Letters to the Editor
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not really a democracy
again, these numbers make it plain that we are not a democracy. We never really have been. We're a stealth-plutocracy with democratic institutions as cover...and not so stealth anymore.
This is not some kooky notion. It's been settled fact for a long time. Many critics far smarter than I have said the same.
Even when government took on the robber-barons of 100 years ago with the income tax, and other regulation, those barons did not just go away, or give up their money. Nope. They simply adjusted.
The country was built by them, for them. What makes anyone think the wealthiest 1% is going to share? They won't. Not now. Not ever. Not unless we have a revolution. And then all that'll happen is a new 1% will take over from the old 1%...cf. contemporary China and Russia.
Capitalism will always be in tension with the Commons...with democracy, of any stripe. If capitalism is not to simply consume everything in its path, it has to be managed. That's where government comes in. Until Americans are educated enough and aware enough to vote for government that manages capitalism for the good of ALL the people, we will labor under this stealth-plutocracy.
The robber-barons can't help it. They're sharks by nature. They can't survive without the constant rush of brain-chemicals they get when they acquire more than everyone else. They have to be managed, like restive bulls in the corral.
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The US is about 7th in income disparity
Because honestly, the top 0.1% is really an outlier. Otherwise we're right in the mix with all sorts of other countries. Actually poor countries have wider income dispersion than rich countries.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_inc_dis_ric_10-economy-income-distribution-richest-10
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_inc_dis_ric_20-economy-income-distribution-richest-20
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_inc_dis_poo_20-economy-income-distribution-poorest-20
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_inc_dis_poo_10-economy-income-distribution-poorest-10
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_inc_equ_un_gin_ind-income-equality-un-gini-index
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_inc_sha_hel_by_hig_10-income-share-held-highest-10
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_pop_bel_pov_lin-economy-population-below-poverty-line
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@Nulla Salus
"Actually poor countries have wider income dispersion than rich countries."
Yes. And the dispersion in the U.S. keeps getting wider. What does that tell you?
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Even Herbert Hoover knew this:
"You know, the only trouble with capitalism is capitalists. They're too damn greedy." Herbert Hoover
And the wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round:
'But there is nothing idealized or romantic about the difference between a society whose arrangements roughly serve all its citizens and one whose institutions have been converted into a stupendous fraud. That difference can be the difference between democracy and oligarchy.' - Bill Moyers
"We can have democracy in this country or we can have great concentrated wealth in the hands of a few. We cannot have both." - Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis.
'Should we reach the point where the half of our population trying to make it on 12 percent of the nation's payroll can no longer meet the interest payments, we shall have a crisis where all the choices are worse than awful. And a happy doomsday to you, too.'
Give Us This Day Our Daily Debt
Nicholas von Hoffman
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071112/howl
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illegal immigration plays a part
The vast numbers of impoverished, uneducated, and child producing illegal immigrants who have poured into southern California, where I live, has certainly added to the unequal distribution of income. They have lowered the wages and added to poverty levels just by being here, not to mention the devastating effect their children have had on our school systems.