Corporate Loopholes: The Tip of the Iceberg

Picture an iceberg. Many children know the danger from the “Titanic Song” they learn in school or summer camp. One verse goes like this: “It was off the coast of England not very far from shore, when the rich refused to associate with the poor. So they sent them down below, where they were the first to go. It was sad when that great ship went down. Oh it was sad, so sad. It was sad, too bad. It was sad when the great ship went down... husbands and wives, little children lost their lives -- it was sad when the great ship went down.”

Some days it feels like America may be speeding towards that iceberg. Every day there is more disturbing evidence of the growing income and wealth gaps between rich and poor. Recent poverty data shows the number of people in extreme poverty, defined as a family of four living on less than $30 a day -- one in 15 Americans -- has reached a 35-year high. At the same time the gap between CEO and average worker pay rose dramatically from 263-to-1 to 325-to-1 last year. Twenty-five of the 100 highest paid CEOs last year took home more in pay than their company paid in 2010 federal income taxes.

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