w: Inequality for All by Robert Reich Question 1 The one percent of the Americans has deep pocketed the wealth leaving the other percentage working hard for the rest. The inequality gap can be reduced by increasing the minimum wage of workers. Reich illustrates what the minimum wage per hour should be. He stipulates that if we took the wage of year 1968 and kept it constant adjacent for inflation, then it would be 10.50 dollars per hour. If adjusted to productivity then it would be close to 15 dollars. This is a much higher figure to the present minimum wage of 7.25 dollars per hour. A precious few, however, get to enjoy the advantage of having economic power through the carry-interest loophole that allows private equity managers to treat their income as capital gains and, therefore, qualify for a much lower level of taxation even without undergoing a risk or investing their own penny.