The biggest political issue receiving no attention by the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates is the powerful plutocracy that has captured the government, and which produces rising economic inequality.
Why? Simple answer: because both major parties and their candidates are subservient to numerous corporate and other special interests that use their money and influence to ensure that their elitist priorities prevail.
Economic data show the plutocracy’s assault on American society. Consider these examples:
The top 20 percent of households earned more, after taxes, than the remaining 80 percent in 2005. (The topmost 1 percent took home more than the bottom 40 percent!)
Between 2001 to 2008, the net worth of the wealthiest 1 percent grew from $186 billion to $816 billion.
Real hourly wages for most workers have risen only 1 percent since 1979, even as those workers' productivity has increased by 60 percent. What's more, American workers now work more hours per year than their counterparts in virtually every other advanced economy, even
[As for Bush tax cuts] in 2009, Americans who make over $1 million a year will save an average $32,000 on capital gains and dividends. The average American household will save $20.
[Excerpts from an article by Joel S. Hirschhorn]
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