oss 100 kroner!
Nesten to tredeler av husholdningene i USA tjener mindre i dag enn de gjorde i 2002 viser statistikk. Dette blir offentliggjort på nettsidene til Washinton Post.
That figure comes from a detailed new report by economist Rob Shapiro for the Brookings Institution – a report that underscores the dramatic downshifting that has occurred for low- and middle-class workers since the turn of the century, and which threatens to undermine our national hope that in America every generation will do better than the one that came before.
Shapiro’s analysis shows young people who entered the workforce in 1991 and 2001 aren’t seeing the same pattern of lifetime wage gains that workers who joined the job market in the 1970s and 80s experienced. He also shows that those older workers are now losing income at a much faster pace than they gained it.
Les hele artikkelen her.
Fra andre kilder vet vi at dette har skjedd samtidig som de rikeste av de rike har karret til seg enorme formuer på samfunnets bekostning. De rikeste 0,01% (hundredelsprosent, eller 1% av 1%) eier nå 11,1% av all formue i USA. De rikeste 16.000 familiene disponerer over 6000 milliarder dollar, eller like mye som de to tredelene som er nederst på stigen.
Og samtidig lever 49 millioner amerikanere på randen av sult.
Så det er kanskje ikke så rart at artikkelen i Washington Post konkluderer slik:
«If we have another 10 years in which the incomes of two-thirds of Americans decline, you won’t recognize the politics in this country,» he said. «This is the source of the Tea Party, of substantial anger at the government. Give it another 10 years and see what happens.»
It’s probably better if we don’t.
