Analysis: America's Middle Class Falters As Nation's Richest Rise
Report shows low and middle income earners falling behind comparable countries
The income inequality gap between the wealthy and those considered to be lower- and middle class is skyrocketing in the U.S. compared to other countries historically known to be less affluent, according to a new analysis published Tuesday.
The findings are based on a joint analysis conducted by the New York Times and researchers at the Luxembourg Income Study Database which looked at 35 years of data collected by the Europe-based research institute. According to the reporting, posted on the Times new website The Upshot, U.S. financial growth is surpassing those of other wealthy nations but the financial gains of that growth is being enjoyed mostly by the top tier of wealthiest Americans while working class and less affluent people get left further and further behind.
Growth in lower- and middle-income tiers in the U.S. is quickly falling behind other economically "advanced" countries, as average residents in comparable countries have received "considerably larger raises over the last three decades."
The Upshot reports:
The struggles of the poor in the United States are even starker than those of the middle class. A family at the 20th percentile of the income distribution in this country makes significantly less money than a similar family in Canada, Sweden, Norway, Finland or the Netherlands. Thirty-five years ago, the reverse was true. [...]
The findings are striking because the most commonly cited economic statistics -- such as per capita gross domestic product -- continue to show that the United States has maintained its lead as the world's richest large country. But those numbers are averages, which do not capture the distribution of income. With a big share of recent income gains in this country flowing to a relatively small slice of high-earning households, most Americans are not keeping pace with their counterparts around the world.
Among the reasons listed for this growing disparity, the research found that the number of people who are able to get an education in the U.S. has quickly fallen behind other "industrialized" countries over the last 30 years. As a result, less and less people have found work in well-paying positions.
Further, disparities in wages have grown wider in the U.S. compared to other countries. As U.S. companies are awarding bigger pay checks for top executives, the minimum wage has remained remarkably low and labor unions have been weakened.
The final reason given is that, compared to other countries, wealthy U.S. citizens pay far less taxes, while the U.S. "does not redistribute as much income to the poor as other countries do," the report states. "As a result, inequality in disposable income is sharply higher in the United States than elsewhere."
Similarly, a recent report by the AFL-CIO found that the average CEO in the United States made 331 times more money than the average worker in 2013 and 774 more than minimum wage workers.
The average U.S. CEO made $11.7 million in 2013 while the average U.S. worker earned $35,293.
Likewise, as Bill Moyers and Michael Winship point out in an op-ed published Tuesday, "The evidence of income inequality just keeps mounting."
According to recent report by Oxfam, they note, the wealthiest one percent have held 95 percent of economic growth since 2009, the years following economic crash.
Connecting this growing disparity to problems within Washington, Moyers and Winship write:
Recently, researchers at Connecticut's Trinity College ploughed through the data and concluded that the US Senate is responsive to the policy preferences of the rich, ignoring the poor. And now there's that big study coming out in the fall from scholars at Princeton and Northwestern universities, based on data collected between 1981 and 2002. Their conclusion: "America's claims to being a democratic society are seriously threatened... The preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy." Instead, policy tends "to tilt towards the wishes of corporations and business and professional associations."
______________________
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just three days to go in our Spring Campaign, we're falling short of our make-or-break goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Jacob Chamberlain is a former staff writer for Common Dreams. He is the author of Migrant Justice in the Age of Removal. His website is www.jacobpchamberlain.com.
The income inequality gap between the wealthy and those considered to be lower- and middle class is skyrocketing in the U.S. compared to other countries historically known to be less affluent, according to a new analysis published Tuesday.
The findings are based on a joint analysis conducted by the New York Times and researchers at the Luxembourg Income Study Database which looked at 35 years of data collected by the Europe-based research institute. According to the reporting, posted on the Times new website The Upshot, U.S. financial growth is surpassing those of other wealthy nations but the financial gains of that growth is being enjoyed mostly by the top tier of wealthiest Americans while working class and less affluent people get left further and further behind.
Growth in lower- and middle-income tiers in the U.S. is quickly falling behind other economically "advanced" countries, as average residents in comparable countries have received "considerably larger raises over the last three decades."
The Upshot reports:
The struggles of the poor in the United States are even starker than those of the middle class. A family at the 20th percentile of the income distribution in this country makes significantly less money than a similar family in Canada, Sweden, Norway, Finland or the Netherlands. Thirty-five years ago, the reverse was true. [...]
The findings are striking because the most commonly cited economic statistics -- such as per capita gross domestic product -- continue to show that the United States has maintained its lead as the world's richest large country. But those numbers are averages, which do not capture the distribution of income. With a big share of recent income gains in this country flowing to a relatively small slice of high-earning households, most Americans are not keeping pace with their counterparts around the world.
Among the reasons listed for this growing disparity, the research found that the number of people who are able to get an education in the U.S. has quickly fallen behind other "industrialized" countries over the last 30 years. As a result, less and less people have found work in well-paying positions.
Further, disparities in wages have grown wider in the U.S. compared to other countries. As U.S. companies are awarding bigger pay checks for top executives, the minimum wage has remained remarkably low and labor unions have been weakened.
The final reason given is that, compared to other countries, wealthy U.S. citizens pay far less taxes, while the U.S. "does not redistribute as much income to the poor as other countries do," the report states. "As a result, inequality in disposable income is sharply higher in the United States than elsewhere."
Similarly, a recent report by the AFL-CIO found that the average CEO in the United States made 331 times more money than the average worker in 2013 and 774 more than minimum wage workers.
The average U.S. CEO made $11.7 million in 2013 while the average U.S. worker earned $35,293.
Likewise, as Bill Moyers and Michael Winship point out in an op-ed published Tuesday, "The evidence of income inequality just keeps mounting."
According to recent report by Oxfam, they note, the wealthiest one percent have held 95 percent of economic growth since 2009, the years following economic crash.
Connecting this growing disparity to problems within Washington, Moyers and Winship write:
Recently, researchers at Connecticut's Trinity College ploughed through the data and concluded that the US Senate is responsive to the policy preferences of the rich, ignoring the poor. And now there's that big study coming out in the fall from scholars at Princeton and Northwestern universities, based on data collected between 1981 and 2002. Their conclusion: "America's claims to being a democratic society are seriously threatened... The preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy." Instead, policy tends "to tilt towards the wishes of corporations and business and professional associations."
______________________
Jacob Chamberlain is a former staff writer for Common Dreams. He is the author of Migrant Justice in the Age of Removal. His website is www.jacobpchamberlain.com.
The income inequality gap between the wealthy and those considered to be lower- and middle class is skyrocketing in the U.S. compared to other countries historically known to be less affluent, according to a new analysis published Tuesday.
The findings are based on a joint analysis conducted by the New York Times and researchers at the Luxembourg Income Study Database which looked at 35 years of data collected by the Europe-based research institute. According to the reporting, posted on the Times new website The Upshot, U.S. financial growth is surpassing those of other wealthy nations but the financial gains of that growth is being enjoyed mostly by the top tier of wealthiest Americans while working class and less affluent people get left further and further behind.
Growth in lower- and middle-income tiers in the U.S. is quickly falling behind other economically "advanced" countries, as average residents in comparable countries have received "considerably larger raises over the last three decades."
The Upshot reports:
The struggles of the poor in the United States are even starker than those of the middle class. A family at the 20th percentile of the income distribution in this country makes significantly less money than a similar family in Canada, Sweden, Norway, Finland or the Netherlands. Thirty-five years ago, the reverse was true. [...]
The findings are striking because the most commonly cited economic statistics -- such as per capita gross domestic product -- continue to show that the United States has maintained its lead as the world's richest large country. But those numbers are averages, which do not capture the distribution of income. With a big share of recent income gains in this country flowing to a relatively small slice of high-earning households, most Americans are not keeping pace with their counterparts around the world.
Among the reasons listed for this growing disparity, the research found that the number of people who are able to get an education in the U.S. has quickly fallen behind other "industrialized" countries over the last 30 years. As a result, less and less people have found work in well-paying positions.
Further, disparities in wages have grown wider in the U.S. compared to other countries. As U.S. companies are awarding bigger pay checks for top executives, the minimum wage has remained remarkably low and labor unions have been weakened.
The final reason given is that, compared to other countries, wealthy U.S. citizens pay far less taxes, while the U.S. "does not redistribute as much income to the poor as other countries do," the report states. "As a result, inequality in disposable income is sharply higher in the United States than elsewhere."
Similarly, a recent report by the AFL-CIO found that the average CEO in the United States made 331 times more money than the average worker in 2013 and 774 more than minimum wage workers.
The average U.S. CEO made $11.7 million in 2013 while the average U.S. worker earned $35,293.
Likewise, as Bill Moyers and Michael Winship point out in an op-ed published Tuesday, "The evidence of income inequality just keeps mounting."
According to recent report by Oxfam, they note, the wealthiest one percent have held 95 percent of economic growth since 2009, the years following economic crash.
Connecting this growing disparity to problems within Washington, Moyers and Winship write:
Recently, researchers at Connecticut's Trinity College ploughed through the data and concluded that the US Senate is responsive to the policy preferences of the rich, ignoring the poor. And now there's that big study coming out in the fall from scholars at Princeton and Northwestern universities, based on data collected between 1981 and 2002. Their conclusion: "America's claims to being a democratic society are seriously threatened... The preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy." Instead, policy tends "to tilt towards the wishes of corporations and business and professional associations."
______________________