What can we say about a country in which nearly one of every six citizens is forced to live in poverty despite the country's great, unmatched wealth?
The least we can say is, "Stop it!" The latest reason why comes in a new Census Bureau report showing that the country's poverty rate jumped to 15 percent in 2010. Which means that a record 46 million Americans -- 46 million -- are living in poverty, including 20 percent of all American children.
Meanwhile, the huge incomes of corporations and their executives has continued to escalate. CEO pay, for example, skyrocketed by 27 percent in 2010.
For a generation, notes AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, we were told that if taxes on the wealthy were lowered and government regulations were dismantled, there'd be more and better jobs for everyone.
It's not surprising that those promises were never realized. That was not the purpose of the policies, instituted by Republicans and others on the political right. Their purpose was to make the rich richer. And now, they have the political nerve to actually call for more of those same policies that brought us severe economic distress. That is, even more tax cuts for the rich, even less regulation of corporate America.