miss-ingno reblogged
Here’s the truly extraordinary thing: [Paul] Ryan’s report never once mentions America’s savage increase in inequality over the last half century. But poverty is precisely and directly connected to widening inequality because (1) when most income goes to the top, the vast middle doesn’t have the purchasing power needed to get the economy out of first gear, which causes high unemployment — especially for those with the least skills and education: (2) when income and wealth are concentrated at the top the rich have enough political power to reduce their tax rates, and as real median household incomes drop the middle class doesn’t have the will or ability to pay more in taxes — with the result that tax revenues can’t pay for adequate education, social services, jobs programs, and job training needed by the poor; and (3) when the income ladder elongates, upward mobility is far harder because movement up the ladder results in less gain. That Ryan and company don’t mention any of this shows how utterly ignorant he and his colleagues are about what’s really happening to America.
Robert Reich (via azspot)
Source: facebook.com
