Vicious Cycle: Note for a lecture, "E Pluribus Unum? What Keeps the United States United"

Robert Reich (from Facebook)
The see the vicious cycle we're in, connect these 10 dots:

1. Almost all the gains from economic growth have been going to the very top. As a result…

2. America’s vast middle class doesn’t have the purchasing power to keep the economy moving forward, without going deep into debt. As a result…

3. The debt bubble that burst in 2008 has been followed by an anemic recovery that’s still not reaching most Americans. Which has contributed to …

4. More intense competition by average Americans over smaller slices of a shrinking pie. Which has meant that …

5. Rather than join together we’re divided and polarized. Native-born Americans are threatened by new immigrants; private-sector workers are resentful of public employees; non-unionized workers are competing with unionized; the working-class is pitted against the poor. Which has led to …

6. A meaner, nastier, and more cynical politics in which little or nothing gets done for average working people. Meanwhile, as income and wealth have risen to the top …

7. Political power has also moved to the top in the form of massive campaign contributions and swarms of lobbyists. As a result …

8. The very rich pay half the tax rates they paid 35 years ago; effective corporate taxes are far lower; labor protections have been trampled and unions slammed. As a result …

9. Safety nets have been slashed and public investments in education and infrastructure have been cut. And workers no longer get a fair share of corporate profits. Which has meant ...

10. Back to #1 through #9, above.

So how do we reverse this vicious cycle?