America is, in principle, a democracy, in which every vote counts the same. It’s also a nation in which income inequality has soared, a development that hurts many more people than it helps. So if you didn’t know better, you might have expected to see a political backlash: demands for higher taxes on the rich, more spending on the working class and higher wages.
In reality, however, policy has mostly gone the other way. Tax rates on corporations and high incomes have gone down, unions have been crushed, the minimum wage, adjusted for inflation, is lower than it was in the 1960s. How is that possible?
The answer is that huge disparities in income and wealth translate into comparable disparities in political influence. To see how this works, let’s look at a fairly recent example: the budgetary Grand Bargain that almost happened in 2011.
At the time, Washington was firmly in the grip of deficit fever. Even though the federal government was able to borrow at
Inequality is a horrendous development here in the USA. I very much dislike the fact that Bill Gates makes as much or more money in one hour because of his Microsoft shares than I made in my entire lifetime. That is just not right and I could only hope he will spend some of his money helping poor people get their Corona Virus treatment here in the USA without loosing what little wealth they have. He does help a lot of people in Africa which I do appreciate, but he is an American so I hope he helps us.