The disparity between rich and poor is growing in America as the federal minimum wage has remained flat for years, union membership has declined and industries have faced global competition, according to a study released Thursday.

The report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute, both liberal-leaning think tanks, found the incomes of the poorest 20 percent of families nationally grew by an average of $2,660, or 19 percent, over the past 20 years. Meanwhile, the incomes of the richest fifth of families grew by $45,100, or nearly 59 percent, the study by the Washington-based groups said.

Families in the middle fifth saw their incomes rise 28 percent, or $10,218.


Full story...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060127/ap_on_re_us/income_gap

this is not new.
I would be surprised if anyone were surprised. :)

ebola

I'm certainly not surprised! :D

I for one, am shocked...SHOCKED! :rolleyes:

I'm not suprised either. My AP US History teacher is one of the biggest opponents I've heard of raising the stale minimum wage, because he says 'A low minimum wage forces people to become more creative with coming up with new jobs. '

....I somewhat agree, but then...I'd rather not have to be on welfare because my mom makes minimum wage.

frustrating.

NPR just reported the same thing happening in China. I guess it's doesn't just happen in Capitalists societies.

china is a capitalist society (or rather is integrated into the overarching world-capitalist society).

ebola

Yeah, China is definitely not something other than capitalist.

would you really find it more appealing to live in a place without this gap? there's always cuba and north korea.

china is a capitalist society (or rather is integrated into the overarching world-capitalist society)

Yeah, China is definitely not something other than capitalist.

so the best way to defend your socialist ideology is to deny it ever existed in any state? I'd call that a measure of it's incredible failure.

>>would you really find it more appealing to live in a place without this gap? there's always cuba and north korea.>>

You find leveling reasoned arguments unappealing? There are always false dichotomies.
What about Sweden?

>>so the best way to defend your socialist ideology is to deny it ever existed in any state? I'd call that a measure of it's incredible failure.>>

My socialist ideology is not Marxist-Leninism. Outside of isolated uprisings such as the Spanish revolution of 1936, anarchism hasn't really had a chance.

ebola

It seems the middle class has been gradually disappearing for quite some time. This is just another indicator that the process is continuing. I personally wonder if we will end up in a state similar to feudalism, only instead of serfs working the land for the nobility, we'll all be corporate peons working mindless office jobs at subsistence wages for the multinational mega-corporations. ...Or are we already there???

Or we could just decide not to.

It seems the middle class has been gradually disappearing for quite some time. This is just another indicator that the process is continuing. I personally wonder if we will end up in a state similar to feudalism, only instead of serfs working the land for the nobility, we'll all be corporate peons working mindless office jobs at subsistence wages for the multinational mega-corporations. ...Or are we already there???far too optimistic, it will be the super rich, the service economy whores that entertain the super rich, the welfare dependent and finally the invisible masses of undocumented workers.

and guess what, socialism isn't the answer either.

<<<Looks around, sees a buttload of middle clas folk.

Look more closely.

Not here :no:

>>Looks around, sees a buttload of middle clas folk.>>

You're looking on a bloody internet messageboard. :)

ebola

<<<Looking out the window, sees 'em everywhere.

Saw them on my drive back to ATL today. All over the damn place. Buyin' houses and all kinds fo stuff.

<<<Looks around, sees a buttload of middle clas folk.

Yep, and we are the ones that get screwed the most.:yes:

<<<Had a record year financially in 2005.

>>Looking out the window>>

Wow. You found middle-class folk in your middle class neighborhood.
No, I will admit that the US does afford a middle class. Our relatively privileged white-collar labor-stratum is one of the defining features of the first world. With polarization of wealth within our borders, however, this group is indeed shrinking.

ebola

Yep, and we are the ones that get screwed the most.:yes:


Oh hogwash. The poor get screwed the most.

however, this group is indeed shrinking.
Very true.

I wonder what the future holds for office jobs. My mom has worked in an office all of her life as management, customer service etc. She works for a small company now and she’s trying to get set up at home. There’s really no reason for her to be in the office as most of her work is done via the phone or computer. For the future, I don’t see how outsourcing will be avoided and that concerns me.

>>
I wonder what the future holds for office jobs. >>

Lower pay, increased routinization, outsourcing to the global south. On the other hand, it's not like there's going to be this flight of jobs from the first world without anything with which to replace them. The world economy still requires that workers (for the most part workers) have the ability to purchase the **** being produced.

ebola

It seems the middle class has been gradually disappearing for quite some time. This is just another indicator that the process is continuing. I personally wonder if we will end up in a state similar to feudalism, only instead of serfs working the land for the nobility, we'll all be corporate peons working mindless office jobs at subsistence wages for the multinational mega-corporations. ...Or are we already there???

Funny, I was having the same thought the other day...I think it's already happening. What made me think of it was my parents' good friend just had to "re-apply" for the job he's held for 18 years with Panasonic. Pretty much everyone had to reapply for their jobs. He didn't get the job, most likely because he is 54years old and was close to retirement. Now...I think he gets 30% or something.

Anyway, at least as a serf you didn't have to bend over backwards to earn the privilege of being a serf, which I'm finding is the case for obtaining a mindless office job with crappy wages (which is what I'm after now).

I see a lot of people who think they're oppressed worker drones of The Man. Funny thing is, these people tend to have at least one car per adult, nicer houses than their parents lived in at the same age, piles of Stuff, and rather too much to eat. NO that doesn't mean some people don't have it hard! But it does mean that a lot of mid-level workers have bought into the advertising that tells them they deserve soooooo much more than 'self-supporting'.

If you don't want to be a worker drone, figure out what productive work lights your fire and go for it. It can be done, yes even today. Not merely hard work, but creative and valuable work still earns rewards. Over 85% of the millionaires in this country are first generation rich (as opposed to trust fund babies). If you settle for doing something modestly productive (drone job), it makes sense that you end up being modestly successful (living wage).

Think more of yourself, put more of yourself into it, be more.