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21st Century Income Inequality Crisis

The document discusses the stark income inequality in the United States, highlighting that the top quintile receives a disproportionate share of total income compared to the lowest quintile. It argues that capitalism inherently leads to increasing inequality, exacerbated by inherited wealth and systemic issues, and calls for radical policy changes such as higher taxes on the wealthy and universal credit for low-income earners. The author warns that without significant action, the current trends will continue to benefit the wealthy elite at the expense of social mobility and justice.

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Anthony
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42 views2 pages

21st Century Income Inequality Crisis

The document discusses the stark income inequality in the United States, highlighting that the top quintile receives a disproportionate share of total income compared to the lowest quintile. It argues that capitalism inherently leads to increasing inequality, exacerbated by inherited wealth and systemic issues, and calls for radical policy changes such as higher taxes on the wealthy and universal credit for low-income earners. The author warns that without significant action, the current trends will continue to benefit the wealthy elite at the expense of social mobility and justice.

Uploaded by

Anthony
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

In the early 21st century in the United States the lowest quintile

(fifth) of all households received only 3.1 percent of total INCOME,


whereas the topmost fifth received 51.9 percent. FACT. Check out
the World Inequality Database (WID) for facts on INCOME.

Significantly, this disparity results from the concentration of assets


in the upper brackets. CEO's of large U.S. companies earn 300
times more per year on average than ordinary office or factory
employees. FACT. This is INCOME.

In an economy where the rate of return on capital outstrips the rate


of growth, inherited wealth will always grow faster than earned
wealth. This means that owners of wealth will get steadily richer
than ordinary income-earners. FACT. So the fact that rich kids can
swan aimlessly from gap year to internship to a job at father's
bank/ministry/TV network – while the poor kids sweat into their
barista uniforms – is not an accident: it's the capitalist system
working normally. Sure, skills, training and education of the
workforce do promote greater equality. But they are offset by
wherever demographics or low taxation or weak labour
organisation allows it.

21st-century capitalism is on a one-way journey towards inequality


– unless we do something. How about 60% tax on incomes above
$500,000 a year. A 5% rich tax on everyone having over US$10
million in their bank account. Universal credit for everyone earning
less than $30,000 per year.

We face a low-growth capitalism, combined with high levels of


inequality and low levels of social mobility. If you’re not born into
wealth to start with, life, for even for the best educated, is not a
bowl of cherries.

The centre-left of politics under globalisation, believes that up-


skilling the workforce, combined with mild redistribution will
promote social justice. This is false. All that social democracy and
liberalism can produce, with their current policies, is the oligarch's
yacht co-existing with the food banks - for ever.

Radical action is required. Every unequal society creates an


ideology to justify inequality - that allows the rich to fall asleep in
their townhouses while the homeless freeze outside. Politics along
with the media owned by the 1% push for these ideologies such as
“The wealth will trickle down”. “The rich will give it back through
philanthropy” - it’s all about reinforcing the 1% who get their
children into the best universities, buy politicians and dodge taxes.
The dice are loaded.

In 1949, Albert Einstein warned that the time would come “when
the very rich so controlled the means of communication that it
would be almost impossible for ordinary people to make informed
decisions and so democracy would then be broken”. The
politicians need the media controlled by the super rich. Trickle
down economics is a myth perpetuated by the politicians to support the
rich. The 1% are not interested in the redistribution of wealth. They
are spiriting their vast wealth away in tax havens ably supported by
the banks, who, when they get caught are only fined for their
criminal acts. They carry on banking!! The 99% are NOT winning
against the 1%.
This treatise is a small voice but a rallying cry to wake up and smell
the roses. The time to act is now.

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