killing us. Literally.

“The disturbing new GAO research tracks how life has played out for Americans who happened to be between the ages of 51 and 61 in 1992. That cohort’s wealthiest 20 percent turned out to do fairly well. Over three-quarters of them

75.5 percent — went on to find themselves still alive and kicking in 2014, the most recent year with full stats available.

“At the other end of the economic spectrum, it’s a different story.

“Among Americans in the poorest 20 percent of this age group, under half — 47.6 percent — were still waking up every morning in 2014. In other words, the poorest of the Americans the GAO studied had just a 50-50 chance of living into 2014. The most affluent had a three-in-four chance.”

“The inequality of life expectancy,” as economist Gabriel Zucman puts it, “is exploding in the U.S.”

Nations are rating according to the ‘quality of life’ afforded their people. In developed nations America is currently rated 17^th. This is based on the quality of healthcare, affordable or free education, a living wage allowing sufficient vacations and additional time away from work, and the treatment of minorities, women, and the LGBTQ community; full equality under the law.

In America the rich get tax breaks and the working class pays more for commodities; paying the taxes created by Trump’s tariffs. In America low-income and impoverished Americans struggle to receive adequate healthcare, while the 10 percent can afford the best medical care possible. In America lower income men and women who have the qualifications to go to college cannot afford to attend, while the wealthy consider higher education a birthright; if their children do not qualify, they buy an education for their descendants. In America the super-rich own multiple mansions, buy anything they desire, and drink $500 bottles of wine with their meals, while the working class struggles to pay their mortgages and put healthy and nutritious food on their tables. I could list many more reasons why income inequality is an American problem.

Meanwhile, Republicans refuse to allow an increase in the federal minimum wage.

Op-ed by James Turnage

SOURCE

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