October 22, 2008


IMPEACH BUSH


IMPEACH CHENEY


OUR VERSION OF THE GLASS CEILING

Since the Reagan administration there has been a dramatic increase in the gap between the rich and the poor. The rich have made out handsomely, but working class people have seen their incomes stagnate or decline. In the meantime, everything else is more expensive: food, gas, health care, education, and housing. It isn't just an issue of declining living standards. It's also an issue of social mobility, or the lack of social mobility. One of the great myths in the United States is that by working hard and playing by the rules you can climb the social mobility ladder. The fact is if you're born poor you're likely to remain poor. This article by Jim Lobe is at www.commondreams.org:

That gap has grown particularly large in the U.S. since 2000 -- that is, under the administration of President George W. Bush -- according to the report, which found that the gap between the U.S. middle class and the wealthiest 10 percent has also increased.

The growth in the divide has major implications for social mobility, according to OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria, who said the report's data had demonstrated that the notion that inequality encourages the poor to do better is false.

"Social mobility is low in countries with high inequality like Italy, the UK (United Kingdom), and the United States. And it is much higher in the Nordic countries, where income is distributed more evenly," he told reporters.

"This means that, in most high-inequality countries, dishwashers' sons are more likely to be dishwashers and millionaires' kids can assume that they too will be rich," he said, adding that governments could do much to promote mobility, particularly through progressive tax policies, greater social spending, job creation, and increasing investment in education.