Different views on the U.S. wealth gap

By Dave Starr, Las Vegas

Sunday, Aug. 31, 2014 | 2:02 a.m.

An analysis by the rating agency Standard & Poor’s says the wealth gap is slowing the United States’ economic growth. We the nonrich already knew that.

The laughable part is the analysis also says the solution does not involve taxing the rich more; rather, it says greater access to education would help ease the disparity. The report concluded taxing the rich more could remove incentives for people to work and cause businesses to hire fewer employees because of the cost involved.

So the rich have analyzed the problem of income disparity and the answer is the poor need to catch up. How absolutely ridiculous! The bubble the rich live in cannot be penetrated. The top 1 percent earned an average of $1.3 million in 2012, and the top 0.01 percent earned an average of $30.8 million. Adjusted for inflation, the bottom 90 percent of American workers’ income has declined for the past 13 years.

So the problem is not that the rich and corporations pay an average tax rate of 13 percent, according to the Government Accountability Office. The problem is the poor aren’t educated enough. They cannot afford college, so they accumulate student loan debt that can take a lifetime to pay off. Then they find their career choice pays peanuts so the corporations can hoard money overseas, pay little in taxes, pay employees little, pay CEOs ridiculous amounts and say the poor are the problem after all.

Isn’t it odd how the rich and the rest of us look at the problem differently?