[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 16143-16144]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1020
                      INCOME DISPARITY IN AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Rangel) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, it appeared sometime yesterday that the 
Congressional Budget Office looked at statistically where the wealth of 
this country is being held and came to the conclusion that 1 percent of 
America's high earners have 42 percent of the Nation's wealth. It also 
pointed out that one out of every five kids, American kids, is born 
into poverty.
  Well, certainly one might look at the income tax system to see 
whether or not this disparity is being dealt with. But if you do, you 
will find out that we have aggressively protected income for people who 
are wealthy enough to invest it at lower rates than lower income people 
who work hard every day and yet have a higher rate of their income that 
they have paid taxes on.
  What does this unfairness mean? Well, one thing I can tell you is 
that you're not going to have too much noise from the spiritual 
community because somehow they're silent as we deal with the question 
of budget deficits and budget cuts. They haven't responded to the fact 
that many of these cuts have to deal with income after retirement, with 
Social Security. Others deal with the ability to pay for health care. 
Others just deal with the plight of not being able to put food on the 
table, to get health care. In other words, it's all biblical as to what 
is wrong about the disparities in income. But there are other things 
that we don't talk about. You can rest assured that this includes some 
of the benefits that the 1 percent have.
  Why is it that we know or that we can suspect that in this war where 
we lost so many lives, where so many people have been wounded, that our 
brave men and women coming home will subject themselves to a lack of 
funds to deal with their physical and mental problems, and yet we 
somehow know that that 1 percent was not involved in defending our 
great Nation? Oh, we take it for granted that those people who can't 
get jobs would volunteer, but we can almost know without any 
investigation that the wealthiest of Americans never found themselves 
protecting our flag.
  What else can we tell? Well, we can tell there's a limited amount of 
money that billionaires can spend. And we don't expect them to be at 
the local supermarket or buying a pair of socks or going to the 
drugstore looking for prescriptions. No, they hold on to their money. 
They invest their money. They don't even lend their money.
  But having said that, one thing is clear, that if we have the other 
99 percent of the people that are not wealthy, and if it was possible 
for them

[[Page 16144]]

to get a fairer shake and have more expendable income, you wouldn't 
have to put out ads for them to buy, that they have the needs and they 
would be purchasing. And small businesses depend on these people--not 
the barons, not the tycoons, but they depend on the people in the 
neighborhood. That's why the stores are located there. So it's not a 
question of having consumer confidence. It's a question of consumers 
not having the money to buy what they need.
  But I really think the worst thing of all when we just overlook and 
don't pay attention to that is the American Dream that is being 
shattered, because we do know that poverty means you're not going to 
have good health; you're not going to get the kind of education to get 
out of poverty. Poverty means that you lose the hope and the dreams of 
this great Nation. And more than poverty and wealth, what really is the 
engine that makes our Nation so great is people from all over the world 
believe you can make it in the United States of America.
  But when you are now going through decades of poverty, kids not able 
to go to college, those that graduate not able to find jobs, our young 
people and older alike running to the streets and protesting, explosion 
of this type occurring all over the great United States, then the hopes 
and dreams that are the engine that makes our country so great are 
limited in their ability to bring the scientists and the doctors and 
the people we need for this country.
  One percent of our wage earners, 42 percent of the Nation's wealth, 
there is something wrong with that formula.

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