Yellen says rising income inequality in U.S. 'greatly' concerns her

[IDemo]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet L. Yellen raised alarms Friday about rising income inequality in the U.S., saying it "greatly" concerned her and suggested the trend was incompatible with American values.

The last several decades "have seen the most sustained rise in inequality since the 19th century," and by some estimates the gap in incomes and wealth is near its highest level of the last 100 years, Yellen said.

"The extent of and continuing increase in inequality in the United States greatly concern me," Yellen told the Conference on Economic Opportunity and Inequality at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

"I think it is appropriate to ask if this trend is compatible with values rooted in our nation's history, among them the high value Americans have traditionally placed on equality of opportunity," she said in the speech.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-janet-yellen-income-inequality-federal-reserve-20141017-story.html

[closeupready]

1. Yawn. She feels our pain.

[valerief]

2. That's what I get out of it, too. nt

[QuestionAlways]

4. Too bad she can do nothing about it

QE4 which she could enact; will only make the rich richer, as it has done for the last 5 years, and she can do nothing about the minimum wage.

[closeupready]

6. If true, then I don't care how she feels. Why should I?

Why should anyone care how she feels? She's not Oprah Winfrey.

Yet, the MSM - which is complicit with the 1% hoarders - touts this statement as if it's a big deal.

[Amonester]

3. Yeah... Let's "put" 52 republicans in the Senate, then... Like THAT will...

solve the problem for good...

[ballyhoo]

5. The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life,

the clearer we should see through it.

Niccolo Machiavelli

[geretogo]

7. Only a great depression will halt 34 years of Reagenomics and the inequality then a progressive

era will come and clean up , rebuild , and civilize the country as happened in 1933 under
Roosevelt . The Right Wing never learns .

[yurbud]

9. That's what most of us wanted to happen when Obama was elected

[geretogo]

10. Obama is no progressive and the depression has been delayed . I see no peaceful remedy with this

corrupt system as it is .

[yurbud]

14. the remedy could still be peaceful, it just won't be implemented through the current system.

They have figured out how to bog down most bottom-up initiatives and effectively neuter democracy while keeping the outer forms of it.

[yurbud]

8. Stop giving money to those who make it worse

And help the rest of us

[pbmus]

11. yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak

yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yayak yak yakyak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yakk yak yak yak yak yak yak yakyak yak yak yayak yak yyak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yakak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yakk yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yakyak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yakyak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yakyak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yayakyak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yakk yakyak yak yak yak yak yak yak yyak yayak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yakk yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yakak yak yak yak yak FUCKIN YAK

[Brigid]

12. I wonder if TPTB . . .

Truly understand just how downright dangerous this situation really is. Merely mouthing platitudes is not enough.

[Joe Magarac]

13. Do you trust millionaire bankers and politicians to "fix" income inequality? n/t

[yurbud]

15. the problem is, too many average Americans think they are one lottery ticket away from being rich

themselves, and so they don't want to interfere with their future peers.

[Yavin4]

16. No single entity has contributed more to income inequality than the Fed

When you make money cheap to borrow, you increase the value of assets. The more assets you have, the richer you get. The Fed understands that they can keep rates low because labor in the U.S. is economically and politically powerless to raise their wages when the Fed cuts rates.

In the end, cheap money makes asset values rise exponentially and labor doesn't see a rise in their incomes.