Words by Roman White
The top 1 percent of wealthiest Americans took in 82 percent of the wealth in the United States in 2017. In a new report from Oxfam, last year saw the biggest increase in billionaires in history. The report revealed that global extreme poverty could’ve ended “seven times over” with the increase in billionaires in 2017.
The United States continue to grapple with income inequality which has seen an increase in money going to the top one percent of the richest Americans, while the bottom 50 percent saw no increases in pay in 2017. With the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland approaching, business leaders across the world will come together and could possibly discuss these new statistics reported on Monday and decide what changes can be made to generate a thriving middle-class.
President Trump has claimed he wants to help the middle-class, but his new Tax Bill that passed congress in December seems like a temporary fix. Most Americans will receive some tax relief in the upcoming year thanks to the tax bill, but tax experts have claimed that Americans will only enjoy the short-term benefits, and tha the tax bill could be damaging to the economy in the long team.
Trump’s tax bill mimics what President Ronald Reagan attempted in the 1980’s, which is known as trickledown economics, the theory that by providing tax cuts to corporations and to the wealthiest Americans corporations will then raise wages to their employees. Statistics from this era showed a massive increase for corporations, but the rest of Americans only saw a one percent increase in annual income during the Reagan Era.
In a win for Trump, Wal-Mart credited the Tax Plan for the reason they’re raising minimum wage at their stores to $11.00/hr. At the same time, Wal-Mart said they’re closing Sam’s Club stores across the country which will cost a lot of Americans their jobs – so with a small victory came a major loss.
