Although this article is focused on the Democratic party, the information is presents on the economy and the distribution of wealth in our society is worth a read. Taken together with a slew of articles on changes in China, we truly are living in historic times in economic terms. Simply amazing changes from a macroscopic perspective.
The graph in this article is also astonishing. I knew that there were a lot of millionaires out there but I was not aware that the gap between the rich and poor is back to levels not seen since the 1930's!
Democrats Target Wealth Gap And Hope Not to Hit Economy
Divide Between Rich and Poor Continues to Widen; Spurs 'Robin Hood' Plans
Can Growth Benefit Workers?
November 21, 2006
Wall Street Journal
By almost every measure, the gap between winners and losers in the American economy has widened over the past 20 years. In this month's election, anxiety about that gap was not far behind voter anger over Iraq and congressional corruption in driving Democrats to victory. "We will make our economy fairer" vowed House Democrats, in a campaign manifesto.
Now they're in a position to try, raising a big question: What can Democrats do to resist inequality in a way that doesn't choke off economic growth? Can government slice the economic apple more evenly without shrinking it?
Today's inequality reflects a confluence of forces. Technology is increasing employers' appetite for some skilled workers, while diminishing it for assembly-line workers in auto and textile factories. Imports and outsourcing are doing the same. Schools aren't graduating enough of the workers in short supply, such as engineers. Immigration is contributing to a glut of others, visible wherever day laborers gather hoping for work. Unions are atrophying. Corporate boards, hedge funds and sports teams are increasingly willing to write super-sized paychecks to a chosen few.
At the extremes, some politicians (not all of them Democrats) believe the benefits of a globalizing, high-tech economy are outweighed by the costs to U.S. workers. They would build a fence around the U.S. to reduce immigration or erect tariff barriers to imports. Even at the Democratic middle -- where the virtues of technology and globalization are prized -- proposals to reduce inequality range widely. They include interceding in the market to raise pay at the bottom or limit it at the top, pushing "Robin Hood" take-from-the-rich tax policies, improving shock absorbers that protect workers when their employers crash, extending health and retirement plans to workers without them and spending more to promote education from pre-K through college.
