Latest Theft of Middle-Class Earnings by the Parasitical Rih

A single mother on welfare does more to "earn" her tiny benefit check than a hundred stock owners counting the obscene profits from exploiting serfs on minimum wage.

Paul Buchheit at Nation of Change:

It was shown in a recent report that the richest Americans have made millions from their stock holdings since the recession.

It's getting worse. The facts are summarized here and presented in greater detail at Us Against Greed.

1. Just 13 Americans Made More from Their Investments in 2013 than the Entire SNAP Budget
Some wealthy Americans like to refer to themselves as "makers," and food stamp recipients as "takers," even though most of the latter are children, the elderly, or low-wage workers. Many of the top 13 on the Forbes list did not make anything of significance in 2013. Yet by being heavily invested in the stock market they were able to take $80 billion among them, more thana year of food stamps for almost 50 million people.

2. The Richest 400 Took $300 Billion in 2013, Approximately the ENTIRE Safety Net
The total budget for SNAP, WIC (Women, Infants, children), Child Nutrition, Earned Income Tax Credit, Supplemental Security Income, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and Housing is less than the $300 billion 'earned' by the Forbes 400.

SNIP

Capitalism is supposed to provide everyone the opportunity to benefit from our country's productivity. But it hasn't worked that way for the past 35 years. Today only the people who already have money can increase their wealth. Congress doesn't seem to recognize, or doesn't care, that the system is horribly distorted in favor of a small group of people who need to do very little to take most of the wealth.