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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe United States of... Class War, Inequality, and Poverty
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/07/28-1New economic data obtained and analyzed by the Associated Press appears to show that when billionaire financier Warren Buffett says, Theres class warfare, all right.. and were winning," he knows what he's talking about.
According to the report by AP, four out of every five American adults will "struggle with joblessness, near poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives" revealing the strained fabric of a national economy which once saw the meteoric rise of the middle class returned to a state where increasing inequality is the norm and class tensionsthough often muted for popular discussionis undermining the prospects for tens of millions.
The resulting analysis of the numbers by AP points to an "increasingly globalized U.S. economy"in which companies search the globe for low wages, minimized regulation, and corporate-friendly tax ratesas the main driver of the "widening gap between rich and poor" and the destruction of the manufacturing base that historians and economists credit for previous and more widely shared prosperity.
Responding to the survey, William Julius Wilson, a Harvard professor who specializes in race and poverty, told AP: "It's time that America comes to understand that many of the nation's biggest disparities, from education and life expectancy to poverty, are increasingly due to economic class position."
Fire Walk With Me
(38,893 posts)adirondacker
(2,921 posts)TBF
(32,067 posts)while any thread starting with " #&$#@)(SNOWDEN IS A TRAITOR?!?!?!? )#&)$&@" will have tons of recs.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)adirondacker
(2,921 posts)RainDog
(28,784 posts)why the rich cannot see that a strong middle class is good for them is beyond me. the option of living in a security state with extremes of poverty and wealth is just not viable.
why do we have to have this same b.s. argument again and go through the 20th c. again?
the question to ask is, "How does one make "the rich" see this?" I think it's a very important question and the answer is key to the solution.
leftstreet
(36,109 posts)Maybe they see that a 'strong middle class' isn't that important to them
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)the collapse of unions and their protections. The union movement must be rebuilt, and it will have to be done in an atmosphere of hostility and worse, apathy. But perhaps some good news:
One or two solid union successes, recognized around this country, and the ball is rolling. We need SOME kind of countervailing force in this country because there is NONE now.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)aren't all that yet they are the only way to protect the american worker from 1%ers greed and abuse.
leftstreet
(36,109 posts)JEB
(4,748 posts)The Wizard
(12,545 posts)Unions, now more than ever. The wealthy have raped the working class for far too long. It seems like having everything isn't enough for these bastards.
ruffburr
(1,190 posts)I wrote this during the last election and it is now obvious to all:
Rapid economic growth generated vast wealth during the Gilded Age
New products and technologies improved middle-class quality of life
Industrial workers and farmers did not share in the new prosperity, working long hours in dangerous conditions for low pay
Gilded Age politicians were largely corrupt and ineffective
Most Americans during the Gilded Age wanted political and social reforms, but they disagreed strongly on what kind of reform
now consider: Mitt romney " Corporations are people"
Newt Gingrich "do away with union janitors and have the children clean"
Herman Cain " If you don't have a job blame yourself"
Michelle Bauchman " If you don't work you don't eat"
The republican and tea party want " tax cuts for the wealthy"
"The elimination of all Social Programs and Regulation on wall street"
" The elimination of all pollution and worker safety laws"
" The end of unions and collective bargaining"
If these people get their way, kiss your butt goodbye, like it or not this is what we are facing if we don't fight OCCUPY, EDUCATE , VOTE
ThThThats All Folks