Washblog

Yes, Youtube videos are allowed.  It's possible to do because I went in and changed the codes to allow it.  And I embed Youtube clips myself.  

I would recommend a more descriptive title for the diary, and a quick description.  That will affect how many people actually open up the diary to read it.  

What Bernie says -- in 2005 the top 1% of earners made more than the bottom 50% in the United States.

That means 300,000 people made more than 150 million people.

That's just income.  The unfair distribution of wealth is even more severe.  The most wealthy 400 people are worth $1.54 trillion.  And we have the highest percentage of childhood poverty in the world, he says.  18% of the children are in poverty in this country -- almost one in 5 children.

Those people who make between 100 million and a billion per year in the US spend an average of $182,000 on watches.

Yeah, this is disgusting, creepy.  Sanders says to the richest in the country: "President Bush has given you hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks and yet we have children in this country who are hungry, we have millions of children who lack health insurance."

by noemie maxwell on Sun Aug 17, 2008 at 11:36:38 AM PST

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Top of the recommended list and let some oldies mercifully drop off.

by dinazina on Sun Aug 17, 2008 at 08:14:58 PM PST

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I agree that disparities of wealth & power need to be near the top of the progressive agenda in these times. It got really bad after 12 years of Reagan/Bush I -- but after 8 years of Bush II it has become truly outrageous & intolerable.

When I hear people say, "but let's not engage in class warfare," part of thinks, "class warfare has been waged by the richest against the rest of us for a long time -- the only question is whether we choose to fight back." But another part of me prefers to avoid all warfare & wonders what allies might be cultivated from the "ethical elite." Many of them have witnessed first-hand how out-of-control the upward redistribution of wealth has become, & are rightly skeptical of continuing the trends.

Locally, for example, William Gates, Sr., has long been an outspoken advocate for fair taxation policy -- working to preserve the estate tax, for example, even though it impacts his own family a great deal. He has also long championed creating a fairer tax system in Washington state -- which, last time I checked had the MOST REGRESSIVE tax system in the entire country. Our state has seen a few failed attempts to fix this problem in previous decades, but could this be a time for a strong push on this front again?

With the Wall St. crisis shining a spotlight on questions of wealth creation, destruction, & disparities, can the progressive rabble join forces with more progressive elements of the elite to push for long overdue structural changes in financial, tax, & economic policies? I hope so.

by lanscot on Mon Oct 27, 2008 at 02:42:47 AM PST

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