In a New York Times Op-Ed piece published two days ago, economist Jeffrey Sachs observed that the Occupy Wall Street movement marks “the end of the 30-year Reagan era, a period that has culminated in soaring income for the top 1 percent and crushing unemployment or income stagnation for much of the rest. The overarching challenge of the coming years is to restore prosperity and power for the 99 percent.”
He compared the recently-ended decade with the Gilded Age and the Roaring Twenties, noting that “corporate taxes as a share of national income are at the lowest levels in recent history” and “rich households [currently] take home the greatest share of income since the Great Depression.”
Sachs provided several persuasive recommendations for ways the new leaders who come out of the movement can rebuild our political structure. (more…)
