(The image above of rich and poor is from ampglobalyouth.org.)
The Republican economic policy of "trickle-down" economics (started by President Reagan, and doubled-down on by President Bush II) has been devastating for most Americans. The rich have gotten much richer since 1980 (tripling or quadrupling their income), but that increase in wealth and income has not been seen by others.
We currently have about 20% of our workforce laboring for low-wages (at or near the minimum wage) and that is expect to rise to about 25% of the workforce in the next 10-15 years. Millions of jobs were lost in the Bush recession, and millions more were lost to corporate off-shoring -- and too many of those jobs have been replaced by low-income, no-benefit jobs (jobs that keep families in poverty).
And the bad news doesn't end there. Those lucky enough to have kept their jobs have seen their buying power drop precipitously (thanks to wage stagnation and rising inflation). Labor unions once made sure that workers (both union and non-union) got a share of rising productivity, but those unions (thanks to Republicans) no longer have the power to do that -- and almost all of rising productivity now goes to the rich (the ones who need it the least).
The result of all this is a huge gap in wealth and income between the richest Americans and the rest of America -- the largest gap since before the Great Depression. And that gap continues to grow, because congressional Republicans refuse to allow the government to pursue a saner and fairer economic policy.
In short, we are becoming a giant banana republic -- a nation of "haves" and "have nots". And nearly half (45%) of Americans believe we have already achieved that dubious status. Note the chart below, which shows the results of a recent Gallup Poll. That survey was done between June 15th and July 10th of a random national sample of 2,296 adults, and has a margin of error of 4 points.
I believe that 45% is right. We no longer have a regulated capitalism that benefits all Americans. The economic playing field has been radically tilted by the Republicans to favor the rich -- and they are now the only one who benefit from our economic system. We have the most unfair economic system of any developed nation -- and it is getting worse every day.