Ten years ago many Americans were beginning to recognize and become
very nervous about the level of inequality, in both income and wealth distributions, here
in the United States. Some people felt that the fundamental notion of American capitalism,
or as some called it "American exceptionalism," was that it produced and sustained a huge
middle class. Yes, these people were not rich but they were also not poor. They had a middle
class life which had quite a few comforts, quite a few elements of the so-called American dream
that they could enjoy. But 10 years ago people began to notice that those things were available
to a shrinking part of the population. And they began to worry. Could that in fact explain
the rising level of debt that plagued Americans? And the answer was an obvious, "Yes."
Could it have been behind the failure of people to cover their mortgages which led to that crack
up of the American capitalist system late in 2008? And again the answer was a pretty obvious, "Yes."
And so the question was, [it] seems to be built in to our economic system,
what do we do about it? How dangerous is it? And that question forced itself
onto the consciousness of the American people and on to the electoral debates of republicans,
and democrats, and those uncomfortable with both of them.
10 years ago was also when we started Economic Update with the goal of presenting
a critical assessment of capitalism including and especially how it produced and worsened economic
inequalities. And we also had the goal of offering an alternative: what could be done economically to
change the society so it didn't produce, let alone worsen, inequality? These last 10 years
have been wonderful for us with successes far beyond what we could imagine. And so, to mark
the anniversary we revisit moments from 10 years ago, like that awakening agony about inequality.
And as people looked into it 10 years ago, they realized it had been going on at least
since the mid-1970s. Wages stopped rising as they had in the previous 150 years of American
history. And if they did go up, the prices went up at least as much, so that you couldn't get ahead.
And that's why people in the 80s and 90s borrowed money in a way that Americans had never borrowed
money before. By the turn of the century we were the most indebted working class in American
history. And you know who lent the working class the money that had to be passed to them because
their earnings were knowing going nowhere? Their employers. The very people who didn't pay them
rising wages anymore turned around and lent them money instead, which meant that the working class
not only didn't have rising wages but had more and more to give their employers: not only their work
that they were paid wages for but also interest on the rising borrowings from that same
employer class. And that, of course, made the inequality worse.
So now we see where it has gone. In the last year, 2020 to 2021, the 650 billionaires
in the United States saw their combined wealth go up in the neighborhood of another trillion dollars
altogether. While at the same time half of the American labor force had to file for unemployment
for part of the last 16 months. Some only for a few weeks, others for the entire time.
And when you're unemployed you get a fraction of your pay, and so you have to dip into any
savings you have, and that means you can't earn interest on that money which makes the
inequality worse. It became urgent as we, in the United States, began to understand
that we are in a very serious decline, punctuated by rising inequality which reacts back upon and
worsens the decline. We are in a downward spiral that is felt in all the political strangeness,
the social and regional and racial animosities and divisions that keep deepening. Wow.
We are a society that needs what we try here to produce: an honest, critical evaluation
of a system that isn't working for most Americans anymore, and threatens to take us down with it.
And you know these programs, the production of Economic Update, is only possible because
you are a supportive audience. Help us grow for another 10 years. Consider especially
joining our monthly donors. Monthly donors are especially valuable because they allow us to plan,
and to organize this material better and better, to provide you
with the critique and the alternatives we see. Learn about the ways you can donate
at www.democracyatwork.info. And from all of us at Democracy at Work to all of you, thank you.