Inequality Is Only Getting Worse

[portlander23]

Inequality Is Only Getting Worse
Michelle Chen
The Nation

Social-inequality trends over the past half century indicate that class divisions are growing more rigid, most are getting worse off, and those at the bottom are falling further, faster by the day. It’s the momentum of change that is causing much of the pain and anxiety, as many self-identified “middle-class Americans” are realizing the truth only now: They were never as well-off as they thought they were.

“Overall, if you look back 30 years, most of the distribution of wealth is lower than where it was in the ’80s. So…the typical American family today has less wealth than the typical American family in the ’80s,” says University of Michigan sociologist Fabian Pfeffer, who co-published a new research collection on trends in inequality. And yet, Pfeffer observes, higher on the economic hierarchy, affluent households experienced “the mirror image,” accruing riches and power at others’ expense.

Take the case of a working-class, jobless white youth in a marginal postindustrial suburb. He hovers in the same social status as his blue-collar parents, but his life is markedly harder than theirs were. He is priced out of higher education in a community with few living-wage jobs and has virtually none of the health or retirement benefits his parents attained through their now-vanished industrial vocations.

Compared to whites, the downward trajectory has been steeper in communities of color. A typical low-income black kid has even dimmer college prospects, having been deprived of early education and decent housing and health care from birth. She grows up with greater exposure to traumas like mass incarceration or foreclosure. Racial discrimination limits her career opportunities and she moves from teenage poverty into inescapable, lifelong debt after getting hit by predatory lenders. While her parents were also poor, they benefited from public welfare and education programs, and retired with modest savings instead of an underwater mortgage.

[BainsBane]

1. Inequality is not the same as median income

The country has become more unequal because the wealthy have become even richer, but the median income has not declined since the 1980s.



The above graph goes through 2014. 2015 saw a 5,2% rise in median income, the greatest in a generation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/14/business/economy/us-census-household-income-poverty-wealth-2015.html?_r=0
It is now $56,516--$1400 less than in 1999.




Will post similar data on African Americans if I can find it.

[Warpy]

2. In my area, Wal Mart is now the high priced department store

People are eating expired food at the Dollar Store and going to thrift shops for just about everything else.

I hate this. Our only hope is that Trump is even worse than we think he'll be and that the country finally unites against all the conservative policies that have been killing us for so long.

[RKP5637]

3. We're also moving toward a jobless society and I see few politicians even remotely discussing

the socioeconomic issues. Maybe it was here, truckers were discussing the implications of a driverless trucking industry, that the few well paying jobs to be found in many areas are in the trucking industry.

Amazon, for example, with their sky/drone distribution model in the future will eliminate many jobs as that model increases across many industries.

Financial intuitions can be replaced by AI, same with many doctors, etc. Yet none discuss the future. And Trump, he wants to dig for coal. We are so fucked into the future, it appears.

In many areas intelligence is not respected but disdained. The land of Idiocracy.

I'm glad I'm old.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

5. It's bothered me to see...

some posters here make comments like, "Those jobs aren't coming back! Get educated and move!"

It's usually in reference to people sticking around coal mining or rust belt areas. It just seems a bit heartless to me, not different than someone suggesting the same "solution" to people in poor inner cities.

It costs money to go to school and to move! Not to mention that it's scary for many people due to familiarity.

We're pretty much at the whim of "free markets" and "globalization" according to those people. No real direction... just blind faith that it will produce the best results!

If we're going to keep that model, then I personally think it's time for corporations to pay for all higher education and a universal basic income! They're the ones who want these new skills! They should pay for it! I consider it another "hidden cost" that they avoid! Like the "hidden cost" of pollution that they're always trying to avoid paying!

What next? People who join the military don't get paid until they're adequately trained, and they have to pay for all of their training beforehand too? Oh, never mind! That won't be encouraged because the military is something that the wealthy don't want to jeopardize!

[RKP5637]

7. I completely agree!!! These areas have been woefully neglected by politicians and industries across

the board. Just shuttered up and left. And many of the employees were very highly trained.

This country really needs to get its sh** together and look toward the future. Sadly, what that usually means, is how those holding the wealth can expand their greed.

What we have seen in these areas will expand. Wall Street is a good example. Many immersed in security and money will be out in the street in the future, they can be easily replaced by AI, many already are or are about to be. They will be akin to coal miners, factory workers etc., their skill sets will be obsolete. There are many examples similar to this.

It can be worked out, but the question is, will the holders of wealth and politicians be interested in this, or will they hide from it all, count their wealth, and escape as it crashes down.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

9. The whole system will collapse if they ignore it too long.

The economy is still largely consumer-driven, after all.

And most people won't go along peacefully with some kind of "survival of the fittest" agenda, especially if it expands and affects people close to them.

I don't think there's any such agenda, actually, but rather a bunch of wealthy people who are too greedy for their own good. It's made them short-sighted. Or maybe it's mostly the current corporate laws that encourage it? I'm not sure. Noam Chomsky has expressed some empathy for corporate CEO.s/managers in the past because they're basically playing the hands their dealt. We have laws in place that encourage them to put profits above all else to help protect shareholders from actions contrary to that goal.

[RKP5637]

11. Yes, this is the main cause IMO: "We have laws in place that encourage them to put profits

above all else to help protect shareholders from actions contrary to that goal."

In my corporate life this was so painfully true, all that often mattered were quarter end results and shareholder value.

In many ways it's a horrible model which promotes obscene wealth often at the expense of quality and humanity.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

10. I also worry that some trade laws are an example of...

putting the cart in front of the horse.

What happens if a corporation moves their operation to another country and that country later seizes the assets?

I'll tell you what I think will happen in that scenario... the corporations will cry to our government to send the military over there so they can get killed!

We put a damn dictator in charge of Iran back in the 50's after their democratically elected leader proposed greater ownership of their oil by Iranians! Exxon and other oil companies didn't like that idea one bit!

[RKP5637]

12. It's a prime setup for escalation into some damn war affair! Eventually, it's going to happen! And

with Trump at the helm, and his cabinet, it's hard to tell what might happen.

[Elwood P Dowd]

13. Oil company was BP I think. John Foster Dulles was the mastermind for that Iran fuck-up. (nm)

[Buckeye_Democrat]

14. You're right! I knew BP (AIOC) was affected, but I thought Exxon was too.

I don't see Exxon mentioned here, however...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d'%C3%A9tat

[Buckeye_Democrat]

15. After looking at your avatar, I'll also express my gratitude to JFK...

for not approving this crap!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Northwoods

[BainsBane]

4. Race remains the principle axis of inequality

The media household income for African Americans in 2014 was 35,000--18k less than the overall median income.

[Initech]

6. It's going to get 100 million times worse with Trump's cabinet of CEOs.

And especially a labor secretary who hates labor!

[SMC22307]

8. K&R