Following the protests in Wisconsin the issue of income inequality has received much more attention in the media. Progressives argue that the GOP is trying to make the middle class and poor pay for budget deficits through spending cuts and attacks on the unions. A better alternative, progressives argue, would be raising taxes on the rich back the Clinton-era levels. Conservatives argue tax increases would hurt everyone even if they were only put on the rich, and that the budget deficits now require everyone to sacrifice. Last night Stephen Colbert perhaps summed up the issue best with his “The Word” segment entitled “New Country for Old Men.”
As Colbert puts it, most conservatives would simply prefer to “do nothing” about income disparity since they really do not see it as a problem. However, there is some concern about the effect of income disparity on the middle class and poor. The average CEO now makes 185 times more than the average worker, which leads to worker discontent and the “seeds of revolution” as Colbert explains.
Liberals claim that not only do some make more than others, which is natural in any free market economy, but that the disparity has grown astronomically over the past three years. The top 1% of Americans has seen their income triple, while the bottom 99% have seen their incomes largely stay the same. Conservative claim that the wealth of the richest Americans will “trickle down” to the rest, and that any government effort to close the income gap amounts to “class warfare.”
To resolve the debate Colbert proposes officially splitting up America into two nations. The rich Americans would become part of “America Plus” or “Golfistan.” Thankfully, rich America could start using “Poor America” as “cheap foreign labor” which just may start getting people employed again.
Article from here:
http://www.examiner.com/political-buzz-in-national/stephen-colbert-delivers-the-word-on-income-inequality-videoVideo:
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/375911/march-01-2011/the-word---new-country-for-old-men
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