State, federal budget bills will help worsen a destructive national trend
(Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
It's a trend that's been advancing at a breakneck clip for years now, but according to a new report from the global nonprofit OxFam, the vast and immoral inequality that dominates the U.S. economy has reached truly stunning levels.
As the report notes, over the past year, the richest ten Americans increased their wealth by 365 billion dollars.
It would take ten average U.S. workers a staggering 726,000 years to make that much money.
But wait, it's about to get worse.
Under Republican budget bills advancing in Congress and the North Carolina legislature, new and regressive tax cuts along with big reductions in services will assure that the gap between the super-rich and everyone else grows even wider.
It's a situation so corrupt and toxic that it's quickly undermining the fabric of a country founded on the premise of equal opportunity.
The bottom line: Elected leaders must confront and reverse these trends right away lest our once great nation soon becomes unrecognizable.
For NC Newsline, I'm Rob Schofield.
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