Highlights from my blog post. See full post here: http://www.ahhthesimplelife.com/ineq...g-our-country/
This was inspired by an NPR program: The Fast Food Economy.
I was also inspired by fast food workers' protests.
Inequlaity Is Ruining Our Country, and I Want to Know Why
- In the United States, 21.9 percent of all children are in poverty, a poverty rate second only to Mexico's (among rich nations). One in five children (16 million) struggles with hunger.
- "The International Human Rights Clinic at New York University’s School of Law has just released a new study, “Nourishing Change: Fulfilling the Right to Food in the United States.” They report that 50 million individuals—that’s one in six Americans—live in a household that cannot afford adequate food. Of these, nearly 17 million are children. Despite this, Congress is moving to weaken food security program funding, like food stamps." [From Amy Goodman's Time for a Raise in the Minimum Wage.]
- The average CEO's pay is now $7,000 an hour - that's 350 time the average worker's. According to data compiled by the AFL-CIO, the average CEO pay at 327 of the nation's biggest companies reached $12.3 million. It's the equivalent of $7,000 an hour - 350 times the typical worker's pay of $20 an hour. Some CEO pay is much higher. For details of the "top 10", see: CEO Pay: Who Makes the Most.
"Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
- The gap between the top 1% and everyone else hasn't been this bad since the Roaring Twenties. We are recreating the gap that gave us the Great Depression!
- In 1928, a year before the US economy nosedived into depression, the top 1 percent share was 23.9 percent.
- In 2007, the top 1 percent share of national income peaked at 23.5 percent. - See more at: http://inequality.org/income-inequal....py5lRXSk.dpuf
“No person, I think, ever saw a herd of buffalo, of which a few were fat and the great majority lean. No person ever saw a flock of birds, of which two or three were swimming in grease, and the others all skin and bone.” – Henry George, American political economist (1839-1897)
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- The federal minimum wage over the past 40 years has not kept up with inflation. If it had kept up with inflation, it would be $10.74 instead of $7.25. Why don't we have a universal living wage in this country? Would this perhaps mean one less vacation home or yacht for one of those CEOs? If you have been duped into thinking that there would be negative consequences of instituting a universal living wage, then please read: Clearing the Air: Myths and Concerns.
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How You Can Help"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Support the fast food workers’ strike. Participate in the demonstrations. Use social media to express your support. Join other Tweeters using the popular hashtags “#iamfastfood” and “Poverty wages. #imnotlovingit.”
- On August 1, Daily Show comedian John Oliver lampooned Fox News' absurd arguments against raising the minimum wage. Oliver's coverage lays bare the ignorance, mean-spiritedness, and unabashed greed of those who argue against raising the minimum wage -- it's something that everyone who cares about workers and their families needs to see (it's also pretty hilarious). Watch the video, sign on in support, and then share the clip with everyone you know. Follow this link: The Daily Show.
- To reduce outlandish CEO pay packages, “the best strategy may be to keep publicizing their pay to shame them - and the corporate boards that approve their compensation packages”. [Heidi Moore, economics editor at The Guardian, in Yahoo Finance's The Daily Ticker.] You can find several articles that document CEO pay. Find one of these articles, get its URL link, and share it on social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Here is a link to one of these articles: CEO Pay: Who Makes the Most.
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What Are Your Thoughts
Do you agree that inequality is ruining our country? How do you feel about what you have just read? Are you worried, sad, angry? Do you think that we need to move our country in some new directions? How? Why?