Robert Reich
The drama in Michigan today is a microcosm for the larger story about what's happening in America. In a surprise move, Michigan's Republican-dominated legislature has rapidly enacted laws to destroy labor unions, and the Governor is about to sign them. The blitzkrieg was sponsored by a Koch-brothers group that's working to gut unions, reduce state and federal taxes on the wealthy, cut programs the poor and middle class depend on, and decimate regulations. While Washington fiddles over the fiscal cliff, billionaires and their Republican puppets are entrenching their wealth and power all over America.
The underlying issue here is the increasingly concentrated income and wealth in the hands of a few, and the political clout that comes with it. The 400 richest Americans, among them the Koch brothers, now have more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans put together -- and seem determined to keep things that way.
Yes, marginal income taxes have to be increased on the wealthy, and the President's insistence that the Bush tax cuts not be extended to those earning $250K or above is necessary. But it's a tiny step toward dealing with a far larger problem. We need significant higher taxes on multi-millionaires and billionaires, including a wealth tax. And campaign-finance reforms, including a reversal of "Citizen's United" (which the Koch brothers helped bring to the Supreme Court). Plus substantial public investments in schools and infrastructure. And an increase in the bargaining power of working Americans to get good jobs -- something labor unions accomplished for five decades.
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