Wealth & Poverty Are Both Growing In U.S.

The chart above is from Mother Jones magazine. It shows that even though the economy worldwide and in this country is still shaky, wealth has grown far more in the last year in the United States than in any other country. In fact, the growth of wealth in the United States is more that the growth in the next 11 countries combined.

This would have to bring some questions to mind for a reasonable person. If the U.S. is still the richest country in the world and currently outdistances all other countries in new wealth growth, which do we still have the highest child poverty rate in the developed world? Why does the number of people living in poverty continue to grow? Why are more Americans experiencing food insecurity than ever before? Why is the median wage in the U.S. falling? Why is the middle class shrinking?

You don't have to look far to answer those questions. It's because the economic policies, instituted by the Republicans and still followed (because they obstruct every effort to change those policies), have tilted the economic playing field to favor the rich and the corporations (to the detriment of all other Americans). Those policies have allowed the richest 1% to gobble up about 95% of the growth in wealth and income since the Bush recession (while that remaining 5% has not even allowed the other 99% of Americans to even keep up with the rate of inflation).

Those laughable polices say whatever is good for the rich and the corporations is good for everyone in the United States. That has never been true, and is even less true in this poor economy. We need to dump the "trickle-down" policies of the Republicans, because the fact is that nothing is trickling down -- in spite of the fact that the rich are richer than ever (and the corporations are making record-breaking profits).

It is time for Americans to wake up, and realize that these policies benefit no one but the rich. They hurt all other Americans, and they must be changed -- before the middle class completely disappears, and we are left with 1% being rich and 99% being poor. But that change can't come until the Republicans are voted out of power, and the sooner that happens the better it will be for all Americans.