Lots of good reading. Pretty long, but good data and perspective.

An excerpt:

But in fact, the $50 trillion transfer of wealth the RAND report documents has occurred entirely within the American economy, not between it and its trading partners. No, this upward redistribution of income, wealth, and power wasn’t inevitable; it was a choice—a direct result of the trickle-down policies we chose to implement since 1975.

We chose to cut taxes on billionaires and to deregulate the financial industry. We chose to allow CEOs to manipulate share prices through stock buybacks, and to lavishly reward themselves with the proceeds. We chose to permit giant corporations, through mergers and acquisitions, to accumulate the vast monopoly power necessary to dictate both prices charged and wages paid. We chose to erode the minimum wage and the overtime threshold and the bargaining power of labor. For four decades, we chose to elect political leaders who put the material interests of the rich and powerful above those of the American people.

I don’t particularly like the “We chose…” language (I do understand why they are using it; a sort of royal “we”), as this has been largely and primarily instigated and perpetuated by the Wall Street network & regime and the culture they’ve force-fed the population, exported across the nation and world; a culture of selfishness, greed, deception, and, frankly, psychopathy.

Article comes from a paper put out by the RAND Corporation: https://www.rand.org/pubs/working_papers/WRA516-1.html