Wealth in America: the Hard Facts

"Wealth has become even more concentrated during the Bush years. Today, the richest one percent of Americans has 22 percent of all income and about 40 percent of all wealth. This is the biggest concentration of income and wealth since 1928. In 2005, average CEO pay was 369 times that of the average worker, compared with 131 times in 1993 and 36 times in 1976. At the pinnacle of America’s economic pyramid, the nation’s 400 billionaires own 1.25 trillion dollars in total net worth - the same amount as the 56 million American families at the bottom half of wealth distribution." MORE

Great and eye-opening statistics quoted by Peter Dreier in his essay Bush's Class Warfare posted at CommonDreams.org and at Huffington Post. Dreier refers to this To-Read book by Robert Kuttner: The Squandering of America.

Dip Tip

The information-packed Nutrition Action Newsletter put out by the Center for Science in the Public Interest is worth the subscription price for the healthy recipes alone. The Dec. 2007 issue gives this dip recipe as the Tip of the Month:

Quick and Easy Dip

Puree in a food processor:
15 oz can of Great Northern, Navy or other white beans
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Yummy!!

Obama loyalty pledge

Rachel Maddow on her Air America Radio show was rightly outraged that Obama is requiring that those attending the South Carolina Obama-Oprah event sign a pledge that they will vote for Obama in 2008 -- this before they even hear the candidate!! Isn't this a Republican tactic?