Timothy Noah speculates that the great divergence of incomes between the 99% and the 1% really took off in 1979. America was reeling from inflation, oil shocks, and technological change. When Reagan became President and broke the Air Traffic Controllers union, weakening the union movement all over the U.S., the wage disparity between workers and their bosses spiked. The greater power of banks and hedge funds and financial institutions accelerated the gap between the billionaires and everyone else. And the Bush tax cuts finished the job. Timothy Noah sees plenty of problems ahead if this trend continues. Economic inequality leads to political instability. Noah provides a list of suggestions to reverse this trend, but will anyone in Washington be willing to fight for the diminishing Middle Class? GRADE: B+
Simple but depressing answer: no one in Washington is going to do anything until there is another crash.
Sadly, you’re right, Jeff. We seem to only function in Crisis Mode.
The old saying it takes money to make money was never more true. As long as the GOP – controlling – side of the aisle act like stubborn children, and work to only support the pet causes of the millionaires who give them campaign funds, nothing will change for the good. The rich get richer…
Meanwhile the Middle Class takes the hit, Rick.
I tell people time and time again that we’re living in the logical endpoint of Reaganomics. Not only did Reagan start the union-crippling activities that leave so many of us now unrepresented in the workplace, he also spearheaded the drive to remove the requirement that corporations fully-fund their pension plans, so now a lot of boomers are retiring without reliable pensions and only enough in their 401Ks to last a few years.
The GOP as currently constituted remind me of nothing more than bratty rich kids who know that Daddy’ll bail them out no matter what trouble they get into.
I foresee plenty of poverty as the Boomers run out of money, Deb. Unfunded pensions are going to hurt a lot of people.
What bothers me is the folks who are trying to sell the notion that it’s not the rich-getting-richer who are the problem, but the workers making a decent income with retirement and medical coverage. Here in Ohio Governor Kasich has been doing his best to throw those rascals out.
Class warfare is in the air, Dan. There’s a cost to inequality.