President Barack Obama has called economic inequality the "defining issue of our time" and a new documentary film takes this question head-on and examines the ever-widening income gap in the U.S. and its possible ramifications.
"Inequality for All," directed by Jacob Kornbluth, features former U.S. Labor Secretary and frequent cable-news talking head Robert Reich, who tries to make a case for the dangers such a gap can pose to society.
Reich, who is now a Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, said the film tackles three core questions: What is happening in terms of distribution of income and wealth? Why? And is it a problem?
The film, described by some as “'An Inconvenient Truth'" for the economy," shares a startling statistic early on: The richest 400 people in the U.S. have more money than the bottom 150 million Individuals combined.
Reich, who served during President Bill Clinton's administration and is the author of thirteen books, including “Aftershock," and "Beyond Outrage," said he believes in order for people to understand how it got to this point, they need to draw parallels between the years around when wealth disparity were at peaks. In 1928 and 2007, the top 1 percent was taking home the highest percentage of total income, 23 percent, he said.
"In the following years, 1929 and 2008, not coincidentally, the economy crashed," said Reich. "I say not coincidentally, because when so much of the gains of the economy go to a small number of people, the vast middle class and everyone aspiring to join the middle class, simply doesn't have the purchasing power any longer to buy what the eoncomy is capable of producing except by going deeper and deeper into debt," he said.
Lack of a middle class hurts everyone, including the rich, according to the film.
"Consumer spending is 70 percent of the U.S. economy, and the middle class is the heart of that consumer spending," Reich said. “The rich would do much better with a smaller share of a rapidly growing economy than their currently large share of an economy that’s barely growing at all," he said.
