#Finance Is Ruining America
▻http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/09/fairfield-county/501215
The reason? It’s two-fold: First, there is the rise of the financial industry, which has fueled extraordinary wealth for a very few without creating good jobs down the line, and, second, a tax policy that not only fails to mitigate these effects, but actually incentivizes them in the first place. It’s probably not surprising, then, that the 10 states with the biggest jumps in the top 1 percent share from 1979 to 2007 were the states with the largest financial service sectors, according to the Economic Policy Institute analysis.
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While income inequality may be particularly apparent in Connecticut, the things that are fueling it—financialization and the tax code—are causing problems across the country. It will be national policy—such as increasing taxes on top earners—that could lead to less of the financial wizardry that benefits so few people. Yet policies to address income inequality nationally often focus on helping those at the bottom make more; groups such as the Center for American Progress propose raising the minimum wage, increasing access to preschool, and expanding apprenticeships to help low-skilled workers get into higher-paying jobs. But as the example of Fairfield County shows, the struggles of those at the bottom are at least in part a consequence of the rise of extreme wealth. Without changes to the incentives people have to make and keep tons of money, help for the poor and middle-class won’t likely make much of a difference.