by Nancy Altman, President, Social Security Works
The hypocrisy of some prominent politicians helps explain why the public holds all of them in such low repute. Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) was a deficit hawk, voting against his Party’s tax scam, until his vote was needed. Then, his “heartfelt” deficit concerns miraculously disappeared.
The same hypocrisy surrounds the issue of income and wealth inequality. Republicans were supposedly concerned about it, until their donors gave them marching orders. The product: a tax scam that will make the plutocrats even richer, both in absolute terms and in comparison to the rest of us.
In 2013, President Barack Obama warned that “a dangerous and growing [income and wealth] inequality and lack of upward mobility” are “the defining challenge of our time.” Since Obama delivered that message, the share of the wealth owned by the top one percent has increased by nearly three percentage points, while the wealth of the bottom 90 percent has fallen. Indeed, the top one percent has more wealth than the entire bottom 90 percent, put together.