2. A single top income could buy housing for every homeless person in the U.S.On a winter day in 2012 over 633,000 people were homeless in the United States. Based on an annual single room occupancy (SRO) cost of $558 per month, any ONE of the ten richest Americans would have enough with his 2012 income to pay for a room for every homeless person in the U.S. for the entire year. These ten rich men together made more than our entire housing budget.
For anyone still believing “they earned it,” it should be noted that most of the Forbes 400 earnings came from minimally-taxed, non-job-creating capital gains.
Also a major point of the article--- most of the income gains for the one percent come are the lower taxed capital gains variety. This is the loophole that allows Mitt Romney to pay a lower effective tax rate than a laborer that makes $50,000 a year. Why do they get this tax-break? Why do we allow capital to be valued over labor?
This is a consumer economy. At heart everyone understands what that means-- we need the masses to do well enough to continue personal spending at the extent needed to maintain the economy. If all monies fall into the hands of a few, the structure of our economy will crack.
We, the people, will cease if we allow one percent to run everything via BOTH the financial channel and directly through Washington.
There is hope. People across the country are waking up to the obvious fact- the one percent are openly trying to purchase our democracy and it needs to stop. Here is an article in the NY Times about what cities are doing to fight the growing inequality in America.
I thank Paul Buchheit for permission to re-post part of his story. I highly recommend reading it.
Thank you to all the readers that have stopped by today. I hope you enjoy the stories. If you like what you see, please share it into the internet.
Have a great evening.
From Las Vegas,
Stephen John Moran