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Thursday, Nov 15, 2012 11:57 PM UTC

Stop income inequality!

Forget the "fiscal cliff." A new documentary, "Inequality for All," explores our country's gravest economic crisis VIDEO

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Topics: U.S. Economy, Income inequality, Video, RobertReich.org, Fiscal cliff, budget deficit,

Stop income inequality! (Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster)
This originally appeared on Robert Reich's blog.

Don’t be distracted by January’s fiscal cliff or looming budget deficits. The central problem of our economy is widening inequality.

It’s reducing the purchasing power of the vast middle class on which job growth depends, and turning the economy into a speculative casino for multimillionaires and billionaires.

It’s also undermining our ability to turn the economy around, as those millionaires and billionaires subsidize politicians who refuse to raise taxes on the wealthy and seek to cut spending critical to the middle class and the poor.

We can reverse this trend.

The first step is to make sure Americans understand what’s occurred, why it’s occurred, and what must be done.

And one of the best means of doing so is through film.

That’s why I’ve joined a team of talented filmmakers to produce a new documentary called “Inequality for All.”

We need your help. Please watch the following short video, and do whatever you can.

Robert Reich, one of the nation’s leading experts on work and the economy, is Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. Time Magazine has named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the last century. He has written 13 books, including his latest best-seller, “Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future;” “The Work of Nations,” which has been translated into 22 languages; and his newest, an e-book, “Beyond Outrage.” His syndicated columns, television appearances, and public radio commentaries reach millions of people each week. He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine, and Chairman of the citizen’s group Common Cause. His widely-read blog can be found at www.robertreich.org. More Robert Reich.

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