The Rich get richer, and the Poor get more plentiful

Hey Folks -

"The Rich get richer and the Poor get poorer," but have you ever considered the notion that "The Rich get richer BECAUSE the Poor get poorer"? It makes sense to me.

Every time a profitable capitalistic venture such as a manufacturer, publisher, agribusiness, or professional service provider cuts benefits, makes layoffs, ships jobs over seas, or encourages easily-exploited "illegal" immigration, the capitalist - who is already making money - makes MORE money. The workers, obviously, suffer a reduction in their standard of living and are told (those who weren't laid off) that they should be happy to have a job at all - "quit complaining!!"

Workers who can barely keep body and soul together are supposed to be grateful for their increased difficulties and, perhaps, even proud that their sacrifice has helped increase the prosperity of the already prosperous.

Yep - sure makes sense. Uh huh!! Yeah. Right. Mmmmm . . .

- Uke Man



May 12, 2007
The Millions Left Out
By BOB HERBERT
(a ukethanks to Phyll)

The United States may be the richest country in the world, but
there are many millions — tens of millions — who are not sharing
in that prosperity.

According to the most recent government figures, 37 million
Americans are living below the official poverty threshold, which is
$19,971 a year for a family of four. That’s one out of every eight
Americans, and many of them are children.

More than 90 million Americans, close to a third of the entire
population, are struggling to make ends meet on incomes that
are less than twice the official poverty line. In my book, they’re poor.

We don’t see poor people on television or in the advertising that
surrounds us like a second atmosphere. We don’t pay much attention
to the millions of men and women who are changing bedpans, or
flipping burgers for the minimum wage, or vacuuming the halls of office
buildings at all hours of the night. But they’re there, working hard and
getting very little in return.

The number of poor people in America has increased by five million over
the past six years, and the gap between rich and poor has grown to
historic proportions. The richest one percent of Americans got nearly 20
percent of the nation’s income in 2005, while the poorest 20 percent could
collectively garner only a measly 3.4 percent.

A new report from a highly respected task force on poverty put together by
the Center for American Progress tells us, “It does not have to be this
way.” The task force has made several policy recommendations, and said
that if all were adopted poverty in the U.S. could be cut in half over the
next decade.

The tremendous number of people in poverty is an enormous drag on the U.S.
economy. And one of the biggest problems is the simple fact that so many
jobs pay so little that even fulltime, year-round employment is not enough
to raise a family out of poverty. One-fifth of the working men in America
and 29 percent of working women are in such jobs.

Peter Edelman, a Georgetown law professor who was a co-chairman of the
task force, said, “An astonishing number of people are working as hard as
they possibly can but are still in poverty or have incomes that are not much
above the poverty line.”

So the starting point for lifting people out of poverty should be to see
that men and women who are working are adequately compensated for their
labor. The task force recommended that the federal minimum wage, now $5.15
an hour, be raised to half the average hourly wage in the U.S., which would bring it to $8.40.

The earned-income tax credit, which has proved very successful in
supplementing the earnings of low-wage working families, should be
expanded to cover more workers, the task force said. It also recommended
expanded coverage of the federal child care tax credit, which is currently
$1,000 per child for up to three children.

A crucial component to raising workers out of poverty would be an all-out
effort to ensure that workers are allowed to form unions and bargain
collectively. As the task force noted, “Among workers in similar jobs,
unionized workers have higher pay, higher rates of health coverage, and
better benefits than do nonunionized workers.”

In a recent interview about poverty, former Senator John Edwards told me: “Organizing is so important. We have 50 million service economy jobs and we’ll probably have 10 or 15 million more over the next decade. If those jobs are union jobs, they’ll be middle-class families. If not, they’re more likely to live in poverty. It’s that strong.”

The task force made several other recommendations, including proposals
to ease access to higher education for poor youngsters, to help former prisoners
find employment, to develop a more equitable unemployment compensation
system, and to establish housing policies that would make it easier for poor
people to move from neighborhoods of concentrated poverty to areas
with better employment opportunities and higher-quality public services.

Mr. Edelman, an adviser on social policy in the Clinton administration,
stressed that there is no one answer to the problem of poverty, and
that in addition to public policy initiatives, it’s important to address the
“things people have to do within their own communities to take responsibility
for themselves and for each other.”

But he added, “It is unacceptable for this country, which is so wealthy, to have this many people who are left out.”