Inequality is the stock in trade for the Reich on the right, that is, the Republican Reich. They represent billionaires, high end millionaires, and corporate criminals. They want to create even more inequality. Conversely, fighting inequality is the stock in trade of the Reich on the left, that is, Robert Reich.
…There is no single solution for reversing widening inequality. Thomas Piketty’s monumental book “Capital in the Twenty-First Century” paints a troubling picture of societies dominated by a comparative few, whose cumulative wealth and unearned income overshadow the majority who rely on jobs and earned income. But our future is not set in stone, and Piketty’s description of past and current trends need not determine our path in the future. Here are ten initiatives that could reverse the trends described above:
1) Make work pay. The fastest-growing categories of work are retail, restaurant (including fast food), hospital (especially orderlies and staff), hotel, childcare and eldercare. But these jobs tend to pay very little. A first step toward making work pay is to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, pegging it to inflation; abolish the tipped minimum wage; and expand the Earned Income Tax Credit. No American who works full time should be in poverty.
2) Unionize low-wage workers. The rise and fall of the American middle class correlates almost exactly with the rise and fall of private-sector unions, because unions gave the middle class the bargaining power it needed to secure a fair share of the gains from economic growth. We need to reinvigorate unions, beginning with low-wage service occupations that are sheltered from global competition and from labor-replacing technologies. Lower-wage Americans deserve more bargaining power.
3) Invest in education. This investment should extend from early childhood through world-class primary and secondary schools, affordable public higher education, good technical education and lifelong learning. Education should not be thought of as a private investment; it is a public good that helps both individuals and the economy. Yet for too many Americans, high-quality education is unaffordable and unattainable. Every American should have an equal opportunity to make the most of herself or himself. High-quality education should be freely available to all, starting at the age of 3 and extending through four years of university or technical education… [emphasis original]
Inserted from <Robert Reich>
This is only three of ten steps in how to combat inequality from Republican warfare against 99% of Americans. His ten steps are only a small part of an extensive article on inequality that breaks the problem down so precisely that even Tea Baggers could understand it, if the were willing to think for themselves. Information you can’t afford to miss. Please click through. Once again the Reich on the left is right.
8 Responses to “How to Fight Inequality”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
I like Robert Reich, he often makes sense of topics that have been so confused by both the far right and the far left, that even simple things become garbled. We are not in any realistic world going to remove all republicans from office, nor would I want that. I do believe that checks and balances need to exist. As liberals and for some that means democrat, we can do numerous things to increase equality. Though over all, that means less chatter on line and more working directly for those causes that grip your heart and mind.
If you sign a petition, follow up with a letter or phone call. I can not speak for other countries, but the American Congressional members HATE those calls that disagree with their policy. House Representatives and Senators might lose your letter, your petition, but the law still requires them to register every call, the topic and your positive support or disapproval. These calls are then kept at the Library of Congress. That will not stop them from lying to say the overwhelming majority approves of their work, but these days most people know that if a politicians lips are moving, it's a lie.
Societies are suffering, not the least of which is our own, from the huge wealth gap. Kansas should be held up as a model of what not to do. By following through on the rhetoric, and actually cutting almost all taxes the state found that – Oops! No money, no revenue stream to pay the bills.( Moody’s downgrades Kansas’ credit rating, citing sluggish recovery and risky tax plan.) It's easy to get people riled up about taxes, to pacify them by saying that increased taxation is a jobs killer, that less taxation on corporations means greater job growth, but when the pencil hits the paper, the numbers will not add up to the rhetoric.
Thanks TC, hope things are going well for you.
Article about Kansas and Moody's – http://www.kansascity.com/2014/05/01/4996352/kansas-bond-rating-dips-as-revenue.html
The only way we can change things is by voting. Get out there and vote Democrat in November and urge everyone you know to vote that way too. Most important, Vote!
Thanks TC – again I agree with everyone!
Reference to Kit's comment above on Kansas’ state financial problems includes Kansas, New Jersey & North Carolina. What do all three states have in common… gop/tp tax cutting governors.
Chris Christie nears record for credit downgrades
05/12/14 10:44PM
Rachel Maddow reports that last week's fifth credit downgrade for New Jersey is just one downgrade shy of the record for downgrades under a single New Jersey governor, said to be an indictment of Christie's unbalanced anti-tax budget policy. watch short video:
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/watch/christie-nears-record-for-credit-downgrades-254384195736
Christie, Brownback blame Obama for state financial troubles
Article/blog: http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/christie-brownback-blame-obama-state?cid=eml_mra_20140512
RACHEL MADDOW 05/12/14
Obama extends winning record reducing deficit
Rachel Maddow points out that while some red state governors are suffering harsh budgetary consequences for reckless tax-cut policies, President Obama is showing continued success at reducing the deficit faster than at any time since World War Two. watch detailed short video:
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/watch/obama-extends-winning-record-reducing-deficit-254379075808
The scariest think to me about Kansas is Missouri. This year, after it has become abundantly clear that Kansas is a disaster. Missouri has decided they want what Kansas has so badly that they overrode Governor Jay Noxon's veto to push it through! That is such extreme insaniTEA it needs a word of its own.
The way Republicans talk about wealth and hard work, it is a mystery to me why they don't want a 100% estate tax. They don;t want to deprive poor children of learning about work so they can have lunch – but they are more than willing to deprive their own children of this method of learning!
I think #10 "Get big money out of politics" could easily be the #1 way, but not the only way, to fight inequality. Afterall, it is Republicanus/Teabaggers who have gone straight to the jugular pouring money into 'right to work' legislation, money to campaign against financial reform, money to fight increasing taxes on the wealthy etc and I could go on.
Get the big money out of politics and get those damn Republicanus/Teabaggers out of politics!
I read the entire article and shared it on Facebook. Hopefully, some of my misguided friends who are still republicans will read it. We are rapidly becoming an oligarchy. We need to overturn theCitizens United ruling, by constitutional amendment if there is no other recourse, and I don't see it happening with the current Scrotus.
We definitely need the unions back, they are the only protection the poor and middle class have.
And, let's get rid of Fox news if we can, the sorriest bunch on tv.
I hope you get your Ac and enjoy it. It wa 91 here today, a record for May. Of course there is no global warming.
Thanks all. Pooped pit stop.