We talked for an hour today on The Morning Show about income inequality in America (it’ll be a focus of President Obama’s State of the Union address tonight) and had wall to wall phones. What amazes me is that not one caller criticized a system (ours) which has seen an increase in wealth for the top 1% of almost 300% from 1979 to 2007, while the bottom 5th of earners saw only a 20% increase. It’s an economy that has allowed the wealthiest 400 individuals to possess more wealth than the bottom 60% of Americans, and 6 heirs to the Walmart fortune to control more than the bottom 30% of our citizens. I think those numbers are staggering but apparently I’m in the distinct minority among KGMI listeners.

The right accuses Obama of wanting to transform this country, and I would say he does - to a nation that at least resembles our more equitable past. And Republicans also want to take us back to the past - to a nation that not only rivals but actually beats ancient Rome in income inequality.

Wealth is being redistributed - from the bottom to the top. Trouble is there are too many people near the bottom who don’t want to admit that.

An issue from Illinois was raised on the Morning Show today involving the Catholic Church and the state of Illinois. A caller claimed the church’s religious rights were being infringed when the state demanded it not discriminate against same-sex couples as it served as an avenue for adoption of neglected children. This service was provided via a $30-million contract the church had with the state. While the church’s work is laudible, it was right to step away from that work when leaders decided they couldn’t conduct it in a non-discriminatory way.

Discriminate all you want in your private religious affairs, but follow the letter of the law if you want to do the state’s work and take taxpayer dollars for it.

A caller to the Morning Show today claimed that Congress and Fannie and Freddie caused the housing meltdown by requiring banks to issue bad loans. Not true. For one thing, the charters for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do not allow them to securitize or guarantee subprime loans. Wall Street firms were the entities that securitized and sold those loans. Plus, loans purchased and guaranteed by Fannie and Freddie are doing better than those in the private market.

Now, I would agree that Congress has been lax in regulating financial institutions. But too much regulation isn’t the problem.

Here’s a link to the story about chicken I referenced on the show this morning. Don’t know why I’d want to make something like that up. But the story is a good illustration of the global marketplace which, of course, can be a blessing (in this case for American chicken farmers) and a curse (for American workers).

Way to go Ohio! Voters overwhelmingly sided with workers and their right to join unions and collectively bargain for pay, benefits and working conditions. The labor movement is very much alive and, hopefully, will become more and more vibrant. Union shops benefit everyone, including workers in non-union companies that have to compete for the best labor.

Some were incredulous at my assertion this morning that Boeing gets big tax breaks from the state of Washington. Well, read it and weep if you’re one of them. $3.2 billion to keep the Dreamliner assembly here. I simply say corporations like Boeing should enter the “share the pain” bigtop with the rest of us. They get their breaks back and state workers get a break when the economy improves.

Like a caller said this morning, it sure seems there are no ethics left anymore among the business elite.

…you don’t see, or think, straight. We’re often told that coal is “cheap energy” and we should expand our use of it. Nothing could be further from the truth. As this Yale University study shows, the coal industry creates costs that far out pace the actual economic benefits it generates (and it didn’t even take climate change into account). Those costs come in the form of damage to citizens’ health and the environment and neither the coal industry or we as utility customers pay them. But we as individuals certainly do pay them through higher medical costs, environmental degradation, etc. And, when these costs are taken into consideration, coal-generated energy is immensely more costly than green energy.

Keep this fact in mind the next time you hear someone rip on cap-and-trade because of the increased cost. We’re already paying big time for not going green.

The rightwing noise machine continues to maintain that Americans aren’t supportive of the Occupy demonstrations happening in more than one thousand communities across the nation. I’m not surprised to hear that, but it’s just not true (I’m also not surprised that the rightwing noise machine would lie). In fact, a recent Time poll found that Occupy is way more popular than the Tea Party (54-27%). And a Quinnipiac University poll found two thirds of New Yorkers support the movement.

Many conservatives might not consider themselves part of the 99%, but they sure are members of an ever dwindling minority who cheer corporate control of our government and our lives as those same corporations ship more and more jobs overseas.

The right is wailing about the $2 million dollars New York City has spent so far to police the Occupy Wallstreet event. I say big deal. Not only are we talking about a city with a $66 billion annual budget, but also one that welcomes all kinds of people and events to town. And all of them cost money to secure. I’m sure the Republican National Convention required lots of police resources, as do other people and events.  But I guess conservatives believe that New York should welcome a certain class, the upper class, and be happy to pay for their security. But it should shun ordinary Americans angry about the unjust economic system in this country and those who perverted it (the upper class).

Go ahead righties. Keep arguing for big tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires and for pay cuts for teachers. We’re seeing where that’s getting our society.

…and for good reason. The poor and the middle class didn’t cause the financial meltdown, unregulated banks and corporations did. They got the bailout but we didn’t. That’s a big reason why people are taking to the streets all across the country. And we do need economic justice in America, because what we have right now is truly economic injustice.

We have a minimum wage because we need a floor that wages can’t go below. Shouldn’t we also have a ceiling?