STUDY BY MIT ECONOMIST: U.S. HAS REGRESSED TO A THIRD-WORLD NATION FOR MOST OF ITS CITIZENS
America divided this concept increasingly graces political discourse in the U.S., pitting left against right, conservative thought against the liberal agenda. But for decades, Americans have been rearranging along another divide, one just as stark if not far more significant a chasm once bridged by a flourishing middle class.
Peter Temin, Professor Emeritus of Economics at MIT, believes the ongoing death of middle America has sparked the emergence of two countries within one, the hallmark of developing nations. In his new book, The Vanishing Middle Class: Prejudice and Power in a Dual Economy, Temin paints a bleak picture where one country has a bounty of resources and power, and the other toils day after day with minimal access to the long-coveted American dream.
In his view, the United States is shifting toward an economic and political makeup more similar to developing nations than the wealthy, economically stable nation it has long been. Temin applied W. Arthur Lewiss economic model designed to understand the workings of developing countries to the United States in an effort to document how inequality has grown in America.
Temin describes multiple contributing factors in the nations arrival at this place, from exchanging the War on Poverty for the War on Drugs to money in politics and systemic racism. He outlines the ways in which racial prejudice continues to lurk below the surface, allowing politicians to appeal to the age old desire to preserve the inferior status of blacks, encouraging white low-wage workers to accept their lesser place in society.
https://theintellectualist.co/study-mit-economist-u-s-regressed-third-world-nation-citizens/
bdamomma
(63,849 posts)Turbineguy
(37,329 posts)"most of its citizens" just will not do.
cilla4progress
(24,731 posts)I rode on public transportation yesterday, which I have a rare opportunity to do. My god. 80% of the riders looked like they didn't have a nickel to their name, vacant eyes, struggling, in several cases disabled in some way. Ragged clothing, barely communicative, some appearing to have substance use disorders.
I live in a typical rural area in the Pacific NW. I have seen this developing over the past 10 or so years, starting with Bush. I don't see it turning around any time soon. Grateful to have a college degree and a husband with a government job. I don't know how young people starting out are going to do it. We have one child and I can see that she is going to be financially dependent on us for some time, since she is going into teaching elementary school ...
The weakening and loss of labor unions has been devastating.
Will read full article. Thank you - I think this explains a lot of what we see.