"Economic Inequality and Political Inequality are Mutually Reinforcing"

[applegrove]

Economic Inequality and Political Inequality are Mutually Reinforcing

Posted by Mijin Cha at Demos

http://www.demos.org/blog/8/12/13/economic-inequality-and-political-inequality-are-mutually-reinforcing

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The paper also points out that the revolving door between politics and the private sector also contributes to advancing corporate and affluent interests:

One view is that these people are dedicated public servants who sacrifice financial gain to serve the American public. The other is that the revolving door, even with the best of intentions, clouds their decision making. Revolving door jobs, lobbying, and campaign contributions by the rich, when coupled with free market ideological proclivities in the voting population, are likely to have abetted the increase in inequality.

Economic inequality contributes to political inequality, which then further economic inequality because the interests and priorities of the wealthy are advanced over policies that help working and low-income families. This cycle is why the capital gains tax rate is continually cut while the minimum wage remains stagnant, even though the minimum wage impacts far more people.

Until we remove the corrosive influence of money in our electoral system and protect individual’s right to vote, we can expect this cycle to not only continue but become even more pronounced.



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