100 percent of the Republicans in Congress Represent the Top 1% of Americans who earn 20% of All Income

Take a moment and read this senate bill that came to a vote today. Every single Republican senator voted NO. Yes, It's a senate bill, but you can read the whole thing, it just takes a minute.


 112th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 1323 A BILL

SECTION 1. SENSE OF THE SENATE ON SHARED SACRIFICE.

(a) Findings- Congress makes the following findings:

(1) The Wall Street Journal reports that median pay for chief financial officers of S&P 500 companies increased 19 percent to $2,900,000 last year.

(2) Over the past 10 years, the median family income has declined by more than $2,500.

(3) Twenty percent of all income earned in the United States is earned by the top 1 percent of individuals.

(4) Over the past quarter century, four-fifths of the income gains accrued to the top 1 percent of individuals.

(b) Sense of the Senate- It is the sense of the Senate that any agreement to reduce the budget deficit should require that those earning $1,000,000 or more per year make a more meaningful contribution to the deficit reduction effort."

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    The republicans voted NON-Sense to this Sense of the Senate bill.  This bill describes the income disparity that has become rife in our society.  The affluent have used lobbyists and legislators to change the laws in their favor.  There are no lobbyists for the middle class.  Remember, every single republican senator voted NO.  Section 4 reads:  "Over the past quarter century, four-fifths of the income gains accrued to the top 1 percent of individuals."  That's an incredible statement.  Here is a simple example of what that means in everyday terms.  Over the last 25 years of 1,000,000 dollars of extra income to be shared among all Americans 800,000 dollars went to 1% of the population.  200,000 dollars of extra income was divided up by 99% of the population!!  The republicans are completely out of touch.  According to the latest Gallup poll only 20% of Americans want to reduce the deficit with spending cuts alone.  The republicans keep repeating the tired and inane refrain, "don't tax the job creators".  We haven't been taxing the "job creators" for 10 years and there are no jobs.  It's time to try something different.  The sheer obtuseness of the republicans is well summarized by the conservative David Brooks in his latest column.

Does it look like the "job creators" enjoying the lowest tax rate in 35 years are creating jobs?

                   Image via WikipediaDavid Brooks:
"In the middle of the current budget negotiations, these Republicans argue that the tax increases the Democrats are proposing — ending some deductions for the affluent, hitting oil and gas companies — would be terrible for the economy. These unacceptable increases would be worse than the threat of national default, worse than a decade of gigantic deficits.
Not many Americans have this expansive view on the power of tax policy. According to the Gallup Organization, only 20 percent of Americans believe the budget deal should consist of spending cuts only. Even among Republicans, a plurality believes there should be a mixture of tax increases and spending cuts.
Yet the G.O.P. is now oriented around this 20 percent. It is willing to alienate 80 percent of voters and commit political suicide because of its faith in the power of tax policy."

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