Since Trump Occupied The White House, Income Disparity Between The Very Rich And The Rest Of Us Has Gotten Worse

The Census Bureau released a report late last week that shows income and wealth inequality worsening and the gap between the 1% and everyone else widening. Every year Trump has been in office that gap has gotten worse which makes complete sense considering his policies.

The gap between the richest and poorest... how long has Bernie been talking about that-- living in that lane, unlike, say Biden, who is part of what's wrong... not as bad as Trump, but plenty bad.

Income inequality in our country was "significantly higher" in 2018 than in 2017, the Census Bureau's American Community Survey reported. The states with the worst statistics on this widening gulf are both red and blue-- Alabama, Arkansas, California, Kansas, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Texas and Virginia. Basically, the take away from this report is that despite economic expansion inequality gets worse. Why? Obviously, Republican Party tax policies favor wealthy people (and corporations) at the expense of working people. And the anti-union agenda conservatives have pushed have made it even worse for working families.

How to fix this? Easy answer and just one answer: replacing conservatives with progressives-- replacing Trump with Bernie; replacing Republicans with progressives-- here are 17 that would make an amazing difference in the House:

• Replace Blue Dog Jim Costa with Kim Williams in California
• Replace Trump-Republican Michael McCaul with Mike Siegel in Texas
• Replace Blue Dog Dan Lipinski with Marie Newman in Illinois
• Replace Trump-Republican George Holding with Jason Butler in North Carolina
• Replace New Dem Gregory Meeks with Shaniyat Chowdhury in New York
• Replace New Dem Derek Kilmer with Rebecca Parson in Washington
• Replace New Dem Bill Foster with Rachel Ventura in Illinois
• Replace New Dem Eliot Engel with Jamaal Bowman
• Replace Trump-Republican Doug LaMalfa with Audrey Denney in California
• Replace Trump-Republican Fred Upton with Jon Hoadley in Michigan
• Replace Trump-Republican Steven King with J.D. Scholten in Iowa
• Replace Blue Dog Kurt Schrader with Mark Gamba in Oregon
• Replace Trump-Republican Donald J Bacon with Kara Eastman in Nebraska
• Replace New Dem Stephen Lynch with Brianna Wu in Massachusetts
• Replace Blue Dog David Scott with Michael Owens in Georgia
• Replace Blue Dog Henry Cuellar with Jessica Cisneros in Texas
• Replace Trump-Republican John Katko with Dana Balter in New York

Rebecca Parson is the progressive candidate running in Washington state, in a district held by a hard core, anti-working class New Dem. She was blunt about the differences between herself and the conservative incumbent when it comes to dealing with income disparity. "In our district," she said, "the working class is getting further and further behind. People are working multiple, low-wage jobs to survive. Unions are under constant attack, and Rep. Derek Kilmer doesn't help. He's voted against unions' wishes-- he voted to fast track the TPP, and in the state legislature, he voted to weaken unions' political power. By contrast, I'm fighting to strengthen unions with policies like repealing Section 14(b) of the Taft-Hartley Act, supporting card check, and giving federal workers the right to strike. Strengthening unions will strengthen the working class and lower income inequality in our district and across the country."

Kim Williams is also running against a fake Democrat-- Blue Dog Jim Costa, one of the worst of the worst... and never any help when it comes from lightening the burden on working families. "We are one of the poorest congressional districts in the U.S. with some of the highest high school dropout rates and some of the worst air pollution in America," explained Williams. "All of this is the direct result of years of political neglect and because the incumbent has directed all of his energy and focus towards rich farmers like himself. But for the first time, voters in this Valley will have a real choice, and we will finally have a chance to elect a representative who will support Medicare for All, debt-free college, universal Pre-K, and a Green New Deal. Costa is betting on the fact that this solidly blue district is still too conservative to accept progressive policies, but progressive policies are exactly what is needed to lift our families out of poverty and grow the middle class."

Shan Chowdhury is a progressive taking on one of the most corrupt and useless New Dems in Congress, Gregory Meeks. Please consider helping Queens voters replace Meeks with Shan by clicking on the thermometer just above. "Black and Latinos make up majority of the working class," he told us this morning. "As the wealth gap continues to widen between the rich and poor, Black and Latinos are continuously forgotten when we talk about wealth disparities. A high earning white family in the US will still make ten times more than families of color. I do agree we need to replace Trump with Bernie, we need to tax the rich, and get rid of billionaires. However, we also need to address the racial economic injustice done to people of color. In Congress, I will propose a baby bonds program to address the racial wealth gap. Every child in the US will be assigned a trust fund through public resources depending on the wealth of a family. A child can access their trust fund when they reach their young adulthood years which will help them start financial endowment permitting them to have greater economic security over a lifetime."

Jamaal Bowman is the progressive trying to win a Bronx-Westchester seat that borders on AOC's. His opponent spends more timing worrying about Israel's Likud Party than about his own hard-pressed constituents. Bowman told me that his mother raised him "in a culturally rich working class community on her postal worker’s salary. My wife and I are able to provide our children with a middle class culturally rich upbringing because like my mom we are part of a healthy and vibrant labor union. Our democracy thrives when the middle class is vibrant and it is a crime that companies like Amazon get away with not paying corporate tax. Democrats like Eliot Engel continue to sell out the people in his district and across the country by taking corporate PAC money and compromising our democratic values for greed. Its urgently time for a change in NY-16."

Bernie rolled out a new policy campaign initiative-- something he's been working on for decades. Bernie: "The American people want corporations to invest in their workers, not just dividends, stock buybacks and outrageous compensation packages to their executives."

In the 1950s, CEOs made 20 times more than their median employees. Last year, the average S&P 500 CEO made 287 times their median worker pay. Workers in this country should not be paid totally inadequate wages while CEOs make outrageously high compensation packages.

Bernie’s Income Inequality Tax Plan raises taxes on companies with exorbitant pay gaps between their executives and typical workers.

Today, the SEC requires companies to disclose their CEO-to-median-worker pay ratios. As a result, we now know that:

• Walmart’s CEO made $23.6 million last year, 1,076 times more than the median Walmart worker’s $21,952.
• Jamie Dimon made over $30 million last year, 381 times more than the median JPMorganChase employee’s $78,923.
• Home Depot’s CEO made more than $11.4 million, 486 times more than the median Home Depot employee’s $23,389.
• Nike’s CEO was paid over $9.5 million in 2018, 379 times more than the median Nike employee’s earnings of $24,955.
• American Airlines’ CEO made almost $12 million last year, 195 times more than the median American Airlines employee’s $61,527.

Under the new Sanders plan, companies with large gaps between their CEO and median worker pay would see progressively higher corporate tax rates with the most unequal companies paying five percentage points more in corporate taxes.

Specifically, this plan would impose tax rate increases on companies with CEO to median worker ratios above 50 to 1. If the CEO did not receive the largest paycheck in the firm, the ratio will be based on the highest-paid employee. The tax penalties would begin at 0.5 percentage points for companies that pay their top executives between 50 and 100 times more than their typical workers. The highest penalty would kick in for companies that pay top executives over 500 times worker pay. These rates, if current corporate pay patterns continue, would raise around $150 billion over 10 years.

How companies' corporate taxes would increase if their compensation ratio is:

• Between 50 and 100: +0.5%
• Between 100 and 200: +1%
• Between 200 and 300: +2%
• Between 300 and 400: +3%
• Between 400 and 500: +4%
• More than 500: +5%

If this plan had been in effect last year:

• McDonald’s would have paid up to $110.9 million more in taxes.
• Walmart would have paid up to $793.8 million more in taxes.
• JPMorganChase would have paid up to $991.6 million more in taxes.
• The Home Depot would have paid up to $538.2 million more in taxes.
• American Airlines would have paid up to $18.8 million more in taxes.

This plan would apply to all private and publicly held corporations with annual revenue of more than $100 million. The Treasury Department will be required to issue regulations to prevent tax avoidance, including by changing the composition of a firm’s workforce. In addition, the pay ratio data for privately held corporations will be made public in the same manner that it is currently disclosed for publicly held corporations.

The revenue generated from this income inequality tax will be used to pay for Bernie’s plan to eliminate medical debt. But the goal of this income inequality tax is not just to raise more revenue. It is to send a message to corporate America: stop paying your workers inadequate wages while CEOs make outrageous compensation packages.

Didn't heard about it on TV? That's right. Corporate media is talking about impeachment gossip and not about Bernie's agenda for change. Please consider contributing to Bernie campaign by clicking on the DownWithTyranny For Bernie thermometer on the right.


Kara Eastman is the progressive in Omaha trying to win back the district after years of conservatives. Her progressive agenda is oriented towards working families. "Donald J Bacon," she said, "has proven he is not the right representative for NE-02. In typical 'Bait and Switch Bacon' fashion, he says he supports bipartisan policies, but then votes with Trump 97% of the time. His policies have given a hand out to millionaires and large corporations, put our farmers on welfare, and seek to take away healthcare from Nebraskans. He parrots the talking points of his party because he simply has no backbone when it comes to representing his district."

Kara and Iowan J.D. Scholten bonded in the 2018 cycle their races were two of the closest in the country and both feel 2020 is the year to finish what they started last year. J.D. reminded us that "DC has failed to have an answer to globalization as it affects the working class. Until we do so, we will continue to have economic injustice! We need to elect folks who will fight for the 99%."

Jason Butler is new to politics, but not new to organizing working families. His North Carolina district is ripe for a progressive agent of change like himself. "People," he said, "ask me why a progressive pastor and grassroots organizer would run for Congress? My answer is always simple: I care about people. Right now, people all over our country, and especially my district are suffering deeply. This economy is not only not working, its actually creating suffering. I’m no socialist, but I see that capitalism used to create wealth for the many but now its just the rich capitalizing on the suffering of the rest of us. This is breaking my heart. My dad is 66 years old and can’t retire. He has a torn ACL and a hernia in his gut. But he can’t afford to go to the doctor and still, every day he literally goes out and digs ditches. He has no retirement, no healthcare, and no hope. I’m running for folks like him because we need people in Washington that have enough moral courage to stand up to big business and special interests and say enough is enough! I’m not in this to get rich or build my personal network-- I’m in this to be a voice for the people who have been marginalized and pushed aside. I’m in this for us-- not George Holding and the rest of his rich friends."