income inequality

Well now it’s official: even the Wall Street ratings agency Standard & Poor’s says income inequality is damaging our economy. Inequality Is Damaging the U.S. Economy, S&P Study Says (Wall Street Journal blog):

U.S. income inequality is harming U.S. economic growth by excluding large swaths of the population from its cumulative benefits, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services says in a new report.

Tackling an unusual subject for a credit-rating firm, S&P combines a review of recent studies on inequality with its own analysis to find that the gap in earnings between rich and poor can have lasting economic consequences.

“The current level of income inequality in the U.S. is dampening GDP growth, at a time when the world’s biggest economy is struggling to recover from the Great Recession and the government is in need of funds to support an aging population,” the firm said in the report published Tuesday.

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The lapdogs for the Plutocracy over at FAUX News, in particular Bill O’Rielly, will have their heads explode over these news items.

CNBC, the fluffers for the banksters of Wall Street, conducted a “millionaire’s survey” which produced a somewhat surprising result (there are millionaires with a moral conscience out there, they are just not the billionaire bastard Koch brothers and their ilk).  CNBC survey shows millionaires want higher taxes to fix inequality:

CNBC’s first-ever Millionaire Survey reveals that 51 percent of American millionaires believe inequality is a “major problem” for the U.S., and of those, nearly two-thirds support higher taxes on the wealthy and a higher minimum wage as ways to narrow the wealth gap.

The findings show that—far from being a purely self-interested voting bloc—American millionaires have complicated views when it comes to the wealth gap and opportunity in America.

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The CNBC Millionaire Survey polled 514 people with investable assets of $1 million or more, which represents the top 8 percent of American households. The respondents came from around the country and were split between Democrats, Republicans and Independents.

The online survey was conducted in March by Spectrem Group on behalf of CNBC. The overall margin of error was 4.3 percentage points.

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Despite being winners in the new economy, U.S. millionaires view inequality as a problem. More than half of millionaires and multimillionaires agreed that “inequality of wealth in our nation is a major problem.”

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