Rich getting richer, poor getting poorer

This article definitely makes me want to invest some moola (when I get a job and get some) bc that is where the money is, literally.

And affirms my rant earlier this wk about bigger systems and things in place keep ppl poor. Yes, individual choices matter but what would happen if we only had to pay 15% of our income on tax if we earned under $100K but ppl earning $500K and above paid 35%? Don't get me started on minimum wage which is so completely ridiculous. Any presidential candidate who will raise minimum wage and limit the outrageous wages of CEO's has my vote. Obama, you hear me?

And what if, yes, health insurance was free for all Americans? That would have a staggering affect on the wealth of our poor and middle class.

What if public education was decent and ppl didn't feel the need to send their kids to private school to give them a chance?

What if our President wasn't wasting trillions of OUR money on this war, and that money could go to social services?

Get myself all riled up in time to head into SF to see/protest the Olympic torch.

Parts of the article, not all in succession (emphasis mine):

Economic data show that a huge swath of low- and middle-income families, both in California and across the nation, are barely scraping by. By many measures, their living standards are stagnating or declining as the prices of such necessities as food, fuel and medicine rise faster than wages.

Today, two liberal Washington research groups are set to issue reports on income trends in the 50 states showing that the gap between those at the bottom and middle of the income scale and those at the top is widening at an accelerating pace.
In California, the poorest 20 percent of families saw their incomes rise 1.4 percent in the 2004-06 period compared with 1998-2000, after adjusting for inflation, according to the study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute. The income of the middle 20 percent of families rose 3.8 percent. By contrast, the top 20 percent gained 13 percent after inflation, while the income of the top 5 percent jumped 20.8 percent.

"We are not seeing shared prosperity," said Jean Ross, director of the California Budget Project, a liberal research group in Sacramento that is helping distribute the report. "There's a pulling away at the top that's leaving the bottom 80 percent of families behind."

The trend reflects a range of factors, according to the report's authors, including stagnant wages at the bottom of the income scale, robust pay increases at the top, and a hollowing out of jobs in the middle as manufacturing employment drops. In addition, investment income has grown faster than wages, benefiting those with large stock and bond portfolios. Government tax, trade and labor policies also contribute, the report contends.