The gap widens... why?

In 1992 Robert Reich wrote:

"To put this in perspective, consider that in 1960... the typical executive officer of the core American corporation earned about $190,000. This sum was approximately 40 times the wages of the company's average American factory worker. Of course, in 1960, when the maximum tax rate was 90 percent, the CEO's actual take home pay was considerably less than this, making him... only about 12 times richer than the worker on the line. But by 1988, the chief executive officer of one of America's hundred largest corporations received an average $2,025,000. This was 93 times the wages paid to the average American production worker for these corporations, And given that the top tax rate was only 28 percent, the CEO took home about 70 times more than the worker on the line."

THE WORK OF NATIONS, page 205
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The July 1-8, 2011 issue of THE WEEK Magazine reports:

"The top 0.1 percent of earners in the U.S. take in more than 10 percent of the personal income, with business executives leading the way. The income of the wealthiest executives had soared 400 percent since the 1970s, while for most workers, it has stalled."

More:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/business/income-inequality/

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2011/06/19/ceo-pay-explodes-income-gap.html
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Have these business leaders made America better or worse than it was in 1950s and 1960s? Manufacturing has been moved off shore. Unions have been busted. Tens of millions lost their health insurance and pensions. America is the world's greatest debtor nation, and still the rich won't allow their taxes to be raised.

Meanwhile, we are distracted by "bread and circuses": sex scandals, phony "moral" issues, and weird entertainers like Charlie Sheen.

Is this what Thomas Jefferson called, "The last, best hope of the world" ? Or have we allowed our leaders' greed to flourish at the expense of the American dream? Have we become complacent, over-fed drones, while our children's future is mortgaged, so that the wealthiest 300,000 of us can grow even richer and more powerful.

Good questions on this 4th of July weekend... wouldn't you agree? (Or would you prefer to drink your Bud Lite, watch groups of young millionaires play kids' games for fortunes, tell yourself we are still the greatest nation on earth, and tune the disturbing truth out? If so, have a nice Fourth)