Economics
How the Widening Wealth Gap Is Empowering the Populists of 2016
Politicians to the far left and right are sounding populist themes not heard since the Great Depression.
Senator Bernard "Bernie" Sanders, an independent from Vermont and possible presidential candidate, speaks during a luncheon at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, March 9, 2015.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Imagine a country where people in the economic top 1 percent scoop up more than one-fifth of all income, those in the top 10 percent control almost 80 percent of wealth, and wages for those in the middle barely budge over four decades.
Sounds like a place where a politician who advocates big-government building programs and inveighs against corporate bailouts might get ahead.