We live in a time of historic inequality. While hardworking Wisconsinites save to pay their fair share of taxes, corporations such as General Electric rake in billions in profits and pay no taxes at all. More than 56% of all income gains over the past 20 years went to the richest 1% of Americans - yet their share of national taxes has fallen dramatically.

In Wisconsin, 225,000 are jobless and even higher numbers are "unemployed." Nearly 30,000 Wisconsin families had to file for foreclosure last year alone.

But some politicians are proposing to exacerbate this growing inequality. The budget proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) would transfer wealth from the middle class to chief executives and the wealthy - while doing almost nothing to reduce our budget deficit.

We need to strengthen - not slash - programs such as Medicare, Head Start and others that provide services middle-class families depend on. And we need to invest in our future while restoring balance and shared prosperity.

Creating jobs is the key to making long-term deficit reduction achievable and providing the relief working people need now. Investments in transit, infrastructure, clean energy, education and job training will create jobs and keep our communities safe and thriving.

Yet the Republican majority in Congress put forward a federal budget that goes in the wrong direction. Not only would it deepen disparities between the super-wealthy and everyone else, it would gut the programs and investments that make this country great.

Look at what the Republican budget cuts. It forces seniors to pay dramatically more for health care. It kicks 200,000 children out of Head Start, cuts funding for elementary and secondary education by 25% and slashes college aid for 8 million students. According to several economic analyses, that budget would destroy between 1.7 to 2.2 million jobs.

Simply put, it's a threat to American jobs and to students, retirees and working families.

Not so for corporate CEOs. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the budget passed by the Republican majority hands out $4.2 trillion in tax breaks, mostly to corporations and rich individuals, while cutting $4.3 trillion in services such as those mentioned above. It isn't about getting our fiscal house in order - it is only about gutting working family services.

This budget comes as Wall Street executives post record-high compensation and colossal bonuses. Recently, the AFL-CIO launched Executive PayWatch 2011, an online databank of CEO pay. PayWatch provides direct comparisons between CEO compensation and the average pay of nurses, firefighters and others.

Corporations are reaping massive profits while workers' wages are stagnant or worse. Urban Outfitters CEO Glen Senk makes 1,477 times more than a retail salesperson. Is he 1,477 times more productive?

If America wants to move forward, we cannot afford this partisan federal budget, which would lead to lost jobs, a further decline of national living standards and deeper disparities.

Working people in Wisconsin deserve better.

We need a budget plan in which "shared sacrifice" starts at the top. We need a fairer tax system, in which the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share to reduce our long-term deficit. That means repealing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, ending corporate tax breaks for moving jobs offshore and imposing a modest tax on financial speculation.

Ryan and the Republicans' so-called "Path to Prosperity" budget would reserve the path to prosperity for only Wall Street and the wealthiest of Americans.

Ryan's budget flunks the test of job creation, deficit reduction and plain old common sense. It's a slap in the face to working families in Wisconsin and is a path to nowhere.

Richard Trumka is AFL-CIO president; Phil Neuenfeldt is Wisconsin AFL-CIO president.