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Thursday, September 26, 2019

A CHOICE for a CHANGE - "Ask yourself, do you want the 2020 election to be about the pros and cons of runaway economic inequality and how to fix it-- or about whose family is more corrupt, Trump's or Biden's, who lies more, Trump or Biden, who is further alone the path to complete senility, Trump or Biden-- and who is the lesser evil, Trump or Biden? Let's have a real debate about real and fundamental issues."

The headline quote is from a post at DownWithTyranny, where, as always, the full text will get the full story across. The DWT item is headlined, "Bernie Is Right: There Shouldn't Be Any Billionaires."

And yes, Bernie is right with his spread the wealth thinking. Robin Hood policy, taking from the rich to help the poor, is so un-Republican that such a fact alone is cause to want it done; un-Republican being people friendly, by tautology. Bernie's plan has parallels with that of Warren, but is more aggressive in the extent of reform it intends to implement. (The headline quote is the final paragraph before the DWT's embedded youtube video. And that paragraph resonates by virtue of its simplicity, honesty, and good sense.)

The new top sidebar item is an image from the start of the DWT post. Arguably it squares with the item below it, which had been the top sidebar item. Work out in your mind the parallels you find. Not every new order is a bad order, sourcing being a factor to consider. Bernie suggests a new national order, one the remainder of the world can examine and adapt.

_____________UPDATE____________
Serendipity. Coincidence. After completing the post and accessing the Strib homepage, finding a recently posted AP item, "Census: US inequality grew, including in heartland states." The item begins:

ORLANDO, Fla. — The gap between the haves and have-nots in the United States grew last year to its highest level in more than 50 years of tracking income inequality, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures released Thursday.

Income inequality in the United States expanded from 2017 to 2018, with several heartland states among the leaders of the increase, even though several wealthy coastal states still had the most inequality overall, according to the figures.

The nation's Gini Index, which measures income inequality, has been rising steadily over the past five decades.

The Gini Index grew from 0.482 in 2017 to 0.485 last year, according to the bureau's one-year American Community Survey data. The Gini Index is on a scale of 0 to 1; a score of "0'' indicates perfect equality, while a score of 1 indicates perfect inequality, where one household has all the income.

The increase in income inequality comes as two Democratic presidential candidates, U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, are pitching a "wealth tax" on the nation's richest citizens as a way to reduce wealth disparities.

There is lengthy detail following that start, all worth the time it takes to read it. Stagnant wages for regular people is stated as a recognized factor contributing to the increase in inequality - stagnation below while those at the top enjoy accelerating incomes quite far from any stagnation.

It is time to take the headline of this post to heart, and to bring about actual, real, phoniness-free CHANGE.