Income inequality. Is it an issue? The issue? OR, do only 315 people care?

[Coyotl]

It seems to me that the propagandists are in a nervous sweat about the big issue of our times, inequality. Here are two contrasting views.

What do you think about the issue's importance in the 2014 election cycle?

Robert Reich on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/RBReich
Right-wing Republicans, spineless Democrats, and some of the mainstream media say the public doesn’t really want to tackle the issue of inequality. But several new polls show exactly the opposite. A new CNN poll asked Americans whether “the government should work to substantially reduce the income gap between the rich and the poor.” The answer is “yes” by a margin of 66% to 31%, better than two-to-one. And in a new poll from the respected Pew Research Center, 65% say inequality has grown over past 10 years, 53% say government should “do a lot” to reduce it, 54% favor taxing the wealthy to expand aid to the poor, 73% favor increasing the minimum wage from current $7.25 to $10.10 an hour, and 63% favor a one-year extension of unemployment benefits for those out of work for a long time.

In other words, the public wants action. The movement against widening inequality and for shared prosperity is gaining traction. So why do you think our politicians aren’t listening? Is it simply because they've been corrupted by big money, or is something else going on?

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AEI Does Itself A Disservice With Obvious Lies
David Cay Johnston Feb 10 2014 http://www.nationalmemo.com/aei-disservice-obvious-lies/

How many Americans think income inequality is our greatest challenge, as President Obama asserts?

According to what, at least until now, has been one of the most respected pro-business research organizations in Washington, the number of Americans holding this view totals just 315.

The figure of 315 comes from James Pethokoukis, a “scholar” at the American Enterprise Institute. It was published Monday without irony or even a hint that it was a poor attempt at humor.

Pethokoukis is a writer with a well-established reputation for pieces that events and the passage of time showed to be wrong in premise, context and specifics.

He began his AEI blog, which National Review Online reprinted:

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