It is waaaaay past time for a wealth cap. Super wealth is bad for your civic health if you live in a so-called democracy. It is wrong that the super wealthy manipulate everything - from genocides, wars, residential home real estate, university presidents' policy dealing with righteous student protesters, ......etc . Just plain wrong. A reincarnation of kings and queens monopolization and commodification of everything including us.
A quick look at the economic data of the past 50-60 years in the US, shows wealth acceleration of the rich regardless of what party the president is from.
Began with Reagan in 80s. Neocon Dems didn't help. Now Repugs have gone full fascist. All are owned by Israel, but zero Repugs want ceasefire. Many Dems now do.
No the inequality problem did not begin with Reagan the 1980s. The rise in inequality goes back to the economic depression in the US and the west that occurred in the mid 1970s.
"...Unequal gains: American growth and inequality since 1700
Jeffrey G. Williamson Peter Lindert / 16 Jun 2016.."
What the data shows is that the Reagan administration worsened the problem. And so did every other government in the US since the 1970s. They all concisely worked to make the ultrarich richer and ordinariy people, relatively poorer.
This has also had severe consequences politically. Alongside that economic inequality, so you also see political equality vanishing in the US in the same period.
And the Supreme Court stuck a fork in it a decade ago, by ensuring that this wealth inequality has become an permanent political advantage for the rich to hickack the country:
So that's democracy completely wiped out in the US.
That is why this upcoming election is a farce, and why you see the chaos and dysfunction, to the point where AIPAC and others can involve the country in mass murder, and to the point where successive presidents now have been openly selling US govt policy for personal gain in Qatar, Israel, and Ukraine.
Be hopeless for 5 minutes. Then, get mad. And join political activist organizations where high numbers of young people are involved. Just baking cookies for the next meeting is 45 minutes of doing something to advance what really matters to you. Start a reading group on political meat and potatoes books - Naomi Klein, Mearsheimer, Jeffrey Sachs, Finkelstein, especially, Chomsky. Fret and fret.
Read the Artists Way and The Path of Least Resistance, and Rick Rubin's The Creative Act....and channel your creativity into whatever expression makes the biggest difference for you. The set-up today depends on pliancy, going along to get along, and not boat rocking. Not aiming to create the "good". Defy the prevailing status quo. Get clear on exactly what it is you want to have happen. (Path of Least Resistance is good on this). Do it!
and deregulate oil & gas and abandon climate policies to provide over $100 billion in profits, in exchange for a $1 billion campaign donation. Project 2025.
It is waaaaay past time for a wealth cap. Super wealth is bad for your civic health if you live in a so-called democracy. It is wrong that the super wealthy manipulate everything - from genocides, wars, residential home real estate, university presidents' policy dealing with righteous student protesters, ......etc . Just plain wrong. A reincarnation of kings and queens monopolization and commodification of everything including us.
The orange thug promises to cut corporate taxes to 20 %.
A quick look at the economic data of the past 50-60 years in the US, shows wealth acceleration of the rich regardless of what party the president is from.
Began with Reagan in 80s. Neocon Dems didn't help. Now Repugs have gone full fascist. All are owned by Israel, but zero Repugs want ceasefire. Many Dems now do.
No the inequality problem did not begin with Reagan the 1980s. The rise in inequality goes back to the economic depression in the US and the west that occurred in the mid 1970s.
See Figure 2 and Figure 3 at the link below
https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/unequal-gains-american-growth-and-inequality-1700
"...Unequal gains: American growth and inequality since 1700
Jeffrey G. Williamson Peter Lindert / 16 Jun 2016.."
What the data shows is that the Reagan administration worsened the problem. And so did every other government in the US since the 1970s. They all concisely worked to make the ultrarich richer and ordinariy people, relatively poorer.
This has also had severe consequences politically. Alongside that economic inequality, so you also see political equality vanishing in the US in the same period.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B
And the Supreme Court stuck a fork in it a decade ago, by ensuring that this wealth inequality has become an permanent political advantage for the rich to hickack the country:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC
So that's democracy completely wiped out in the US.
That is why this upcoming election is a farce, and why you see the chaos and dysfunction, to the point where AIPAC and others can involve the country in mass murder, and to the point where successive presidents now have been openly selling US govt policy for personal gain in Qatar, Israel, and Ukraine.
It seems hopeless.
Stop kidding yourself that voting Team D will fix anything.
Be hopeless for 5 minutes. Then, get mad. And join political activist organizations where high numbers of young people are involved. Just baking cookies for the next meeting is 45 minutes of doing something to advance what really matters to you. Start a reading group on political meat and potatoes books - Naomi Klein, Mearsheimer, Jeffrey Sachs, Finkelstein, especially, Chomsky. Fret and fret.
Read the Artists Way and The Path of Least Resistance, and Rick Rubin's The Creative Act....and channel your creativity into whatever expression makes the biggest difference for you. The set-up today depends on pliancy, going along to get along, and not boat rocking. Not aiming to create the "good". Defy the prevailing status quo. Get clear on exactly what it is you want to have happen. (Path of Least Resistance is good on this). Do it!
and deregulate oil & gas and abandon climate policies to provide over $100 billion in profits, in exchange for a $1 billion campaign donation. Project 2025.
I think the obscene wealth equality is one of the key fundamental problems in the country right now, and seems nearly insurmountable to overcome.