I sincerely do not understand how people can continue to pretend that economic inequality is not a serious problem in our nation. I heard today that if we keep on our 30-year economic track record, that by 2020, 50% of Americans will be working full time and living in poverty. As Ive said repeatedly, data shows that over the past 30 years almost every bit our GDP growth has gone to the top 20% of households. For the other 80%, incomes have stagnated or dropped, while working hours and productivity have increased. Toss into the mix that benefits, retirement, and paid vacation are in significant decline, and its easy to confront the notion that modern poverty has to do with a lazy or entitled populace. The simple fact is that the previous generation has learned they can pay the subsequent generation less and get away with it. Even our minimum wage is at its lowest point in almost 55 years in adjusted dollars. As such, a smaller and smaller piece of our society has disposable income, making the markets for anything other than necessary goods less competitive. Less competition means more oligarchical market models, decreasing efficiency and increasing profits for that aforementioned 20%. Its a vicious, vicious cycle, and our nation is facing a sincere identity crisis. Will we become a nation where a small percentage divvy out all our nations disposable income, or will we make it easier for all Americans to build economic prosperity for themselves and their family. One could argue this all has something to do with some feigned socialism inherent in our moocher nation, but I believe the evidence demonstrates quite the opposite. Our policies of deregulation, increased banking freedom, tax breaks for the extremely wealthy, and trickle-down fiction are in direct correlation with these changes in our economic distribution. Add to that the increased narrative that federal action should not protect the economic interests of anyone other than the top earners, and I feel theres a pretty clear picture of where our nation has taken itself. So what do we do? In my opinion, we can take a cue from how we have bolstered the middle class in the past. We had a stronger middle class when taxes were higher on top-income earners. We had a stronger middle class when people looked at the next generation as the future of the nation and treated entry-level hires as an investment in the future rather than unworthy of a good salary. We had a stronger middle class when we recognized the middle class was the heart and soul of any great nation, and made efforts to ensure it was not being exploited and trampled. This isnt social engineering as the libertarians would portray it. This isnt robbing from the rich and giving to the poor. This is stopping the robbery currently going on... the systematic theft of income committed against those who cannot defend themselves. This is admitting that weve allowed this robbery to take place under the fake assumption that it was in our best interests, when it clearly is not. Unless you believe that for the past 30 years ALL rewards of our economic growth are solely owed to 20% of Americans... unless you believe that the the increased hours and productivity of the middle class is not due financial compensation... and unless you believe that our nations best interests are truly realized in a world where there are few economic strata besides rich or poor, then you should be able to admit that we have a problem. How to approach that problem is one thing.. and we can debate that. But I weary of the fiction that seeks to diminish this serious, serious issue. Quit blaming the poor. Quit pretending we should be thankful for pennies paid by those who earned dollars at the work we do. And quit pretending that recognizing the problem is submitting to socialism. We treat cancer with poison we would not use at other times... I think our economic inequality is a cancer... and I think treating it is in our best interests for the long run.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 20:04:05 +0000