This blog is going to be a random collection of thoughts about our current politico/economic situation, how we got here and what, if anything, can be done to improve it. Clearly, over the past thirty years, the living standards of the average American have declined and the prospects for the futures of our children and grandchildren are looking bleak. Two generations back, it was normal for parents to believe that their children and grandchildren would be better off than they were. Such is no longer the case and except for a few privileged families, coming generations are likely to be worse off than we are.
The middle class has been eroding continuously over the past 30 years while the privileged class garners an ever increasing share of the national wealth. As of 2007, the top 1% of households owned 34.6% of all privately held wealth and the top 20% owned 85%, leaving only 15% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers). Prior to the latest economic crisis, the U.S. had the greatest inequality of wealth in the industrialized world; and the effect of the recession has only worsened the wealth inequality. There is presently no equalizing force to counteract the increasing inequality of wealth. Left alone, we will ultimately become a "banana republic", a two class society consisting only of the very few rich and the remaining poor.
So how did this happen; and what, if anything, can we do about it?
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