Morning Must-Read: Robert Reich: How to Shrink Inequality

Bob Reich: Robert Reich (How to Shrink Inequality): “Some inequality of income and wealth is inevitable…

…if not necessary. If an economy is to function well, people need incentives to work hard and innovate. The pertinent question is… at what point do these inequalities… pose a serious threat to our economy… equal opportunity and our democracy. We are near or have already reached that tipping point…. But a return to the Gilded Age is not inevitable. It is incumbent on us to dedicate ourselves to reversing this diabolical trend…. 1) Make work pay…. 2) Unionize low-wage workers…. 3) Invest in education…. 4) Invest in infrastructure…. 5) Pay for these investments with higher taxes on the wealthy…. 6) Make the payroll tax progressive…. 7) Raise the estate tax and eliminate the “stepped-up basis” for determining capital gains at death…. 8) Constrain Wall Street…. 9) Give all Americans a share in future economic gains…. 10) Get big money out of politics…. We need a movement for shared prosperity—a movement on a scale similar to the Progressive movement at the turn of the last century…. Time and again, when the situation demands it, America has saved capitalism from its own excesses. We put ideology aside and do what’s necessary. No other nation is as fundamentally pragmatic…. But we must organize and mobilize…