Inequality for All
Here's what's up: Median household income has fallen every year since 2007—we're now back to 1988 levels. In that same time period, the nation's per-person gross domestic product has shot up 40 percent. But when adjusted for inflation, the average male worker makes less than he did in the late '70s, while the top one percent of American earners make twice what they did back then. We're in trouble, is the thing. And if that message comes off as a stale Occupy Wall Street platitude or another grim snippet of economic woe, watch the excellent Inequality for All. Then see how you feel. The documentary is a sharp rejoinder to people who mindlessly trot out the word "communist" at any mention of tax increases on the wealthy, who instill moneyed "job creators" with Christ-like powers, as if there would be jobs to create without the dying middle class. It's an eminently watchable, important, and useful film that will reframe how you view America's economic malaise and the staggering income inequality that fuels it.
by Dirk VanderHart