According to the International Monetary Fund, income inequality is the "defining issue of our time."

That's the finding in their new report on how the gap between the rich and poor is harming people and economies all over the world. That new study was conducted by five of the IMF's top economists, who surveyed data from different economies from 1980 forward, and urged governments to enact policies that help the bottom 20 percent of citizens.

In addition to the obvious human cost of high levels of inequality, this study confirmed that the massive wealth gap actually harms overall the economic growth of a nation. The authors wrote, "If the income share of the top 20% increases, then GDP growth actually declines over the medium term, suggestion that the benefits do no trickle down." They added, "In contrast, an increase in the income share of the bottom 20% is associated with higher GDP growth."

In other words, if we want our nation's economy to grow and prosper, our government needs to worth for more than just the one percent.

While the economists acknowledge, "there is no one-size-fits-all approach to tacking inequality," they do lay out some meaningful reforms to address the problem. They suggest more progressive tax policies, which means higher taxes on investment income, and better living standards for those at the bottom of the income ladder.

It's all about making those at the top pay their fair share and making sure those at the bottom don't fall through the cracks. For more than three decades, Reaganomics has made the few extremely wealthy and left the many trying to catch up.

We don't need any more proof that all that wealth is never going to trickle-down.

Andrew Jackson once said, "We should measure the health of our society not at its apex, but at its base." And, it's time to strengthen that base by fighting income inequality and recreating the just society that gave birth to the American Dream.

-Thom

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Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... Right Wing Extremism...'Jeb!' Style (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)

 

Be sure to check out our newest video: RESTORATION - narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio & Thom Hartmann, directed by Leila Conners / Visit GreenWorldRising.org to check out all the videos: CARBON, LAST HOURS & GREEN WORLD RISING - narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio & Thom Hartmann, directed by Leila Conners

 

Big Picture Rumble:
- Horace Cooper, National Center for Public Policy Research  
- TJ Helmstetter, Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC)    
- Bryan Pruitt, Director-RedState    

 

Best of the Rest: Right Wing Extremism...'Jeb!' Style
- Drew Courtney, People For the American Way (PFAW)    

 

Screwed: Exposed...Walmart's Secret Tax Havens
- Frank Clemente, Americans for Tax Fairness  

 

  

Community Square  

 "Here's a way to save the U S post office and the economy"  

 

Wednesday's Daily Stack 

Case: "Buckley v. Valeo", 1976.

Article: "Watch Out, Dems: Sheldon Adelson And The Koch Brothers Are Closer Than Ever" by Peter H. Stone.

Article: "NO, I'n NOT "Ready for Hillary"" by Playinghardball.

Article: "WTO Says U.S. Consumers Don't Need to Know Where Meat Comes From" by Anastasia Pantsios.

Article: "Philip Morris Sues Uruguay Over Graphic Cigarette Packaging" by NPR.

Article: "From Public Citizen: Top 10 Most Pernicious Investor-State Dispute Settlement Lawsuits" by Lambert Strether.

Article: "No wonder Obama won't let us read TPP" by Phyllis Schlafly.

Article: ""ISDS Provisions in TPP Violate Article III of the U.S. Constitution"" by Gaius Publius.

Article: "Constitution of the United States", article 3 section 2. "... The judicial Power shall extend..."

Article: "House Votes to Remove Country-of-Origin Labels on Meat Sold in U.S." by Tennille Tracy.

Article: "Top US bank executives abandon share sale taboo" by Tom Braithwaite.

Article: "Here's Donald Trump's Presidential Announcement Speech".

Article: "Watch Stephen Colbert Spoof Donald Trump's Presidential Announcement" by Christopher Rosen.

Article: "Neil Young Is Displeased That Donald Trump Was 'Rockin' In The Free World'" by Bill Chappell.

Law: "Patriot Act", 2001.

Article: "4th Amendment". "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.".

Article: "Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement" (TPP) by EFF.

Article: "Trade in Goods with Korea, South " by U.S. Census.

Article: "Free trade agreement between the United States of America and the Republic of Korea " by Wikipedia.

Quote: "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - attributed to Albert Einstein and others.

Quote: "An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people" attributed to Thomas Jefferson.

Article: "Citing Oklahoma, Clinton calls for universal 'preschool'" by Dana Rubinstein.

Hour Two: 2016 GOP Candidates...And Trump Makes 12
- Neil McCabe, Gravis Insights/Townhall   

Article: "Jeb! In NH: Privatizing Social Security? My Brother Tried, 'Next President' Will Too" by American Bridge.

Article: "O'Reilly To Trump: You're 'Going To Slash And Burn' At The Debates" by Heather.

 

Article: "F.D.I.C. Sues Neil Bush And Others at Silverado" by Stephen Labaton, September 22, 1990.

If I Only Had A Brain: "Iowa City police follow nacho cheese, trail of snacks to burglary suspect" by Lee Hermiston.

If I Only Had A Brain: "Police: Fake name used by suspect was a wanted man" by Ben Hooper.

Article: "Media cross-ownership in the United States" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Buffett Rule" by Wikipedia.

 

Talk Radio News Segment:
- Bob Ney 

Article: "Issa Kicked Out of Private Benghazi Meeting" by Gabrielle Levy.

Article: "House Benghazi Committee Examines the Origins of Emails to Clinton" by Nicholas Fandos and Michael S. Schmidt.

Article: "U.S. 'not fixated' on Iran answering queries on atomic work - Kerry" by Louis Charbonneau.

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman.

Book: "Sideswiped: Lessons Learned Courtesy of the Hit Men of Capitol Hill" by Robert Ney.

Article: "TRNS News Notes- 6/17" by Victoria Jones.

Article: "TRNS News Notes 6/16" by Victoria Jones.

Article: "Nadella clears out senior staff at Microsoft" by Richard Waters .

Article: "In Arlington County, Virginia, Public Profanity Will Cost You $250" by Brentin Mock.

Video: Slavery by Another Name.

Book: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander.

Article: "Shooting of Michael Brown" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Greece central bank warns of 'painful' EU exit if no deal reached" by Peter Spiegel and Kerin Hope.

Article: "As a Privileged White Guy Living in 'Liberal' Berkeley, I Wasn't Expecting a Police Raid on My Backyard Pot Plants" by Jeremy Daw.

Article: "Afghanistan war veteran finds hateful note on car" by Fox News.

Book: Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 by Steve Coll.

Article: "Popular Drugs Linked To Dementia Even At Low Dosage" by Michael T. Murray.

Article: "Did ISIS Really Ban Pigeons?" by Kim LaCapria.

Article: "Films about Passenger Pigeon and other extinct birds are a call to action".

Article: "100 Years After Her Death, Martha, the Last Passenger Pigeon, Still Resonates" by Smithsonian.

Article: "Obamacare Subsidies Argued at the Supreme Court" (King v. Burwell) by Shane Farnan.

Site: Progressive Democrats of America

Site: Move to Amend

Site: Bernie 2016  

Site: Hillary Clinton

Tomorrow on The Thom Hartmann Program, 12-3pm ET 

 

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