Over at the NY Times, "Steven Rattner is a Wall Street executive and a contributing opinion writer" who has put together some graphics delineating the intersection of government taxing and spending policies with the rise in inequality. "Inequality, Unbelievably, Gets Worse" makes the case with charts that show just how the U.S. compares with the rest of the developed world.
Perhaps income disparity resonated so little with politicians because we are inured to a new Gilded Age.
But we shouldn’t be. Nor should we be inattentive to the often ignored role that government plays in determining income distribution in each country.
Here’s what’s rarely reported:
Before the impact of tax and spending policies is taken into account, income inequality in the United States is no worse than in most developed countries and is even a bit below levels in Britain and, by some measures, Germany.
However, once the effect of government programs is included in the calculations, the United States emerges on top of the inequality heap.
Read the whole thing - and spread the word. USA! USA! We're Number One!
And while you're over at the Times, you might check out Paul Krugman's latest on something our new overlords in control of Congress don't want you to know about. (Nor most of our corporate media, either.) When Government Succeeds