+ updated at 2:21pm ESDT on Tuesday, September 4, 2012
+ Democracy Now! offers a great interview: "Rep. John Lewis, Civil Rights Icon, on the Struggle to Win–and Now Protect–Voting Rights in U.S." Lewis not only talks about voting rights but also Faith and Non-violence. It's a moving and informative hour. Nobody does it better than Amy Goodman. Listen. Watch. Renew your commitment to compassion, peace, justice and sustainable abundance.
+ in "Labor Day 2012 and the Election of 2012: It’s Inequality, Stupid", Robert Reich makes the case that the rich are not the big job creators. It's the middle class. And we must empower the middle class if we are to see big increases in employment numbers. Long Excerpt:
... as the middle class’s share of total income continues to drop, it cannot spend as much as before. Nor can most Americans borrow as they did before the crash of 2008 — borrowing that temporarily masked their declining purchasing power.
As a result, businesses are reluctant to hire. This is the main reason why the recovery has been so anemic.
As wealth and income rise to the top, moreover, so does political power. The rich are able to entrench themselves by lowering their taxes, gaining special tax breaks (such as the “carried interest” loophole allowing private equity and hedge fund managers to treat their incomes as capital gains), and ensuring a steady flow of corporate welfare to their businesses (special breaks for oil and gas, big agriculture, big insurance, Big Pharma, and, of course, Wall Street).
All of this squeezes public budgets, corrupts government, and undermines our democracy. The issue isn’t the size of our government; it’s who our government is for. It has become less responsive to the needs of most citizens and more to the demands of a comparative few.
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