MUNCIE, Indiana – One of the most taboo phrases, income inequality, has come back into our discourse thanks to Pope Francis. President Barack Obama immediately jumped to the forefront with his own speech.
PAUL KRUGMAN: Here’s Why Everyone And The Pope Is Talking About Inequality http://t.co/5CFTlEzoK4
— Business Insider (@businessinsider) December 11, 2013
The private sector consists of CEO’s making exorbitant salaries while the average wage of American workers remains stagnant. Yet, what do we get from corporate owned media? Crickets.
Not everybody is ignoring it, and the pulse of mass global unrest is rising. As we’ve pointed out to our readers, there are entirely different discussions taking place on Twitter where authentic journalists can engage with viewers by sharing bits of information with links to their own stories. Gone are the days of having to work for a giant corporate run media conglomerate who stifles their writers and journalists. Gone are the days of “taboo topics”. The sacred cows are getting gored.
From @TaxPolicyCenter: New CBO report shows that the rich have indeed gotten richer over the past 30 years http://t.co/T3Mm32k9OU
— Urban Institute (@urbaninstitute) December 10, 2013
The United States is generally a business-run society, more so than many others, but it’s gotten worse the past thirty years. The business classes are very much aware of class warfare since they’ve fought to undo FDR’s “New Deal” since the 1930’s.
Over the years, the Oligarchs have chipped away at Washington and infiltrated agencies like the FCC which were setup to protect consumers against the power and influence of monied interests.
Due to deregulation, they acquired media outlets to control the message. They’ve used their control to push propaganda over the air waves, on television and in print. Our government was established to keep the business class – the capitalists – the Oligarchs from using their money, power and influence to rule over America.
As we’ve written in Muncie Voice, the founders established the free press to keep both the government and the business classes in check…control their power by reporting on abuses within our political and economic systems. The free press was called the Fourth Branch of government – the Fourth Estate.
However, the capitalists continue expanding their net worth by extracting wealth from our communities leaving a long trail of destruction and dilapidated buildings and have literally compressed the remaining working classes.
President Obama outlined the statistics in his speech:
And the result is an economy that’s become profoundly unequal, and families that are more insecure. I’ll just give you a few statistics. Since 1979, when I graduated from high school, our productivity is up by more than 90 percent, but the income of the typical family has increased by less than eight percent. Since 1979, our economy has more than doubled in size, but most of that growth has flowed to a fortunate few. The top 10 percent no longer takes in one-third of our income — it now takes half. Whereas in the past, the average CEO made about 20 to 30 times the income of the average worker, today’s CEO now makes 273 times more. And meanwhile, a family in the top 1 percent has a net worth 288 times higher than the typical family, which is a record for this country.
If this isn’t a class war, we’re not sure what a better example would look like.
The corporate owned media doesn’t use the term “working class” because it’s taboo. They say “middle class,” because it helps diminish the understanding that there’s a class war going on. Consider this, at the same time technology has allowed for substantial gains in productivity – workers are producing more and instead of reaping the gains – the increasing profit margins has gone to CEO’s and shareholders.
This is unjust and cannot be defended – it’s oppressive. I’m not sure how anyone can justify an economic system which is so grossly unjust and disadvantageous to so many. Our economic system should be used to serve the greater good. Period. Simple. The Pope is right.
Income Inequality ‘Challenge Of Our Time,’ Obama Says http://t.co/VthKhHHTAB — NPR News (@nprnews) December 4, 2013
We must rebuild our society with the focus on community and citizen – maximize each persons health, prosperity and happiness. All policies made should conform be scrutinized to this standard – “How does this decisions improve the health, prosperity and happiness of Americans.”
Large income gaps in countries drive #migration, brain drain & permanent loss of native talent. Blog: http://t.co/4osszhhsQE
— World Bank (@WorldBank) December 1, 2013
This can be done at a grassroots level across the entire globe. We are a society of humans first. We are here for a purpose. As Pope Francis writes in his 2013 Apostolic Exhortation, “The dignity of each human person and the pursuit of the common good are concerns which ought to shape all economic policies.”
All the wonders of business, science, technology, economics, and creative entrepreneurship should be used to maximize the health, prosperity and happiness for every human on earth.
