Public Employee Press


Editorial
Addressing global inequality

The presidential primaries have drawn attention to the issue of inequality, which has grown so much that it recalls the sorry state of affairs in our country during the of Great Depression.

But increasing inequality isn't just a problem here. This is global.

A report by Oxfam says that by 2015, 62 billionaires had accumulated the same wealth as 3.6 billion people, the bottom half of the world's population.

Those billionaires increased their wealth by 44 percent in the five years that followed 2010, a period when the bottom half of the world's population saw their wealth drop by 41 percent.

A 2015 report by the International Monetary Fund concludes, "In most countries with available data, the share held by the 1 percent wealthiest population is rising at the expense of the bottom 90 percent population."

Skyrocketing inequality is walloping working families both here and abroad as the financial elite rig the rules of the economy to suit their interests.

The 1 percent and their political allies have promoted public policies that allow income and wealth to trickle up rather than trickle down. About $7.6 trillion of individual wealth is hidden in tax havens.

Deregulation, tax breaks for corporations and the rich, crippling unions, privatization, and free-trade agreements have hurt the middle class and the poor everywhere.

We can help our brothers and sisters abroad by promoting fair trade agreements and insisting that U.S. corporations overseas don't exploit their workers.

At home, the 2016 presidential election offers us an opportunity fight for a more equitable society.

We need to use the ballot box to put the brake on inequality by supporting candidates who are in favor of fair taxes, the strengthening of unions, protecting Social Security and an expansive public sector.