“Of all developed nations, the US has the most unequal distribution of income AND...

[Joecooool]

“Chilling.”

That’s how one reviewer describes the experience of watching Harvey Weinstein’s latest film. Only the movie in question isn’t “Erased,” Weinstein’s pulse-pounding thriller about an ex-CIA agent on the run. Nor is it “Only God Forgives,” in which Ryan Gosling finds himself caught up in a gritty underground world of Thai drug smuggling, prostitution, rape, and murder.

The movie is, in fact, a documentary, but one more disturbing than international criminal conspiracies and more devastating than any “Sharknado.” It’s about income inequality. As Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich intones in the film, “Of all developed nations, the United States has the most unequal distribution of income, and we’re surging towards even greater inequality.”

“Inequality for All,” directed by Jacob Kornbluth and set to be released nationwide on Sept. 27, comes at a critical moment for America. Sept. 15 marks the five-year anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers — fueled by a toxic combination of deregulation, subprime lending and credit-default swaps — that precipitated the 2008 global economic crisis and laid bare the rot at the heart of our economic system. It was largely this orgy of greed that led the first Occupy Wall Street protesters to Zuccotti Park on Sept. 17, two years ago next week.

In the half-decade since Wall Street’s self-induced crash, the country has hovered between outrage (that the perpetrators walked off scot-free and bonus-laden) and apathy (that anything will ever break the iron bond between Congress and the financial industry).

Until now, hopefully. Following the diminutive Reich on his “statistics-driven and impassioned” crusade, “Inequality for All” throws into sharp relief the numbers and stories we hear. Combining footage from Reich’s electrifying Berkeley lectures with interviews, news clips and rich graphics, the film weaves a compelling narrative about how and why, since the late 1970s, income inequality has risen to crisis levels.

The facts are breathtaking. In 1978, according to Reich, a “typical male worker” made $48,302, while the typical top 1 percenter earned $393,682, more than eight times as much. In 2010, even as overall gross domestic product and productivity increased, the average male worker’s wage fell to $33,751. Meanwhile, the average top 1 percent earner was making more than $1.1 million — 32 times the average earner.

Reich cleverly illustrates how the graph of American inequality over the past century looks like a suspension bridge — peaking in the 1920s, leveling out because of strong, progressive policymaking in the 1950s and 1960s, and spiking again from the Reagan years through the present. We see the consequences in middle-class families that have fallen off that bridge and are struggling to stay afloat.

The film’s most refreshing figure may be Nick Hanauer, a millionaire pillow company CEO who made a fortune as an early investor in Amazon.com. Hanauer acknowledges that he earns 1,000 times the average American but that he will never generate a proportionate amount of economic activity — because he will never need 1,000 Audis or 1,000 pairs of jeans. As he puts it, “Even the richest people only sleep on one or two pillows.”

That’s why this mind-boggling income gap isn’t just bad for families — it’s terrible for the whole economy. Research shows that the increasing chasm between the top 1 percent and everybody else has slowed our nation’s economic growth.

Reich breaks down the passel of complex factors — from the rise of globalization to the decline of union membership, from stagnant middle-class wages to reduced tax rates for the richest, from deregulation to de-funding education, from Wall Street lobbyists to their friends on the Supreme Court — that have converged to squeeze the middle class dry. With his signature heart and humor, he breaks through the cynicism fomented by an intransigent political class, offering some measure of hope to a worn-out electorate.

Indeed, what makes “Inequality for All” unique even among social-issue documentaries is that it aims not just to educate and entertain but also to empower. Kornbluth and his team are launching a grass-roots mobilization effort, complete with a team of field organizers, to coincide with the film’s release. Labor unions, campus groups and a range of progressive organizations will host viewing parties to connect moviegoers with opportunities to fight income inequality. For example, student groups might hold watch parties and then organize participants to focus on college affordability issues, while unions might galvanize people to advocate for a higher minimum wage.

In short, this is a motion picture designed to put people in motion. From an interactive Web site to a teacher toolkit to a “Save the Middle Class National Tour” that will launch in January on the 50th anniversary of the War on Poverty, “Inequality for All” intends to engage ordinary people to advocate for pro-middle-class policies in all 50 state capitals.

Reich concludes his Berkeley course on wealth and poverty by stressing the power of his students — and all citizens — to make change. Free and fair markets don’t just happen; governments, elected by voters, set the rules by which they work. For all of Washington’s gridlock, then, it is still up to the American people to stand up and fight to make the market work better — not just for some, but for all.

Democracy is not a spectator sport, this film reminds us. And in this case, neither is movie-going.

Katrina vanden Heuvel: From ‘Inequality for All,’ a challenge to America - The Washington Post

[Blademaker]

If only we had a PR&C section here..........

[VITE1]

What I find amazing is you rail against income inequity yet you fail to fix the root cause. The Entitlement programs of the Great society.

Politics: Stanford econ prof lays the smack to Obama's economic nonsense | Best of Cain
And
Niall Ferguson: A Conservative Take on America's Economic Divide - Newsweek and The Daily Beast


We have given the deadbeats, dropouts, drunks and druggies a safe, comfortable alternative to work. And more and more a taking than are producing.

And As a producer I am hoarding as much as I can since the takers are talking over.

[DAB]

i looked into starting a woodworking business, but figured out that i'd be paying over 50% of my income in various taxes. it just struck me as wrong to work all morning, and a bit after lunch for someone else. so that business does not exist.

[Mike Mercury]

Originally Posted by VITE1

you fail to fix the root cause. The Entitlement programs of the Great society.

Even Bono finally broke from the cult and opened his eyes:

Bono says capitalism takes more people out of poverty than aid
In a recent speech at Georgetown University, the U2 star said, 'Aid is just a stopgap. Commerce [and] entrepreneurial capitalism take more people out of poverty than aid.'

[C5SilverBullet]

Originally Posted by Blademaker

If only we had a PR&C section here..........

There are a LOT of people that need to get that memo.

[lspencer534]

Just WTF do you want me to do about it? Give 90% of my income...to whom? I'm already among the ones who contribute 95% of the Country's budget. And we who pay taxes already support the 47% of people in this country who live on the dole and who don't pay taxes. The same 47% who buy choice cuts of meat, have a home, and drive a car on my money while they sit on their butts.

You want to talk about inequality? Thos people who earn that $1.1 million pay about 60% of that in income and sales taxes. The worker earning that $33,751 pays almost zero in income taxes. How much more unequal do you want it to be?

I assume that OP is under the impression that we 1 percenters rob and steal our incomes. No, damnit! We work 12-15 hour days for it and pay a lot of other peoples' salaries along the way. The guy earning $33K pays no one but himself.

We're a Capitalist Country...or at least what's left of it. If you don't like that, then get the **** out of the Country and move somewhere that's more Communist and to your liking.

[Mike Mercury]

Phil;

I can tell that it must warm your heart when you...







give away someone elses earnings.

[DukeAllen]

Originally Posted by lspencer534

You want to talk about inequality? Thos people who earn that $1.1 million pay about 60% of that in income and sales taxes. The worker earning that $33,751 pays almost zero in income taxes. How much more unequal do you want it to be?

I assume that OP is under the impression that we 1 percenters rob and steal our incomes. No, damnit! We work 12-15 hour days for it and pay a lot of other peoples' salaries along the way. The guy earning $33K pays no one but himself.

I'm sure as hell not on the OP's side, but I know lots of people in that pay range and below who pay plenty, and miss every cent.
And manual labor is a hell of a lot harder than sitting in an office.
Just sayin'

[Blademaker]

Originally Posted by lspencer534

Just WTF do you want me to do about it? Give 90% of my income...to whom? I'm already among the ones who contribute 95% of the Country's budget. And we who pay taxes already support the 47% of people in this country who live on the dole and who don't pay taxes. The sme 47% who buy choice cuts of meat, have a home, and drive a car on my money while they sit on their butts.

You want to talk about inequality? Thos people who earn that $1.1 million pay about 60% of that in income and sales taxes. The worker earning that $33,751 pays almost zero in income taxes. How much more unequal do you want it to be?

I assume that OP is under the impression that we 1 percenters rob and steal our incomes. No, damnit! We work 12-15 hour days for it and pay a lot of other peoples' salaries along the way. The guy earning $33K pays no one but himself.

We're a Capitalist Country...or at least what's left of it. If you don't like that, then get the **** out of the Country and move somewhere that's more Communist and to your liking.

Should our paths ever cross, all the G&T we can drink, a steak dinner, more G&T for dessert, and my wife will drive our drunken asses home from the restaurant of your choice.

[Blademaker]

And Thanks to the mod that moved this post to the correct forum, so the OP can now away.

[Chris Fowler]

For the most part the "poor" in this country are not poor.

They are only poor compared to the rich.

So what's better? Equality where the poor are truly poor? Or inequality where the "poor" have a roof over their head, multiple TVs, a microwave, etc.?

In the liberal utopia it's better that everyone is truly poor, as long as they're equal...

[lspencer534]

Originally Posted by Chris Fowler

For the most part the "poor" in this country are not poor.

They are only poor compared to the rich.

So what's better? Equality where the poor are truly poor? Or inequality where the "poor" have a roof over their head, multiple TVs, a microwave, etc.?

In the liberal utopia it's better that everyone is truly poor, as long as they're equal...

Well said.

[lspencer534]

Originally Posted by DukeAllen

I'm sure as hell not on the OP's side, but I know lots of people in that pay range and below who pay plenty, and miss every cent.
And manual labor is a hell of a lot harder than sitting in an office.
Just sayin'

I meant no criticism nor disrespect for those earning low incomes. I was once there myself. I do think it is fair to say that both the low earners and the high earners work hard for their money.

[mrvette]

Originally Posted by Chris Fowler

For the most part the "poor" in this country are not poor.

They are only poor compared to the rich.

So what's better? Equality where the poor are truly poor? Or inequality where the "poor" have a roof over their head, multiple TVs, a microwave, etc.?

In the liberal utopia it's better that everyone is truly poor, as long as they're equal...

THAT is what communism is all about, unless you happen to be in power....

some commies are better than others, you know....

[MrPeabody]

What is fundamentally wrong with the OP's premise is that income or money is not to be "distributed." It can be earned, begged, borrowed or stolen, and the government can make rules about that, but it is not the governments job to distribute it.

[Doug28450]

Another hit and run.

[Loco Vette]

[ft laud mike]

Originally Posted by DukeAllen

I'm sure as hell not on the OP's side, but I know lots of people in that pay range and below who pay plenty, and miss every cent.
And manual labor is a hell of a lot harder than sitting in an office.
Just sayin'

I don't see how poor choices or bad luck on someone else's part somehow means that I should give them money. That should fall under their familie's or their church's problem, not mine.

[Mike Mercury]

Originally Posted by ft laud mike

I don't see how poor choices or bad luck on someone else's part somehow means that I should give them money. That should fall under their familie's or their church's problem, not mine.

EXACTLY.

the way it had been done since the dawn of time.... is that those who made poor choices had to ask for "charity"; defined as the willful giving of ones wealth to another.

And to get this charity.... the askers had to show that they had learned their lesson - was adopting a life path of straight & narrow - planning on never getting in this situation again (or no one would be handing them money - just to be flushed down the crapper).

Nowdays, the charity giving is forced; and one is labeled by the democrats as a racist/bigoted/sexist/homophobe for resisting forced charity.

The irresponsible need not change their lifestyle; they can continue to pop out children - out of wedlock - from absent fathers.... and the forced charity continues on.

You want to create a rukus with a democrat? Demand that anyone on welfare, food stamps, or in section 8 housing....

be required to be drug screened every month... or lose their aid.

Ya see, if it was like before.... regular charity wouldn't be freely given to a welfare mom that's high or drunk. Because the givers would know it would be a total waste of money.

What to do with the irresponsible - if they are ineligible for aid? This was handled fine since the dawn of time; their own family chipped in.

Today; I am being forced to chip-in to help those that don't want to better themselves... instead just seeking freebies.