Show paragraph

The near-complete capture of the policymaking process by the very privileged is precisley why income and wealth inequality have accelerated rapidly in the US. The political party controlledby the extremely wealthy has a 5-4 advantage on the Supreme Court, which has the final say on most policy debates. Its 5-4 votes on the Citizens United and McCutcheon cases institutionalized what can only be correctly called "bribeocracy" instead of democracy in the US. The wealthy used their control of policymaking to block meaningful reforms of the financial system needed to correct the abuses that led to the Great Recession. The Republican Party has blocked any taxation changes that could help pay for stimulus and infrastucture spending. Taxation policy assurer that the super-rich get richer. Today in the US, the very wealthy pay a much lower overall tax rate than their accountants, secretaries and even car mechanics. They use the "1031 exchange" rule to pay zero tax on large gains from real estate sales; they pay zero tax on income from municipal bonds; they pay a lower capital gains rate on most other income they earn because in their privileged position, they live more off of sales of stock, companies, hedge fund "carried interest" than off of ordinary income. The question is hardly "unsettled" as the author suggests. The system is rigged. Corporations owned by the very wealthy get government subsidies, whether for agricultural pursuits or drilling for oil. To keep the poor in place, the Republicans have blocked any rise in minimum wage and starve the education system by opposing taxation. The very wealthy control enough of the government to block changes that could help lessen inequality. Obama was able to squeeze by the blockade with his universal health insurance initiative at the start of his presidency, but the vehemence with which the privileged's party has fought it shows the determination of the wealthy to oppose anything that might help the non-rich. How have they managed to accomplish this in a so-called democracy? Through the use of their money (Super-PACS) and skillful propaganda (of which Fox "news" is emblematic but by no means the only vehicle). These propaganda efforts have fooled enough non-rich white voters into voting against their own interests. They will wake up, eventually, and realize that the puppeteers who pull all the strings at the Republican Party don't really care if two lesbians have a wedding, jst as they didn't really belive Obama was a Muslim socialist without a valid birth certificate. The average Republican voter will someday realize that the GOP has been manitpulating voters with such issues as gay marriage and fears of a wave on illegal immigrants to dupe gullible and fearful voters. But the inequality gap will only grow wider until the duped white voter says "enough" and throws out the toadies of the uber-rich. Only when the Republicans are reduced to a size that lacks filibuster power and a majority on the Supreme Court will it be possible to have policies that allow the less privileged to seek and obtain the education necesasry to compete in a globalized economy. Reducing income equlaity will be a long, slow process, but a fair taxation system and fairer allocation of national resources is where it must start