Blog #9, Holly Sklar "The Growing Gulf Between the Rich and the Rest of Us"

Holly Sklar in her article "The Growing Gulf Between the Rich and the Rest of Us" is discussing the growing gap between the rich and the rest of US population. So, she states that "since 2000, America's billionaire club has gained 76 more members while the typical household has lost income and the poverty count has grown by more than 5 million people... Middle-class households, meanwhile, are a medical crisis or outsourced job away from bankruptcy."
I would like to post some statistics about the growing gap between the poor and the rich. I think this is important because one of the strengths of this country over the past hundred years was growing middle class and diminishing number of people living in poverty. Unfortunately, times have changed, according to Holly Sklar, "millions more Americans can't afford adequate health care, housing, child care, food, transportation and other basic expenses above the official poverty thresholds, which are set too low...More budget cuts are in the pipeline for Medicaid, Food Stamps and other safety nets for Americans whose wages don't even cover the cost of necessities."
This recession has hit middle class and poor families severely, the economic gap between the richest and poorest Americans is widening, making people feel desperate,
"household income declined across all groups, but at sharper percentage levels for middle-income and poor Americans. Median income fell last year from $52,163 to $50,303, wiping out a decade's worth of gains to hit the lowest level since 1997... According to the Census Bureau's latest count of 37 million people below the poverty line."
Nowadays I must admit that it is a cruel reality when the rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting more poor and there are fewer people in the middle. It seems to be the two extremes. In this connection I'd like to refer to Sklar, "more tax cuts are in the pipeline for wealthy Americans who can afford the $17,000 watch, $160,000 coat and $10 million helicopter on the Forbes Cost of Living Extremely Well Index."
According to all above said, I suspect that all this sharp inequality and striking injustice may cause aggressively depressed situation in the society. And I completely agree with the author that "without a change in course, the gulf between the rich and the rest of America will continue to widen, weakening our economy and our democracy. The American Dream will be history instead of poverty."