A recipient carries a box of food as others wait in line at a Food Bank distribution for those in need as the coronavirus pandemic continues on April 9, 2020 in Van Nuys, California. (Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Four Numbers that Show America's Disdain for Its Most Vulnerable People
The nation's plague of economic inequality and poverty puts everyone at risk.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans have suffered "deaths of despair" from alcohol and drug abuse and suicides because they could no longer provide for their families. Even before the COVID-19 crisis, during a post-recession period when the economy and stock market were booming, the poorest 50% of Americans lost wealth. And now many of them have lost their jobs, their income, their livelihoods.
40%: The Percentage of Lost Jobs that May Be Lost for Good
Anywhere from half to three-quarters of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck.
Now the paychecks are disappearing. Tens of millions of Americans have lost their jobs, many of which will not come back. A recent paper out of the University of Chicago estimates that over 40 percent of jobs lost are gone for good.
$40 Trillion: The Amount of Wealth that Went to America's Richest 10% in Just Ten Years
The poorest 50% got nothing. Their wealth actually declined.
Over three-quarters of our wealth is owned by the richest 10% of Americans. Over $40 trillion has surged up to these individuals since the recession, allowing them to more than double their wealth to an average of over $3 million, mainly by doing nothing while the stock market nearly quadrupled in value. That's American prosperity being shifted upwards, a redistribution of wealth to households that were already wealthy.
America has nearly 20 million millionaires--approximately one for every seven households. But four of seven households are living without savings.
$8.70: The Amount of Black Household Wealth for Every $100.00 of White Household Wealth
The economic pain is greatest for black households, who have seen their median household income drop over the past twenty years, while their total household wealth remains at about one-twelfth of white households. The pain and misfortune continue to pile up for the black community, which has suffered the greatest effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Because of their job losses and lack of savings and inability to maintain rent payments, they will be taking the brunt of an inevitable housing crisis; and, in perhaps the cruelest hit of all, the Trump administration is still considering cuts in the food stamp program.
1 Hour: The Amount of Work in a Week to be Qualified as 'Employed'
Even if the jobs come back, they won't be enough for millions of part-time workers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics bases the official unemployment rate on employees "who did any work for pay or profit" during the week being surveyed. That includes part-time workers who are employed for just one hour a week.
Even with that absurd definition of employment in America, unemployment levels were still not reduced for the Black community in the first month of recovery from the pandemic.
The Insanity of Not Having a Guaranteed Income
The need for a guaranteed income (or, even better, guaranteed jobs) was clear well before the pandemic. Robot technology has been steadily replacing workers, and unlike in the past the workforce is not evolving into a higher skill level. Much of our thinking is now performed by machine. And that technology--artificial intelligence--was largely built by the taxpayers. The jobs remaining are, to a good extent, either high-tech positions with six-figure salaries or low-skilled jobs in food service, retail, and health and personal care.
Now, with a quarter of the population facing economic collapse, the need for a guaranteed income is magnified to a level last seen in the Great Depression. It seems to have worked in Stockton, California. It has a wide range of supporting voices behind it. Most strikingly, the pandemic has made it clear that a dramatic change will be required in the way Americans provide for their families.
How to implement it? A very small tax on financial wealth. With just two percent of each household's financial wealth each year, our nation could generate enough revenue to provide nearly a $14,000 annual stipend to every American household (yes, including those of the richest families).
Does this "soak the rich"? No, everyone pays a tiny portion of their financial wealth, and everyone receives an equal portion in return.
If the wealthiest Americans continue to resist this sensible and obvious solution, the violence that plagues our nation will continue to get worse. And violence, as peace advocate Robert Burrowes has long maintained, is a reflection of a people's insanity.
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 |
Hundreds of thousands of Americans have suffered "deaths of despair" from alcohol and drug abuse and suicides because they could no longer provide for their families. Even before the COVID-19 crisis, during a post-recession period when the economy and stock market were booming, the poorest 50% of Americans lost wealth. And now many of them have lost their jobs, their income, their livelihoods.
40%: The Percentage of Lost Jobs that May Be Lost for Good
Anywhere from half to three-quarters of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck.
Now the paychecks are disappearing. Tens of millions of Americans have lost their jobs, many of which will not come back. A recent paper out of the University of Chicago estimates that over 40 percent of jobs lost are gone for good.
$40 Trillion: The Amount of Wealth that Went to America's Richest 10% in Just Ten Years
The poorest 50% got nothing. Their wealth actually declined.
Over three-quarters of our wealth is owned by the richest 10% of Americans. Over $40 trillion has surged up to these individuals since the recession, allowing them to more than double their wealth to an average of over $3 million, mainly by doing nothing while the stock market nearly quadrupled in value. That's American prosperity being shifted upwards, a redistribution of wealth to households that were already wealthy.
America has nearly 20 million millionaires--approximately one for every seven households. But four of seven households are living without savings.
$8.70: The Amount of Black Household Wealth for Every $100.00 of White Household Wealth
The economic pain is greatest for black households, who have seen their median household income drop over the past twenty years, while their total household wealth remains at about one-twelfth of white households. The pain and misfortune continue to pile up for the black community, which has suffered the greatest effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Because of their job losses and lack of savings and inability to maintain rent payments, they will be taking the brunt of an inevitable housing crisis; and, in perhaps the cruelest hit of all, the Trump administration is still considering cuts in the food stamp program.
1 Hour: The Amount of Work in a Week to be Qualified as 'Employed'
Even if the jobs come back, they won't be enough for millions of part-time workers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics bases the official unemployment rate on employees "who did any work for pay or profit" during the week being surveyed. That includes part-time workers who are employed for just one hour a week.
Even with that absurd definition of employment in America, unemployment levels were still not reduced for the Black community in the first month of recovery from the pandemic.
The Insanity of Not Having a Guaranteed Income
The need for a guaranteed income (or, even better, guaranteed jobs) was clear well before the pandemic. Robot technology has been steadily replacing workers, and unlike in the past the workforce is not evolving into a higher skill level. Much of our thinking is now performed by machine. And that technology--artificial intelligence--was largely built by the taxpayers. The jobs remaining are, to a good extent, either high-tech positions with six-figure salaries or low-skilled jobs in food service, retail, and health and personal care.
Now, with a quarter of the population facing economic collapse, the need for a guaranteed income is magnified to a level last seen in the Great Depression. It seems to have worked in Stockton, California. It has a wide range of supporting voices behind it. Most strikingly, the pandemic has made it clear that a dramatic change will be required in the way Americans provide for their families.
How to implement it? A very small tax on financial wealth. With just two percent of each household's financial wealth each year, our nation could generate enough revenue to provide nearly a $14,000 annual stipend to every American household (yes, including those of the richest families).
Does this "soak the rich"? No, everyone pays a tiny portion of their financial wealth, and everyone receives an equal portion in return.
If the wealthiest Americans continue to resist this sensible and obvious solution, the violence that plagues our nation will continue to get worse. And violence, as peace advocate Robert Burrowes has long maintained, is a reflection of a people's insanity.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans have suffered "deaths of despair" from alcohol and drug abuse and suicides because they could no longer provide for their families. Even before the COVID-19 crisis, during a post-recession period when the economy and stock market were booming, the poorest 50% of Americans lost wealth. And now many of them have lost their jobs, their income, their livelihoods.
40%: The Percentage of Lost Jobs that May Be Lost for Good
Anywhere from half to three-quarters of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck.
Now the paychecks are disappearing. Tens of millions of Americans have lost their jobs, many of which will not come back. A recent paper out of the University of Chicago estimates that over 40 percent of jobs lost are gone for good.
$40 Trillion: The Amount of Wealth that Went to America's Richest 10% in Just Ten Years
The poorest 50% got nothing. Their wealth actually declined.
Over three-quarters of our wealth is owned by the richest 10% of Americans. Over $40 trillion has surged up to these individuals since the recession, allowing them to more than double their wealth to an average of over $3 million, mainly by doing nothing while the stock market nearly quadrupled in value. That's American prosperity being shifted upwards, a redistribution of wealth to households that were already wealthy.
America has nearly 20 million millionaires--approximately one for every seven households. But four of seven households are living without savings.
$8.70: The Amount of Black Household Wealth for Every $100.00 of White Household Wealth
The economic pain is greatest for black households, who have seen their median household income drop over the past twenty years, while their total household wealth remains at about one-twelfth of white households. The pain and misfortune continue to pile up for the black community, which has suffered the greatest effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Because of their job losses and lack of savings and inability to maintain rent payments, they will be taking the brunt of an inevitable housing crisis; and, in perhaps the cruelest hit of all, the Trump administration is still considering cuts in the food stamp program.
1 Hour: The Amount of Work in a Week to be Qualified as 'Employed'
Even if the jobs come back, they won't be enough for millions of part-time workers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics bases the official unemployment rate on employees "who did any work for pay or profit" during the week being surveyed. That includes part-time workers who are employed for just one hour a week.
Even with that absurd definition of employment in America, unemployment levels were still not reduced for the Black community in the first month of recovery from the pandemic.
The Insanity of Not Having a Guaranteed Income
The need for a guaranteed income (or, even better, guaranteed jobs) was clear well before the pandemic. Robot technology has been steadily replacing workers, and unlike in the past the workforce is not evolving into a higher skill level. Much of our thinking is now performed by machine. And that technology--artificial intelligence--was largely built by the taxpayers. The jobs remaining are, to a good extent, either high-tech positions with six-figure salaries or low-skilled jobs in food service, retail, and health and personal care.
Now, with a quarter of the population facing economic collapse, the need for a guaranteed income is magnified to a level last seen in the Great Depression. It seems to have worked in Stockton, California. It has a wide range of supporting voices behind it. Most strikingly, the pandemic has made it clear that a dramatic change will be required in the way Americans provide for their families.
How to implement it? A very small tax on financial wealth. With just two percent of each household's financial wealth each year, our nation could generate enough revenue to provide nearly a $14,000 annual stipend to every American household (yes, including those of the richest families).
Does this "soak the rich"? No, everyone pays a tiny portion of their financial wealth, and everyone receives an equal portion in return.
If the wealthiest Americans continue to resist this sensible and obvious solution, the violence that plagues our nation will continue to get worse. And violence, as peace advocate Robert Burrowes has long maintained, is a reflection of a people's insanity.