Monday, July 19, 2010

Working poor? Get used to it.

Robert Reich explains why even people who still have jobs have less money.

Key paragraph on how this affects politics and everything in our culture:

"What we get from widening inequality is not only a more fragile economy but also an angrier politics. When virtually all the gains from growth go to a small minority at the top-- and the broad middle class can no longer pretend it's richer than it is by using homes as collateral for deepening indebtedness-- the result is deep-seated anxiety and frustration. This is an open invitation to demagogues who misconnect the dots and direct the anger toward immigrants, the poor, foreign nations, big government, "socialists," "intellectual elites," or even big business and Wall Street. The major fault line in American politics is no longer between Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, but between the "establishment" and an increasingly mad-as-hell populace determined to "take back America" from it."

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