Monday, November 4, 2013

Why Its Been A Good Year For The Top 10% and A Bad Year For Everone Else

The stock market is up 24% this year and the top 10%, which owns 80% of the stock, is prospering.  The bottom 90% has seen little growth in income and Congress is bent upon cutting programs like food stamps which are used by almost 50% of our children.  Robert Reich offers his explanation for this situation.

The stock market is up because profits are near an all time high and large corporations are using their retained earnings to buyback their stock and to increase dividend payouts.  That is good in the near term for shareholders but it is bad for everyone else.  It can't sustained in the long term.  Investment is needed to create the jobs and demand that is necessary to keep the ball rolling.

Congress is focused on cutting government spending, especially on programs that benefit the bottom 90% because they are invisible to politicians.  They don't fund their campaigns and almost all of the politicians are members of the top 10%. 

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