From the EPI here: What’s behind inequality and wage suppression in the labor market? Excerpt: Which we've known for a long, long time - since Reckless Ronnie tore-down upper-income taxation - that Income Disparity would skyrocket. As it has done these past 30-years with less than Amazing Grace ... When did the last upswing of the red-line happen. Look closely at that red-line above and note that the upswing happened in the 1980 timeframe. And who was elected PotUS in 1980? One guess, and only one guess ...
Thanks, interesting. Those are the stats as they exist. And the choice of work is "hardly a choice" if you don't have the right credentials. What I mean by that is simple: Education decides where you go and how you get there in a socio-economic sense. That decision in not universal but it is ... well, overwhelming. The stats show that the higher is your level of education, the higher is your life's average-income. (See infographic here from Pew Research.) (Especially at the bottom, where it is a factor of 2 to 1, meaning if you have high-school degree your income on average is twice that of not having one. Incarceration is VERY expensive.) For instance, if about 65% of those incarcerated for crime, why do they have no secondary-schooling credentials (meaning a piece of paper that says they took courses and passed them). For which many sign-up whilst in prison. So, in that sense, their stay was beneficial. (And so why don't we as a nation make that option available in ALL prisons whether state or federal?) So, to keep it short: Education is the prime-determinant of "outcome in life". OK, it is not the only one. (One could always win a lottery!) But, it is the most prevalent ...
I think there is something else that is also behind inequality, and it was hidden for years. It is the Powell Memorandum. In 1971, Virginia attorney Lewis Powell who was the head of the American Bar Association and later appointed to the Supreme Court, was commissioned to write an analysis and "blueprint" that makes clear the damage FDR did, to conservative politics and to business in America, with the backing of unions and the very popular Marxist parties and points the way forward for American capitalism with a program for destroying the power of unions, the elimination of workers' and "revolutionary" parties. What Powell produced was pure genius and far better than anyone had hoped for, and the results were nearly immediate. In 1974, labor unions accounted for half of all political action committee (PAC) money. By 1980, the unions accounted for less than a fourth of this funding. His "blueprint" is responsible for a virtual explosion in the presence of right wing think tanks and all the creative and vicious attacks on liberalism and working class structures. It has completely disarmed the American working class, leaving us as sitting ducks to the attacks of conservatives from every conceivable angle. It is responsible for the intense but subtle propaganda that we've all been subjected to for 50 years. It was so good that few people realize they've been brainwashed by it even though every aspect of life including elementary schools has been transformed in its image and likeness. It is my belief that if this Memorandum were published and disseminated far and wide it would result in vast working class organizations and a people's party in a matter of months. The following link will take you to a 7-page summary that I guarantee will leave you changed and speechless. And at the top it has a link to the full roughly 40-page Powell Memorandum. This is truly a "must read"! Seven-page Summary and commentary of the Powell Memorandum For your interest here are some other links to articles about the Memorandum: Here's one. Here's another one.
The US has a very reasonable public education system. This is proven by the fact that millions of kids who put forth the effort to achieve an education do so. Kids who don't focus, want to do other things, pursue crime, or have personal limitations, etc. will struggle. Can the education system be better...of course it can. But what exists today is a great tool to become educated! University studies are achievable through student loans or scholarships and other subsidies but none of these are given to failing students. I have said many times I think our education system is a drop-out factory, but I think 20% of this stems from the education process itself and 80% from choices made by kids and parents...
How does it compare in widening participation where the focus is on social mobility? If you don't know, then this sentence is nonsense
Reasonable, yes. Good enough, uh, no. (Too damn expensive!) Here is a list of countries with various degree level attainment percentages. Consider the tertiary-level overall educational achievement for 25/64 year olds. (That age-section covers most of the post-WW2 babies) The US is at the 44% level and Russia at 54%. I chose Russia as comparison because most Americans think Russia is a backward country. Well, yet it is in many respects - but not education. Whilst because of WW2 that number in, say, France and Germany is ONLY at 32 and 27% respectively. The point I never cease making is that the higher-cost tuition for a Tertiary Education in the US ($12K a year) is MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE THAN IN EUROPE (at $1K)
Yeah...so what? In the USA it is what it is and it's not going to change. The USA is not France or Germany or Europe and never will be. Even though I sometimes call the US public education system a drop out factory, it still remains that at least 50% of the students benefit. There are literally millions of reasons why the other 50% experience failures and struggles and they lie outside of the education environment...
That you haven't referred to any of the widening participation analysis only informs me that you haven't bothered to support your opinion with evidence.
Personal attack? You have referred to standard tabloidism, using that to suggest evidence isn't needed. Is that pathetic? You decide.
You must think the USA is filled with failures? Tens of millions of Americans have acquired a public education, found their position in the workplace, carved out respectful lives, and retire. This is all the evidence I need...
Let us know when you believe the US will adopt the governments and policies and cultures of France, Germany and Europe??
Bicker bicker bicker. Here is a good, in-depth article on inequality and the state of wages in working America,
Immigration plays a role, not much, in it. Corporate suppression of legitimate wage increases is the main culprit behind economic inequality.
