If this shocking video about wealth inequality in America doesn't outrage you, then consider this: corporate profits rose 20 times faster than worker incomes since 2008.
ThinkProgress tells us:
Corporate profits hit record highs in the second half of 2012, but that prosperity hasn’t led to the creation of jobs, since America’s biggest firms are sitting on stocks of cash instead of investing them back into the economy….
From 2009 to 2011, 88 percent of national income growth went to corporate profits while just one percent went to workers’ wages, and hourly earnings for workers actually fell over that time. And while they aren’t investing in job growth, corporations are also paying taxes at a rate that hit a 40-year low in 2011.And if that doesn't enrage you, think about the sequester. It will hurt ordinary people and leave the plutocrats unscathed.
Here's just one example: The Social Security Administration estimates sequestration will mean 10-minute waits when calling the 800-number, 30-minute waits at the Social Security field offices to see a representative, waits of two weeks longer for a decision on an initial disability claim and a month longer wait for a disability hearing decision. And don't expect to see Bill Gates sitting next to you.
Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, told Common Dreams that the sequester cuts will cut commercial activity by .5 or .7 percent. He said the economic gains that will be made,
...will likely continue to go to the rich, as they have for the past three decades.And thanks to Naomi Klein for our headline!
