The Scourge of Wealth / Income Inequality

William Kristoff’s New York Times column this morning is titled “Should We Soak the Rich. You bet.” Indeed we should. As Kristoff points out, we live in a country where “the top 1 percent own more than the bottom 90 percent — and where on any given night more than 100,000 children are homeless.” Over the past few decades wealth and income inequality have strikingly increased, causing much misery, suffering, resentment, confusion, ill-tempered behavior, and lasting damage that would have been avoided had we had a progressive, equitable, humane, enlightened tax structure all these years. Trump and greed-driven propagandists duped much of the electorate into thinking that a government controlled by Republicans would benefit people with minimal and moderate incomes. After gaining control of the White House and Congress, they swiftly enacted fiscally irresponsible tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefited the rich and especially the super rich. Our country can only begin to reverse this baleful state of affairs if Democrats gain control of the White House and both houses of Congress in 2020.  Sadly, despite the horror that Trump and Trumpians have unleashed upon us and we’re now living through, that’s a long shot.