We Must Close the Wealth Gap. We Must Vote

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.aflcio.org/mediacenter/speakout/allan_ornstein.cfm

By Allan Ornstein
Professor of Education, St. John's University



The lessons about class differences, and about money and morality, are not the kind of lessons Americans want to learn. It’s more comforting to our moral and spirit to believe in the American dream, as well as to deny that this nation is becoming a financial oligarchy. The time has come to get real: The vast majority of Americans, some 90 percent of us, have become big economic losers in the past 20 to 25 years, the same period when college enrollment rates of high school graduates increased from 50.4 percent to 62.4 percent and college enrollments (colleges and universities) increased from 8 million to 15 million students, implying that education means less today in trying to achieve the American dream.

In short, we have allowed the government to ignore income gaps between the superrich and ordinary Americans; and by remaining indifferent, we are witnessing the slow and steady decline in the standard of living of the vast majority of Americans. Failure to understand that the recent past and present have seared the American dream in terms of class, opportunity and mobility—and could consign us to a terrible future.

More than 72 percent of the workforce saw their real wages (adjusted for inflation) slide since 1979, despite a 40 percent increase in productivity in the past 25 years. On the other hand, in 2001 the average CEO from the Fortune 500 companies earned 424 times more than the average worker—in 1979, it was 40 times. Indeed, there is a serious fog in values and ethics when we begin to describe the differences between the American business class and educator class, between the capitalistic class and shrinking middle class, between those who absorb the lion’s share of the corporate value with inflated executive pay and working people who have seen their stocks tied to pensions and retiree benefits dwindle in value.

For instance, while teachers may earn $1,000 extra for merit, if their school district has devised a merit plan, it is not uncommon for chief executives to earn merit bonuses that exceed $5 million to $10 million. In simple terms, that amounts to 5,000 to 10,000 times what a teacher might earn for good performance.

Unfortunately, questionable corporate malpractice and fraud continue apace, and auditors and prosecutors know which trails to follow but fail to hold executives accountable for trouble that surfaces on their watch. Lawmakers need to get a grip on reality and do what is right by representing the people—and not the corporations. There is opportunity to devise progressive tax systems and income-sharing systems, to reduce the rewards of inherited wealth and unfair changes of life. In short, to help level the playing field at the starting gate and provide multiple chances to succeed.

FULL article at link.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. There are those of an artistic flair who would agree with the

voting part of it...