Why does America have the greatest economic inequality of any advanced nation?
Why is America among the worst of the advanced nations for equality of economic opportunity?
Equality of economic opportunity = your chances of getting ahead regardless of who your parents were and how much money they had.
The main reason that I can see is that too many people accept it and go along with it as some kind of "natural order."
I actually blame Ronald Reagan, along with his mindless, robotic followers (aka "Ronnie Robots"). Reaganomics, often called "voodoo economics," is the economic system favored by Wall Street criminals and mobsters. The drug cartels and kingpins actually flourished and became wealthy, along with the bankers who laundered their money - even though Reagan was supposedly committed to a "war on drugs" against them.
I don't believe these people have any sense of compassion or charity, so they don't care how many "little people" get screwed on their way to Easy Street. But unlike the industrialists of yesteryear, the capitalists of today have no sense of civic responsibility or any concern about the future of America itself.
Despite the moral failings of the early industrialists and sweatshop owners, they still wanted America as a whole to improve and get bigger and better, which it did - for better or worse. They created and built the infrastructure and industry which helped make America great. In contrast, today's capitalists are gutting that infrastructure, outsourcing that industry - while watching America quietly sink in a sea of red ink, a diminished credit rating, and a rapidly declining standard of living.
Our role as world leader and our ability to influence world affairs has also diminished since the Vietnam era. We often hear about how China is up and coming and will surpass us, while America stagnates and devolves.
I would put that upon the economic elite of this country. It's one thing if they want to screw the working classes and make themselves obscenely rich, but what do they have to show for it? How has America improved under their economic leadership? These are the questions we should be asking.
It's one thing if they have no sense of compassion, charity, or empathy for their fellow human beings. Likewise, they may be irredeemably greedy and without any moral compass whatsoever.
But one has to wonder: Where is their sense of pride and dignity? Why do they believe that getting rich from being weasels, scavengers, and leeches is something respectable? Why do they consider it a great accomplishment worthy of great rewards?
Where we once had lions of industry, now we have vultures. And people wonder why America is in a state of decline.
