Welfare Reformer Urges Economic Equality in U.S.

George A. Wiley, national coordinator of the Movement for Economic Justice, yesterday told 150 people in Burr B that the poor and middle classes should unite to fight income inequality in the United States.

Wiley, the former director of the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO) said that the struggle of the poor during the sixties for welfare reform can only bring a partial solution to our economic inequities.

"What we need today is a broad coalition of the majority of the American people to fight the regressiveness in Nixon's budget and reduce the power of the wealthy," Wiley said.

Wiley pointed out that the income received by the top 60 per cent in the income brackets is equal to that received by the lowest 60 per cent. Also, this "elite" 20 per cent owns three quarters of the wealth in the country and nine-tenths of the corporate stock.

The Movement for Economic Justice, a group formed last year tries to inform the American public of the "gross inequalities in the system" and thus hopefully incite them to militant protest, Wiley said.

"We believe that the majority of Americans are oblivious to the fact that they are being crushed by the tyranny of wealth. We hope to give them the facts," he said.

Wiley proposed to establish tax-clinics and other information outlets throughout the country to try to reveal "the basic truths about the American economy which the Nixon Administration has tried to conceal."

"Our ultimate aims," Wiley said, "are to help implement a more progressive tax structure and provide a higher minimum income for welfare recipients. Also we hope to bring about basic changes in housing laws and in health insurance.

As director of the NWRO, Wiley tried to revamp the welfare system, which he claimed was "designed to deliver the smallest amount of benefits to the smallest number possible."

"We have suceeded in quadrupling welfare expenditures since 1966 and have eliminated some of the harassment of welfare recipients," Wiley said.