Saturday, October 29, 2011

Report Card

This graph, a report card really, is from the New York Times today.  Read it and weep.  Think about corporate America and the super rich as you do.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you.

The chart shows we have fallen far behind most of the industrialized world, even behind some former Soviet states. The US and Mexico are similar now. Just look at the overall poverty rate, and the child and seniors poverty rates. In income inequality we are back at the 1920 level as corporate profits set records. As the headline says, Bottom of the heap.

On the far Left we have been talking about this for years, but only talking to ourselves. This was always the intended consequences of Neoliberalism, which was called Reaganomics when it was introduced. It's the paradigm we are still under, as we see Democrats, despite some populist rhetoric aimed at their base, gleefully participating in cutting social programs and giving tax breaks to the already filthy rich.

Income had been keeping up with inflation, albeit staying flat, inflation adjusted. Now it's trending down. More and more of us hold several part time jobs with no benefits, not even workman's comp, SSI or unemployment insurance as people are converted to contract employees. Some of your readers may be doing OK, but the next generation will bear the brunt of this. They are the first generation who cannot expect a higher standard of living than their parents'.

American Dream, adios. See you down at Occupy Albuquerque.

Abq Dude said...

Interesting, but not surprising! The US is priming itself for more demonstrations and even potential civil unrest if things don't change.

On a related topic, I posted a link to a 2009 National Geographic chart that compares health care spending to average life expectancy around the world. Of course, the US is at the top of spending and at the bottom of life expectancy.

Our policy makers just don't get it or just don't give a damn.

http://blogs.ngm.com/blog_central/2009/12/the-cost-of-care.html