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<div dir="ltr">Plays at the Aquarius Theater in Palo Alto (2:30 and 5:00 shows are $7)<br><br>It's very well done, well-paced, and at 90 minutes leaves you wanting more.<br>Here's the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9REdcxfie3M<br><br>Amid the dire statistics is a lot of humor. Reich is a witty lecturer, a<br>millionaire manufacturer of pillows points out that no matter how wealthy <br>the 1% gets, they'll only need a few pillows; and Jon Stewart weighs in <br>hilariously on the US's status in income disparity (on par with Ivory Coast <br>and Uganda). (1) Clips of pundits equating more progressive tax structures <br>with "socialism" also liven up the debate.<br><br>The major point is that income concentration that reached peaks in 1928 <br>and 2007 is associated not just with all kinds of economic evils, but with <br>a vicious cycle of reduced consumer demand, reduced employment, lower<br>wages, reduced tax revenues, reduced education, and reduced opportunities. <br>By contrast, the Great Prosperity of 1948 to 1977 was a time of low income <br>equality, enjoying a virtuous cycle of more employment, more tax revenues, <br>more education, higher wages, and greater opportunities. We need to <br>"replace trickle-down with middle-out," Reich says. Consumer debt and<br>the addition of women to the workforce have masked the loss of workers'<br>earning power. <br><br>“The core principle," says Reich, "is that we want an economy that works <br>for
everyone, not just for a small elite. We want equal opportunity, not
<br>equality of outcome. We want to make sure that there’s upward mobility
<br>again, in our society and in our economy.” (2) In the US today, he points<br>out, 42% of those born in poverty stay in poverty. In Denmark the figure is<br>25%. In the 1970s tuition at Berkeley was $700 a year (in today's<br>dollars); today it's $15,000. <br><br>"95 percent of the gains from economic recovery since 2009 have gone to
the <br>famous 1 percent," Paul Krugman tells us. "60 percent of the gains went to
<br>the top 0.1 percent, people with annual incomes of more than $1.9
million." (3)<br><br>Ultimately, Reich says, income disparity is undermining democracy--because <br>money has the capacity to control politics through lobbying and campaign <br>finance, and because "Losers in rigged games can become very angry." Society <br>"is starting to pull apart.” <br><br>The film ends on a feelgood note. "Mobilize, organize, energize," Reich says.<br>All that need be done is to reject the current economic dogma and return to <br>what used to be.<br><br><br>(1) <a href="http://aattp.org/best-daily-show-clip-ever-stewart-decimates-cons-who-vilify-the-poor/" target="_blank">http://aattp.org/best-daily-show-clip-ever-stewart-decimates-cons-who-vilify-the-poor/</a><br>(see Part 1 video at 3:00--note CIA revised its stats a few days after Stewart's show)<br>(2) http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-inequality-for-all/<br>(3) http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/13/opinion/krugman-rich-mans-recovery.html?_r=0<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br></div>
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