The chart above shows the inequality in the United States from 1913 through 2013. Note that the highest inequality was in 1929, when the richest 1% had 23.9% of the nation's total income. That resulted in the greatest economic disaster to ever hit this country -- the Great Depression.
Democrats changed the economic ground rules, and that resulted in a much more equal distribution of income. But the Republicans regained enormous power in 1980, and used their power to re-institue the old "trickle-down" theory of economics (the idea that giving more to the rich will benefit everyone).
That didn't work, and by 2013, the richest 1% had grown their share of national income from 8.9% to 22%. And it has grown even larger since 2013 (because the Republicans refuse to abandon their failed trickle-down economics). We are now back at the 1929 level.
But it gets even worse. The new tax law passed by the Republicans gives most of the tax cuts to the rich. That will only increase the inequality of income in this country -- giving the rich an ever-growing share of income. It will turn the nation into a country of haves and have-nots, and that will kill our democracy.
It is also setting us up for another economic disaster like the one that happened in 1929. It may be next year or several years from now, but it will come if we don't correct the growing inequality of income (and wealth) in the United States.
