W Çortlanh (ßbseruer
A p r il 11.2012
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Page 11
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Pushing Back Against Extreme Inequality
The people
aren’t powerless
C huck C ollins
In th e c o m in g
w eek s, m illio n s o f
A m ericans w ill take
to the streets as part
o f the "99 p e rc en t
spring," echoing last
year's "A rab Spring."
A t the root o f this
d iscontent are the extrem e inequali
ties o f incom e, w ealth, and opportu
nity that have em erged ov er the last
four decades.
T h e ric h e st o n e p e rc en t now
ow ns over 36 percent o f all the wealth
in the U nited States. T hat's m ore
than the net w orth o f the bottom 95
percent com bined. T his 1 percent
has pocketed alm ost all o f the w ealth
gains o f the last decade.
In 2010, the one percent earned
21 percent o f all incom e, up from
only eight percent in m id -1970s. The
40 0 w ealthiest individuals on the
Forbes 4 0 0 list have m ore w ealth
than the b ottom 150 m illion A m eri
can s.
T hese trends am ong the one p er
cent are bad for the rest o f us. C o n
c e n tra te d w e alth tra n sla te s in to
political clout — the p ow er to use
by
cam paign contributions to rent poli
tician s and tilt the ru les o f the
eco n o m y in their favor.
W ebsites d ram atizin g the "W e
are the 99 percent" m ovem ent
are full o f personal stories o f
you n g people w ho are saddled
w ith debt and n o futures, and
m iddle class fam ilies that have
seen the A m erican D ream c o l
lapse around them , losing jo b s,
hom es, and hopes fo r the fu
T he "99 to 1" d ichotom y m ay
strike som e folks as polarizing and
inaccurate. Y et it's a pow erful lens
fo r u n derstanding w hat's happened
to o u r society and econom y over
the last several decades. T he rules
guiding o u r eco n o m y have been
skew ed to benefit the one percent at
the ex pen se o f the 99 percent. T hese
rules include tax policies, global trade
agreem ents, and gov ern m en t a c
tions that b enefit asset ow ners at
There's a small segment within the one
percent — the "rule riggers" — who use their
power and wealth to influence the political
game so that they and their corporations get
more power and wealth.
ture.
"I used to dream about becom ing
the first w om an p resid en t," one
w om an w rote. "N ow I dream about
getting a jo b w ith health in su ran ce."
R eading these stories, I'm struck
that the underlying conditions that
have squeezed m illions o f A m eri
cans aren ’t going aw ay. T h e current
political system , cap tu red by large
co rp o ratio n s and the w ealthy, is
incapable o f resp o n d in g to their
n eed s.
the ex p en se o f w age earners.
W ho is the "one percent"? P ri
m arily it consists o f households with
annual incom es that top $500,000
and wealth exceeding $5 million. The
one percent isn't a m onolithic inter
est group. Plenty o f people w ithin
this gro u p have d ev o ted th eir lives
to building a healthy eco n o m y that
w orks fo r everyone. B ut there's a
sm all segm ent w ithin the one p er
cen t — the "rule riggers" — w ho
use their p o w er and w ealth to influ
ence the political gam e so that they
an d th eir c o rp o ra tio n s g et m ore
p o w er and w ealth.
Just as individuals in the one
percent are div erse actors, the one
percent o f corp o ratio n s is also not
unified. T here are several thousand
m ultinational corp o ratio n s — the
W all Street inequality m achine —
that are the d rivers o f rule changes.
B ut they are the m inority. T h ere are
m illions o f o th er b u ilt-to-last co rp o
rations and M ain Street businesses
that strengthen our com m unities and
have a stake in an eco n o m y that
w orks fo r everyone.
W e m ust d efen d ou rselv es from
the bad actors — the built-to-loot
co m p an ies w hose business m odel
is focused on shifting costs onto
society, shedding jo b s, and e x tra ct
ing w ealth from o u r co m m u n ities
and the healthy econom y.
T his spring, w atch for m illions o f
people in motion, participating in pro
tests at banks, outside law m akers'
offices, and in the streets. They'll be
pressing for an econom y that w orks
for the 100 percent, not ju st the one
percent. This is a healthy sign for our
nation because it dram atizes that the
people aren't pow erless in the face o f
extrem e inequality.
Chuck Collins, a senior scholar
at the Institute fo r Policy Studies.
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