Politics Magazine
The charts above show the ratio of the average income of the 1% to the average income of the bottom 99% in the United States and in each individual state. For instance, the average income of the 1% in the United States as a whole is 26.3 times as much as the average income of everyone else in the country (the bottom 99%). The information comes from a new report on income inequality in the United States by the Economic Policy Institute. I recommend you read the report, if you want to understand what's happening in this country.
From 1973 to the current time, the income inequality has been growing in this country. This is due to Republican economic policies that favor the richest Americans to the detriment of all other Americans. Those policies have created a new Gilded Age of inequality that is surpassing the old Gilded Age of the 1920's. That old Gilded Age led directly to the Great Depression. Are the Republicans setting the country up for a repeat of that?
It doesn't have to be this way. Between 1928 and 1973, the inequality between the top 1% and the bottom 99% was decreasing. It was decreasing because tax policy, unionization, and a rising minimum wage was creating an economy that was fairer to everyone. Unfortunately, when the Republicans seized power, they changed those policies, reversing the trend toward less inequality.
I believe these current GOP policies (commonly called "trickle-down" policy) is leading this nation toward disaster. At best, it will turn us into a nation of "haves" and "have-nots", and at worst will lead us into another Great Depression. It must be changed. But the only way to do that is to vote the Republicans out of power -- and the sooner the better.
