We have set up a system that lavishly rewards individuals and impoverishes society. Where the richest percentile see their incomes grow by $863,000 and the poorest 20 percent see gains of $1,600. And given what we know about innovation, it’s not clear that that’s a wise — or fair — distribution.

via The Argument Over Inequality | The American Prospect.

From Huffington Post: While the Fox News-fueled coverage of the “tea parties” has hoodwinked major media outlets into believing it’s just a spontaneous protest against high taxes, it’s actually been a well-orchestrated campaign driven by lobbyists and right-wing corporate front groups that are seeking to keep taxes low and preserve loopholes for wealthy CEOs and corporations. Both sets of tax breaks for the ultra-rich are targeted in President Obama’s budget and tax reform plans, while the “Tea Party” activists ignored the real threats posed by a tax system geared to benefiting the rich. Energy would be better focused here: http://tiny.cc/4aZIO

Art Levine: Faux-Populist “Tea Parties” Ignore Tax Breaks for Overpaid CEOs.

U! S! A! We’re Number …. 15? | Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace | AlterNet

A new report shows that in terms of aggregate health, education, purchasing power, security and general well-being, the U.S. has been in decline.

But there is one larger force underlying these trends that has been gaining steam over the past three decades, and that’s income inequality.

America needs a bold new housing policy as growing numbers of Americans sleep in shelters, surf friends’ couches and camp in their cars.

Homelessness Is at Record Highs: Lets Show Some Real Compassion | Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace | AlterNet

San Francisco Sentinel » Blog Archives » UNITED STATES WEALTH GAP A SOCIAL TIMEBOMB – NEW YORK DISPARITY ON PAR WITH NAIROBI AND ABIDJAN

Growing inequality in U.S. cities could lead to widespread social unrest and increased mortality, says a new United Nations report on the urban environment.

In a survey of 120 major cities New York was found to be the ninth most unequal in the world and Atlanta, Georgia, New Orleans, Louisiana, Washington, D.C., and Miami, Florida, had similar inequality levels to those of Nairobi, Kenya and Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Many were above an internationally recognized acceptable “alert” line used to warn governments.

Group’s Study Finds Income Gap Widening – WSJ.com
The U.S. has the highest inequality and poverty rates in the OECD after Mexico and Turkey, and the gap has increased rapidly since 2000, the report said. 

Wealthy households are not only widening the gap with the poor, but in countries such as the U.S., Canada and Germany they are leaving middle-income earners farther behind.

Across the country, authorities are becoming concerned that the nation’s financial woes could turn increasingly violent, and they are urging people to get help. In some places, mental-health hot lines are jammed, counseling services are in high demand and domestic-violence shelters are full. With nowhere else to turn, many people are calling suicide-prevention hot lines. The Samaritans of New York have seen calls rise more than 16 percent in the past year, many of them money-related. The Switchboard of Miami has recorded more than 500 foreclosure-related calls this year.

As economy sinks, officials fear violent solutions – CNN.com

Our economic system has always caused immense stress for those on the bottom of the food chain. And we can trace most individual suffering back to social determinants such as inequality. Now the weight is heavier and hitting more people. The natural reaction will be to build more counseling centers and shelters to help people cope. We need to resist that urge. We need to keep the pressure on the decision-makes to re-work our economic system so that fewer people have to endure the constant stress of not having enough. We can’t treat, counsel and comfort our way out of this mess.

Good resource for understanding inequality and for teaching or presenting this pressing social issue. 

http://extremeinequality.org/

If America is to adopt socialism, why not have socialism for the poor, rather than for the rich? Why should American households that earn $50,000 a year subsidize Goldman Sachs partners who earn $5 million a year?

Lets Stop the Greatest Theft in the History of Humankind | Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace | AlterNet

Real Change News
Studies demonstrate that the amount of mental illness in a rich nation is associated with the income gap, the difference in earnings between the rich and the rest of us.

In a big-gap nation, life is much more stressful for most people. Those lower down the economic ladder (the bulk of the population) struggle to get by on two or three low-paying jobs and have little time to devote to raising children or nurturing relationships. Those in the ever smaller so-called middle class (in fact most of us are in the working class) struggle to keep up with the Gateses.

Our overall health is also related to the income gap. We die much younger than we should for living in the richest and most powerful country in history that houses close to half of the world’s billionaires. In some 30 countries, life is longer and better. And to accomplish this feat we spend half of the world’s health care bill, over $2.2 trillion in 2006, representing about one-sixth of our total economy.