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| "You have to connect the dots and understand how many troubling things are interwoven." Robert Reich |
How has this happened? For a start, the minimum wage has lost much of its purchasing power, and hasn't kept pace with inflation. Indeed, the minimum wage, adjusted for inflation, is lower now than it was in the late 1960s, while wages at the bottom end of the scale have fallen in recent decades, even as worker productivity has grown." Sen. Alan Lowenstein, D. CA, to CNN, Feb. 2015
I've been following this issue of the ever-widening wealth and income gap in the U.S. for some time. Sen. Alan Lowenstein and other politicians have too, along with journalists and commentators. I'm paying more attention to Robert Reich's articles on the issue. It truly is a shocking disparity and as Reich and others note with alarm it is destroying the middle class, imbalancing our economy, and harming our democracy. It is benefitting a few huge corporations, mega-banks, multi-national giants now merging into fewer and fewer monopolies, and billionaire employers and individuals who have amassed unlimited wealth and unlimited political power to call the shots for the rest of us. It's scary.
Reich says it has taken America right back to the late 19th century, when the rich ruled. He's right. And so are his conclusions that we need to take back our rights to a decent life and the American dream, where ordinary people and workers have a living wage and the giants are restrained. http://robertreich.org/post/110555525570. People who work should not be poor. Economic growth is not growth if it hurts workers and benefits only a few billionaires. Reich concludes:
"...As we learned a century ago, markets don’t exist in nature. They’re created by human beings. The real question is how they’re organized and for whose benefit....Ever since around 1980, even though the economy has doubled once again (the Great Recession notwithstanding), the wages of most Americans have stagnated. And their benefits and working conditions have deteriorated. This isn’t because most Americans are worth less. In fact, worker productivity is higher than ever. / It’s because big corporations, Wall Street, and some enormously rich individuals have gained political power to organize the market in ways that have enhanced their wealth while leaving most Americans behind. /That includes trade agreements protecting the intellectual property of large corporations and Wall Street’s financial assets, but not American jobs and wages./Bailouts of big Wall Street banks and their executives and shareholders when they can’t pay what they owe, but not of homeowners who can’t meet their mortgage payments. /Bankruptcy protection for big corporations, allowing them to shed their debts, including labor contracts. But no bankruptcy protection for college graduates over-burdened with student debts./Antitrust leniency toward a vast swathe of American industry – including Big Cable (Comcast, AT&T, Time-Warner), Big Tech (Amazon, Google), Big Pharma, the largest Wall Street banks, and giant retailers (Walmart)./But less tolerance toward labor unions – as workers trying to form unions are fired with impunity, and more states adopt so-called “right-to-work” laws that undermine unions. / We seem to be heading full speed back to the late nineteenth century.
He's right, but who's listening? Not enough of us. Not the majority of Americans, who seem to be suckered into sideshows and media dramas. This is where I am sinking into despair. The facts don't matter.
Will Americans wake up and face reality, or will they fall in line behind big money politics and continue to vote like sheep being taken to slaughter. Will they see beyond media hype and hysteria, beyond inflated rhetoric and hate? Will they listen to the facts, open up, gain some perspective, at the very least vote their own self-interest?
It's all up to the American people. I must say I am not as hopeful as I once was. These are the same voters who elect contentious, extremist politicians to their state legislatures and to the U.S. Congress, the house and the senate. The same voters who have given us Rep. John Boehner, Ted Cruz , Scott Walker, Joe Cotton--elected officials who will not compromise, who have no respect for the presidency, who slant the truth to their own ends, who are bought by the NRA and the Koch brothers and wealthy corporate lobbyists. America is in trouble. And the enemy is within.
Reich says it has taken America right back to the late 19th century, when the rich ruled. He's right. And so are his conclusions that we need to take back our rights to a decent life and the American dream, where ordinary people and workers have a living wage and the giants are restrained. http://robertreich.org/post/110555525570. People who work should not be poor. Economic growth is not growth if it hurts workers and benefits only a few billionaires. Reich concludes:
"...As we learned a century ago, markets don’t exist in nature. They’re created by human beings. The real question is how they’re organized and for whose benefit....Ever since around 1980, even though the economy has doubled once again (the Great Recession notwithstanding), the wages of most Americans have stagnated. And their benefits and working conditions have deteriorated. This isn’t because most Americans are worth less. In fact, worker productivity is higher than ever. / It’s because big corporations, Wall Street, and some enormously rich individuals have gained political power to organize the market in ways that have enhanced their wealth while leaving most Americans behind. /That includes trade agreements protecting the intellectual property of large corporations and Wall Street’s financial assets, but not American jobs and wages./Bailouts of big Wall Street banks and their executives and shareholders when they can’t pay what they owe, but not of homeowners who can’t meet their mortgage payments. /Bankruptcy protection for big corporations, allowing them to shed their debts, including labor contracts. But no bankruptcy protection for college graduates over-burdened with student debts./Antitrust leniency toward a vast swathe of American industry – including Big Cable (Comcast, AT&T, Time-Warner), Big Tech (Amazon, Google), Big Pharma, the largest Wall Street banks, and giant retailers (Walmart)./But less tolerance toward labor unions – as workers trying to form unions are fired with impunity, and more states adopt so-called “right-to-work” laws that undermine unions. / We seem to be heading full speed back to the late nineteenth century.
He's right, but who's listening? Not enough of us. Not the majority of Americans, who seem to be suckered into sideshows and media dramas. This is where I am sinking into despair. The facts don't matter.
Will Americans wake up and face reality, or will they fall in line behind big money politics and continue to vote like sheep being taken to slaughter. Will they see beyond media hype and hysteria, beyond inflated rhetoric and hate? Will they listen to the facts, open up, gain some perspective, at the very least vote their own self-interest?
It's all up to the American people. I must say I am not as hopeful as I once was. These are the same voters who elect contentious, extremist politicians to their state legislatures and to the U.S. Congress, the house and the senate. The same voters who have given us Rep. John Boehner, Ted Cruz , Scott Walker, Joe Cotton--elected officials who will not compromise, who have no respect for the presidency, who slant the truth to their own ends, who are bought by the NRA and the Koch brothers and wealthy corporate lobbyists. America is in trouble. And the enemy is within.
