Is United States still the land of opportunity? Honestly, not anymore because the American dream relies on the one thing this country is killing, the middle class. Being middle class today means you earn between 40 and a 120,000 thousand a year depending on where you live, not poor, nor are you rich. You are getting by. Back in the 1960s half of the American households were middle class but that middle class has been shrinking ever since. Today the medium income is less than it was in 1989 but the cost of living of course keeps going up, in just the last fifteen years the cost of housing, health care, child care, college have all skyrocketed. That means people are working longer hours for less pay just to keep the lights on. How has it gotten to this?
Destroying Unions:
Let’s start with unions, those organizations that workers belong to so they don’t get screwed by management. United States had historically had some strongest unions in the past thirty years membership has nosedived. Back in the 1950s more than a third of private sector workers belonged to unions, today that number stands at 7%. Check out the share of income the middle class takes home compared to union membership, weaker union, and weaker middle class. Without bargaining power it’s no wonder that the federal minimum wage has also fallen, so what has happened? A defining moment was in 1981 when 13,000 air traffic controllers went on to strike. President Ronald Regan responded by firing them. This action put the US government squarely on the side of management and emboldening excess to go after unions. Since then there have been waves of laws passed by state that weaken union membership which corporations take advantage of by relocating to states that have weaker unions and fewer labor laws. That’s if they stay in the country at all.
Job Facilities:
Why are there fewer and fewer good paying jobs? We are often told that technology has a lot to do with it and yes since the 1970s millions of manufacturing jobs have been lost automation but that’s just part of the story. You know those boring trade agreements negotiated in secret, well pay attention because while they are touted as being great for growth, they have also hurt American workers. The US lost nearly 700,000 jobs mostly in manufacturing thanks to NAFTA. While china is the favorite scape-goat, it’s the United States that opened the doors to trade without properly protecting its industry or workers. In five years 1.8 million jobs were lost as companies moved abroad or decided to import cheaper goods.
Politicians:
Who knew the American dream included lobbyists? Today the biggest corporations have armies of lobbyists who make sure that things go the way of big business in Washington and they spend 2.6 billion dollars a year to do just that. That’s 34 times the amount unions and the public interest groups spend and it’s totally legal, so is keeping your profits offshore to avoid paying American taxes, that’s what most Fortune 500 companies do. About those taxes in 40 years the top .1% actually saw their taxes cut in half whereas the middle class is paying more. Many conservatives argue that rising tides lift all boats that if the rich make more money, eventually it will benefit the rest of us but has that actually happened? Yes, the economy is doing better since the Great Recession but overall the richer getting richer while the majority of Americans keep getting poor.
Transcripted By Benazir Elahee Munni