The chart above was made from information in the new Bloomberg News Poll (which was done between June 6th and 9th of a random national sample of 1,005 adults, with a 3.1 point margin of error). We know that the huge gap in income and wealth between the richest Americans and the rest of America is as large (if not larger) than it was in the 1920's -- when it caused the Great Depression. I have been preaching for several years now that this gap was a primary cause of the Great Recession that started in 2007 -- and that it is still causing serious problems for the economy.It was the GOP's "trickle-down" policies that caused this huge gap in wealth and income, and those policies are still in place (because the GOP-controlled House won't allow a change in economic policy). That means the gap is continuing to grow ever larger -- and the American people know that. Two-thirds of all Americans (67%) say the gap is growing larger.
I noted in a post a few days ago that some on Wall Street are now starting to worry about the economy (as GDP struggles to remain positive, and has yet to show healthy growth since the recession). Now the CEO of one of Wall Street's biggest banks (Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs) is admitting that the wealth/income gap is a cause of this economic trouble, and is destabilizing the country. Blankfein said:
“It’s a very big issue and something that has to be dealt with.”
And then he added:
“If you grow the pie but too few people enjoy the benefits of it, the fruit, then you’ll have an unstable society.”
He is right, but he and his cohorts on Wall Street need to not only recognize that the income/wealth gap is a big problem -- they also need to do something about it. And that's the problem, because too many on Wall Street, even those who recognize the problem, don;t like the solutions. And the first things that need to be done are:
1. Raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, and tie further raises to the rate of inflation (so it doesn't immediately start losing buying power again).
2. Strengthen worker unions (so that productivity is once again shared with workers instead of being hogged by management and owners).
3. Raise taxes slightly on the rich, and eliminate unneeded subsidies for corporations (so they pay their fair share of taxes and enhance government revenue).
4. Eliminate the tax breaks for outsourcing American jobs to other countries.
Those measures would decrease the income/wealth gap and would pump new money into the economy -- increasing demand for goods/services, increasing profits for business, and create new jobs. Like it or not, those are the immediate solutions to getting the economy back on track. And if Wall Street really wants to fix the economy, then they either need to convince Republicans to abandon their "trickle-down" nonsense or stop funding the election campaigns of those Republicans.
