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Washington, DC – Today Rep. Brad Miller (NC-13) questioned Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke about the growing increase in wage inequality for American workers. Bernanke testified before the House Financial Services committee during his second day on Capitol Hill. He spoke to a Senate panel yesterday saying a recession is unlikely and that higher real wages are compatible with low inflation.

Congressman Miller asked the Chairman if he is concerned about the rising concentration of wealth and whether it is a problem for our society. Bernanke agreed that it is a problem and that if people at the bottom of the economic scale are not sharing in the benefits of open markets and flexible capitalism, then they will start to react against it politically. Bernanke also linked a 25-year growing trend in wage inequality to a lessening of education and skills.

"Eighty percent is not the bottom end, that’s the vast majority of workers not sharing in economic prosperity from production increases," Miller said.

Miller cited the importance of community colleges in North Carolina as an avenue for job retraining.

"In the time I’ve been here, I’ve seen federal funding for community colleges decrease, not increase," said Miller. "And, with tax cuts going to the people who receive inherited wealth, can you identify a single policy of this Congress or the Bush Administration that appears directed at closing income inequality or the concentration of wealth?"