The Wealth Concentration in America Continues as the Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Poorer. Our Economic System is Designed to Enrich Elites & Eliminate Us.

The unequal wealth concentration in America demonstrates the monetary structure of American society. Other economically strong nations such as Japan have near parity in the distribution of wealth.

In the late 1960’s the breach between rich and poor closed to its lowest point in the 20th century. Despite old movie images of Wall Street tycoons jumping from skyscrapers in the 1920’s, the biggest gap between rich and poor in this country existed at the time of the Great Depression.

Then, like now it’s not the rich who suffer for the ups and downs of the economy that benefits them at the expense of the hard efforts of working people.

In a major crisis it’s the working people and poor that pay the consequences. Between 1979 and 2004 real after tax income for the wealthiest 1% (that own more than 34% of the wealth), rose by 176%. For the poorest 20% of households in that same period real income rose by 6%.

According to Forbes, increased wealth for the 400 wealthiest Americans increased by a mere 2% in 2008 (a total of $30 billion). Meanwhile, in the year 2007, 1 out of 8 Americans (33.2 million people) suffered from hunger, a number which very likely has increased in the past year.

While job losses are up, there are growth sectors of the economy that don’t seem to stop hiring since Bush came to power.

WEALTH CONCENTRATION IN AMERICA: MILITARY

All things related to the military and security industries have been the big boom of recent years. Of the top ten military spenders in the world in 2008, the U.S. not only holds the number 1 position but outspends the combined 9 other nations.

The 2008 Fiscal Year Budget request (which has been exceeded in spending) was 623 billion dollars. More than half of an approximate 1.1 trillion spent by the 9 other nations in the top ten club of military spending.

Although the war buildup has been the highest spending since WWII, the Pentagon itself has down-sized. This created considerable friction between former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld with the Pentagon as Rumsfeld moved the country to war while simultaneously reducing the size of the U.S. army to depend more on the National Guard and on civilian sub-contractors.

The overpriced sub-contractors, often given no-bid cost agreements, have been in large part members of the Bush/Cheney inner circle. These companies have made millions upon millions when hired for U.S. army functions ranging from combat to logistics.

WEALTH CONCENTRATION IN AMERICA: MILITARY SPENDING

Fortunes have turned upward for several companies like Cheney’s Halliburton and Carlyle Group that includes former Secretary of State James Baker, and is historically linked to the Bush clan.

While these gentleman running the White House have turned their fortunes into bigger fortunes thanks to war, the war economy has been a large factor contributing to the economic crisis and deepening poverty for the majority by diverting resources that could have been spent productively.

WEALTH CONCENTRATION IN AMERICA: WORST TO COME

The growing concentration of wealth in America could be mildly effected if Obama enacts his campaign promise to increase taxes on the rich and lower taxes for the poor, a novel idea in a society where the wealth trickles upwards.

However, unless a complete re-thinking of national priorities is carried out and an agenda for social development is put on the table, any end to the economic crisis will only be temporary.

The liberal economist John Kenneth Galbraith recognized that the Great Depression was never resolved but rather put on hold by WWII and the subsequent reconstruction boom. That boom ended in the late 60’s and since that time the stalwart defenders of capitalism have been using the economic equivalents of duct tape and paper clips to try to keep it together.

For the developed world, a basic living standard for the population has been more or less maintained based on drawing wealth from the rest of the world, but this formula is no longer working. The U.S. is sinking into third world conditions for increasing numbers of citizens.

It is unlikely that the elite winners of the current system will easily give in to radical changes that cut their profits. Already, the same people that developed this economic crisis in the past 20 years have been tapped to take over many of the top economic posts in the incoming administration.

It appears that only a total collapse will provoke the U.S. politicians to understand that more of the same won’t work as U.S. capitalism and the façade of its compatibility with democracy move closer to the inevitable downfall. The worst is yet to come.