Rich Get Richer, Middle Class Shrinks

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/03/09/rich-get-richer-middle-class-shrinks/

Rich Get Richer, Middle Class Shrinks

by Tula Connell, Mar 9, 2007



Billionaires have it made. So what’s new? What’s new is that there are lots more of them and they’re a lot richer. The number of billionaires around the world grew by 19 percent since last year, up to 946, with a total net worth increasing by 35 percent to $3.5 trillion, according to a report released today by Forbes magazine. That’s trillion with a T.

Says Forbes Chief Executive Steve Forbes:

This is the richest year ever in human history. Never in history has there been such a notable advance.

But before we drool too heavily over the lives of the rich and famous, another set of stats came out a few months ago that doesn’t paint quite the same picture of good fortune for America’s working people. Hat tip to Ian Welsh at the Agonist for this info from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

From 2003 to 2004, the average incomes of the bottom 99 percent of households grew by less than 3 percent, after adjusting for inflation. In contrast, the average incomes of the top one percent of households experienced a jump of more than 18 percent, after adjusting for inflation. (Census data show that real median income fell between 2003 and 2004. Average income is pulled up by gains at the top of the income spectrum; much of the 2.3 percent rise among the bottom 99 percent seems to largely reflect gains by households in the top ten percent of the income spectrum. In contrast, trends in median income capture the experience of households in the middle of the income spectrum.)

The top 1 percent of households (those with annual incomes above about $315,000 in 2004) garnered 53 percent of the income gains in 2004….

…The share of total U.S. income that the top one percent of households received in 2004 was greater than the share it received in any prior year since 1929, except for 1999 and 2000.

So, while the rich get richer, the middle class is shrinking. (Alternet today posted excerpts from a recent Paul Krugman speech on the shrinking middle class that puts the issue in perspective.)

Other economic indicators also show a less rosy scenario for working people. Such as the drop in construction jobs, which fell by 62,000 in February, after posting a net gain of 28,000 in January, according to data out today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. As Bonddad notes,

FULL story at link.

[acmavm]

1. The American people are fully cognizant of the fact that their 'lifestyle'

is eroding, that's it's swirling around the porcelain bowl getting closer and closer to that final 'swoosh'.

[CRH]

2. Americans fully cognizant ??? ... Then why ...

do they keep electing fiscally irresponsible, starve the beast, high deficit republicans; to administer the national economy? Ever since 1980 it has been the same pattern over and over, again. Huge republican deficits, corporate protectionism and person hood status, trade deficits as off shoring has been encouraged over domestic production, and, the constant attack upon New Deal and Great Society entitlements.

If Americans have done, and continue to do this to themselves when they are cognizant, I don't want to live to see the day when they are brainwashed with corporate media cool aid, into electing conservative republican politicians.

[Igel]

3. I don't understand something.

OK, I don't understand an infinite number of things, but I'd like to focus on one particular point of non-comprehension.

The chart shows that hours worked increased for private sector non-supervisory production workers (ok, now that's just a slice of the workforce); the CEPR article referred to says that the index of hours decreased. Now, there's no contradiction if the chart doesn't show the 'index of hours'--if the index is normalized, or specific to some sector of the economy, etc., etc.

The writer should have made explicit how the chart supports her thesis. As it is, she's arguing for economic contraction, and the chart appears to show reduced growth.

[sarcasmo]

4. Most Americans have no clue this is going on. They blame the Mexican Immigrant, instead

of the Corporate WHORES who are responsible for the middle class destruction.