Growing Inequality Threatens Middle Class and Democracy

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/08/23/growing-inequality-threatens-middle-class-and-democracy/

by James Parks, Aug 23, 2010

Here’s why the One Nation movement is so important. The growing inequality between the super-rich and the rest of us is not only shrinking our middle class, it’s threatening our democracy.

One Nation is a multi-racial, civil and human rights movement whose mission is to reorder our nation’s priorities to invest in our nation’s most valuable resource—our people. One Nation is holding an Oct. 2 rally at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., with tens of thousands of activists, including thousands of union members, taking part.



Speaking at Harvard University this past April, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka warned that massive unemployment and growing inequality are fueling the forces that are spreading hate and misinformation. Saying “the stakes couldn’t be any higher,” Trumka told the audience:

If you care about defending our country against the apostles of hate, you need to be part of the fight to rebuild a sustainable, high wage economy built on good jobs—the kind of economy that can only exist when working men and women have a real voice on the job.

A recent article in Germany’s Der Spiegel looks at the widening gap between rich and poor in the United States that threatens to destroy our middle class. Here are a few disturbing facts:

* Fifty million Americans couldn’t afford to buy enough food to stay healthy at some point last year…
* In 1978, the average per capita income for men in the United States was $45,879. The same figure for 2007, adjusted for inflation, was $45,113..
* Statistically, less affluent Americans stand a 4 percent chance of becoming part of the upper middle class—a number that is lower than every other industrialized nation except México and Turkey.

FULL story at link.

[FiveGoodMen]

1. K&R

[SDuderstadt]

2. Excellent, OS!

Income and wealth inequality is particularly difficult to address, but we simply must find a way!

[inna]

3. kr