Deirdre Fulton at Common Dreams writes—New Rules Needed to Vanquish Legacy of Inequality and Growing Wealth Gap:
Reforming the U.S. tax code to help low-income Americans build wealth and savings while reducing wealth concentration at the top would go a long way toward narrowing an "ever-growing gap" between white households and households of color, according to a new study released this week.
The report from the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED), entitled The Ever-Growing Gap: Failing to Address the Status Quo Will Drive the Racial Wealth Divide for Centuries to Come (pdf), reveals a stark and widening chasm that—absent significant reforms to large-scale public policies—will only continue to grow.
Specifically, it finds that:
- Over the past 30 years the average wealth of white families has grown by 84 percent—1.2 times the rate of growth for the Latino population and three times the rate of growth for the black population.
- Over the past 30 years, the wealth of the Forbes 400 richest Americans has grown by an average of 736 percent—10 times the rate of growth for the Latino population and 27 times the rate of growth for the black population.
- In fact, the billionaires of the Forbes 400—which includes only two African-Americans and five Latinos—now own more wealth than the entire Black population and one-third of the Latino population, combined. That's 400 wealthy individuals versus more than 60 million people.
- By 2043—the year in which it is projected that people of color will make up a majority of the U.S. population—the wealth divide between white families and Latino and black families will have doubled, on average, from about $500,000 in 2013 to over $1 million.
"In short," Emanuel Nieves and Josh Hoxie (of CFED and IPS, respectively) write in a blog post on Tuesday, "wealth is concentrated in very few hands. And those hands are mostly white." [...]
On the other end of the spectrum, to address "the destabilization caused by concentrated wealth and power," the report recommends:
- Strengthening and closing loopholes in the federal estate tax;
- Creating "an annual net worth tax on wealth over $50 million or a similarly high threshold, at a low rate of one to two percent;" and
- Re-instituting estate taxes on the state level.
TWEET OF THE DAY
BLAST FROM THE PAST
At Daily Kos on this date in 2008—Worst Judgment Ever:
Seeing even Zombie Newt Gingrich be unearthed, this last week, certainly added a bit of the surreal to the House Republican non-debating debate on behalf of yet another corporate giveaway. Just when you think they're one clown short of a circus, ta-dum: they deliver that one last clown.
Food for thought: the last eight years have seen numerous acts of terrorism, here and elsewhere, two wars, a catastrophic hurricane, floods, multiple violations of law by officials in government, confirmation of actually occurring global climate change, children's toys contaminated with ingestible lead, and a collapse of the mortgage market that has had nationwide housing and banking impacts. To name a few.
During this time, I believe there have been only two circumstances that have riled Republican congressmen enough for them to demand returning to Washington during a recess. The first was done so that 535 legislators plus the President of the United States could play collective doctor to Terri Schiavo based on a videotape and the pronouncements of Senator Bill Frist.
The second was to stage a mock debate on the floor of the House to demand new lease giveaways to oil companies during a time of record profits. After ending the previous session by blocking almost all other energy legislation.
So... there you go, I guess.
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show, we mark FIVE YEARS of Daily Kos Radio! Look at Limbaugh. Look at radio. It’s a mess. Believe me! Also: a GunFAIL update; still more allegations against Ailes; Trump’s a B.S. artist, his family stole everything they have & Armando says he’s still a loser.
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