:: rawblogXport ::

:: Wednesday, December 31, 2003 ::

Discrimination Against Women Editorial By Molly Ivins, Intellivu
A report by United for a Fair Economy, 'Shifting Fortunes: The Perils of the Growing American Wealth Gap,' takes an even broader view of economic inequities, concentrating particularly on the middle class. Those who are neither in the top 10 percent nor the bottom 10 percent in income have been the big losers during the last 25 years. Their wealth and earnings as a share of the total wealth and earnings in the United States are falling.

What is more disturbing, writes economist Lester Thurow, is that their wealth and earnings have been falling absolutely in inflation-corrected dollars. They have less than they used to have, despite an economy that has dramatically increased the per capita gross domestic product. 'Put simply and bluntly, the great American middle class has become a non-participant in the American dream.'

America's passive work force By Bob Herbert
An executive at Microsoft, the ultimate American success story, told his department heads last year to ''Think India,'' and to ''pick something to move offshore today.''

These matters should be among the hottest topics of our national conversation. We've already witnessed the carnage in manufacturing jobs. Now, with white-collar jobs at stake, we've got executives at IBM and Microsoft exchanging high-fives at the prospect of getting ''two heads for the price of one'' in India.

''If you take this to its logical extreme, the implications for the entire middle-class wage structure in the United States are terrifying,'' said Thea Lee, an economist with the AFL-CIO. ''Now is the time to start thinking about policy solutions.''

posted 6:53 PM :: reference link :: 0 comments ::

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