The coronavirus crisis has exposed and deepened the systemic inequalities of our country. As happens all too often, everyday people are bearing the worst of both this economic and public health disaster.

Already, tens of millions of Americans are out of work, and many low-wage workers who are still employed are working in dangerous “front-line” jobs without the benefits to match. Meanwhile, fat-cat corporations have received billions of dollars in bailout money, and they’re asking for even more.

The last time we had a recession, the “recovery” overwhelmingly benefitted the well-off, which delayed the recovery for everyone else. We can’t let that happen again. We need our lawmakers to take actions that will help the economy recover and will help decrease income inequality:

Before midnight, will you sign the petition to demand Congress prioritize middle-, low-, and no-income people and take action to decrease income inequality during this economic crisis?

Before the coronavirus, a Bloomberg report found that the top 1% of Americans held nearly the same amount of wealth as all the middle class combined. And if we don’t do something, that’s about to get a lot worse. 

With 22+ million recently unemployed people in this country struggling to make ends meet, it’s more important than ever to fight back against trickle-down politicians working to enrich the wealthy at the expense of everyone else. 

Unfortunately, those trickle-downers are already singing their all-too-familiar tune: They’re asking for corporate bailouts of airlines and oil companies, and they’re using falling stock prices as the rationale. Corporate bailouts aren’t going to help the vast majority of Americans who don’t have stocks. Mostly, they’ll just put more money in the pockets of folks who already have it.

Not only is that morally wrong, but it’s economically wrong. The best kind of economic recovery will come from the bottom and the middle up, not from the top down. That’s why we’re asking you to demand action now:

Sign the petition to demand Congress prioritize middle-, low-, and no-income people and take action to decrease income inequality during this economic crisis:

Getting the vast majority of Americans out of this hole is going to take a lot of work from all of us – and we’re counting on you to make sure this recovery makes our country more equal, not less. 

Paul Constant
Civic Action