A snapshot of inequality

Money is like manure. For wealth to help nourish a healthy society, it can’t be stored in a few big silos—it has to be spread all across the land. Today, however, the Powers That Be are doing the opposite, raking up all the money from the grassroots and loading it into the silos of the super-rich. One example tells the tale:

• There are about 158,000 Kindergarten teachers in America. Their combined pay in 2013 was $8.3 billion.
• That same year, the four highest-paid hedge fund hucksters on Wall Street raked in a total of $10.4 billion.
• Yes, only four men, who do zilch for the Common Good, hauled off more in personal pay than the 158,000 people (mostly women) who provide the essential, start-up schooling of our nation’s children.
• Now, guess which group is required by law to remit a greater share of their incomes to Uncle Sam in taxes? Right.