– Between 1977 and 2007, the top 1% earners’ share of national income jumped from roughly 9% to 23.5%, a level only bested once in our history — in 1928.
– The CEO-to-worker pay ratio has also skyrocketed: At the start of the 1980s, CEOs made roughly 40 times as much as bottom-rung workers; by 2010, they took home between 300 and 400 times as much.
The issue, as most of us agree, is not really inequality so much as it is mobility, or opportunity. The vast majority of Americans — and the presidential hopefuls on stage are certainly among them — don’t want to live in a society where everyone is held equally low; they want to live in a society where everyone has a fair opportunity to climb high.
That’s a moral issue as much as economic one, and our political leaders are ultimately judged not just by the way they lift the GDP, but by the way they lift the moral life of their country.
From CNN article, “Time for GOP to address Occupy Wall Street“
Read the Entire Article Below.
Time for GOP to address Occupy Wall Street – CNN.comBy David Gergen and Michael Zuckerman updated 10:29 AM EST, Wed October 19, 2011 Editor’s note: David Gergen is a senior political analyst for CNN and has been an adviser to four presidents. He is a professor of public service and director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
