~ After more than 30 years of growing and glaring inequality, it has become impossible to pretend that the gap can be entirely explained by hard work. In fact, it is the middle class that has worked hard and tripled their productivity even as their real wages have declined. The result of that increased productivity has been a reduction in the number of workers needed to produce the same goods and services, and relentless pressure on employment, while the financial rewards have gone to the top tier.
The system that allocates vast riches to the very top as the rest struggle is not meritorious so much as meretricious.
The rich get richer because the underclass works harder. Even as their efforts create greater wealth, workers' incomes lag living expenses that grow apace, benefits such as healthcare atrophy, pensions disappear and job security becomes a thing of the past. Meanwhile, our political system works to further entrench every one of these trends.
It is neo-feudalism, and it is fueling the Occupy movement. Expect historic protests through the November elections.
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