Companies hire when the cost of hiring is less than the productivity and benefits of not hiring. But if you can hire 2 part time temps at 20k a year to do what it used to cost 1 full time employee with benfits 80k a year to do, companies do that. If an Indian will do for 10k what an American needed 70k to do, they do that. All the productivity and profit goes to the top when you are able to achieve for 40k what it used to take 70k in wages/benefits to achieve. This creates a top heavy plutocracy that can use its influence to cement its hold on politics, the media, business, and whatever other levers of power they want. And what they want is to accelerate that situation where power and influence revolve around them. That is a problem because it is a race to the bottom. Nations competing to cut apart labor and environmental standards so corporations with record profits will set up shop there.
Watching the documentary food inc. it was said that food companies have managed to pass laws making it hard for consumers to sue them, but very easy for them to sue consumers. That is a problem since they have captured what used to be independent arms of power (legal and judicial systems) to serve their own interests. Lobbyists have grown exponentially since the 90s. Fox news and talk radio is fundamentally just an arm of corporate interests. The military and police are still independent of corporate power (by and large. Many military excursions during the war on communism were likely just attempts to prevent nationalization of private markets). But that won’t last forever.
In history the income inequality wasn’t as severe. Income for the top 1% was about 9% back in the 70s, corporate profits were 300-500 billion in the 90s. Now income for the top 1% is nearly 27%, corporate profits are 1.6 trillion or so. The job situation is worse. Supply side economics doesnt work for domestic job creation. It has been a failure.
Income inequality is becoming a severe global problem. Not only in the US (whose inequality is worse than many latin american nations) but China and India have problems too. Now that austerity is pushed in Europe it is becoming a global problem of nearly all developed and rapidly developing problems. If you ridicule people who care about that issue all you do is make their demands more radical. Right now leftists will likely settle for higher progressive taxes and more regulation. In the future they may demand revolution and mass confiscation. Communism was born out of anger over inequality. People who will accept center left policies today will demand socialism tomorrow and communism the day after tomorrow. You can’t allay the anger and frustration others feel by ridiculing people.
Start working on mandatory international basement standards for environmental and labor standards for one.