Every coin has three sides.  It's just one of them is thin, has little of substance to it, and shares common ground with the two other sides.

I think that's a wrong way of looking at it. Income inequality offends some people's sense of fairness but is basically irrelevant as no one is doing worse because someone else did better. Economic growth is far more important. The standard of living for poor people is unbelievably high compared to what it was 50 years ago, because a rising (economic and technological) tide did indeed lift all boats.

Except in American politics it's the two main parties that are thin, of little substance, and have more in common than not.

Not sure how people do it. But when I happen to see a clip from Foxnews, I have this massive urge to punch the monitor.

Except for the boats that had holes in them and were losers anyhow.  To enable the more successful boats to rise, you have to have the bad designs sink.  And, of course, being able to get cheap iPods outweights other things in life, or the case of where your life savings get wiped out.

Doesn't look like the tide has been rising much, outside of for those on top:

http://benl8.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-tide-that-did-not-lift-all-boats.html

Yes, of course you do. What's the alternative? Chaining all the boats together so that they all can sink?

Of course there are problems like too much household debt. But are you really prepared to argue that the standard of living hasn't risen dramatically across the board? That's an argument you'll lose. And if income inequality really is such a concern, I fail to see how more redistributionism is going to change that when Washington, D.C. is now the richest metropolitan area in the country despite producing nothing. It's a nice trick, going on about the pursuit of social justice while redistributing that money to yourself (and just enough to the cretins and plebs to keep them on your side).

You say that as if it's a bad thing.  The United States has been at its greatest when we share values and beliefs.  We are at our worst when we don't.  More importantly, shared values and beliefs have kept the US far more stable than other countries.  Where as countries like the UK go through political extremes due to their all or nothing parlimentary governments, our system of checks and balances forces all three branches of the government to work together to do what is in the best interest of the country.  

In America, the standard of living is on the decline:

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2011/10/20/report-u-s-standard-of-living-in-deep-decline/

http://www.cnbc.com/id/44962589/A_Long_Steep_Drop_for_Americans_Standard_of_Living

But, while the middle class is quickly being squeezed out of existence; the wealthy and the super-wealthy continue to grow in America.

According to a Credit Suisse report, the overall numbers of millionaires and billionaires have rapidly increased in recent years and the U.S. claimed the title for the greatest number of richest citizens, with 35,400.

You state that "rising tides raise all boats", when it fact this isn't always the case.  That is what was discussed.  To discuss whether or not something or true or not doesn't call for a "well what will you do about it"?  And then propose on strawman that isn't the answer and thus say your claim which was not shown to be true, is suddenly valid.

Reality is, as it is now, standard of living increases has flatline for everyone but the top.  The tide is not causing all boats to rise.  

It is a bad thing when so much rancor is whipped up about vanishingly small differences, mostly cosmetic ones, and there is no serious attempt to come to grips with an unsustainable fiscal situation, and a decade of imperial presidencies have made the executive branch grossly more powerful than the other two.

The tide isn't rising at the moment, and according to the CBO, it's the wealthy who have been hardest hit by the recession. Of course, they are better able to sustain that kind of a hit, but the whole narrative about the rich getting richer while everyone else gets soaked is generally a bunch of bull.

The longer term trend demonstrated a middle class that was shrinking as more people climbed out of the middle class and into the upper class.