According to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, 76% of Americans agree, do some degree, with the statement:
“The current economic structure of the country is out of balance and favors a very small proportion of the rich over the rest of the country. America needs to reduce the power of major banks and corporations and demand greater accountability and transparency. The government should not provide financial aid to corporations and should not provide tax breaks to the rich.”
Okay, now that we all agree there's a problem, what are we going to do about it?
Well, other results from another question from the poll suggest most likely, we'll do the wrong thing.
When given this statement:
“The national debt must be cut significantly by reducing spending and the size of government, including eliminating some federal agencies and programs. Regulations on business by the federal government should be reduced and instead, the private sector and individuals should have greater control. The government should not raise taxes on anyone.”
53% of Americans agreed to some degree.
80% of Republicans agreed.
91% of Tea Party agreed.
22% of Democrats agreed.
So, to summarize, an overwhelming majority of Americans recognize that the US economy is structured to favor the rich minority.
And the way most Americans want to fix that is through austerity measures, cutting public programs and government agencies, reducing business oversight and regulations that protect the public, and making sure the rich don't have to pay more in taxes.
Basically - Americans see a problem with the economy and we want to enact measures to ensure, protect and ecourage the unfair economic structure - to make sure the problem is exacerbated.
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