Gilded America
June 19, 2008
Steve Fraser with Bill Moyers
From Bill Moyers’ Journal at PBS:
The BBC reported startling economic equality figures in a recent documentary: the top 200 wealthiest people in the world control more wealth than the bottom 4 billion. But what is more striking to many is a close look at the economic inequality in the homeland of the “American Dream.” The United States is the most economically stratified society in the western world. As THE WALL STREET JOURNAL reported, a recent study found that the top .01% or 14,000 American families hold 22.2% of wealth - the bottom 90%, or over 133 million families, just 4% of the nation’s wealth.
Additional studies narrow the focus: This from the Pew Foundation and THE NEW YORK TIMES: “The chance that children of the poor or middle class will climb up the income ladder, has not changed significantly over the last three decades. “This from THE ECONOMIST’S special report, “Inequality in America:” “The fruits of productivity gains have been skewed towards the highest earners, and towards companies, whose profits have reached record levels as a share of GDP.”
This trend, among others, has some historians and cultural commentators comparing our era to that of the late 19th century Gilded Age. Bill Moyers guest Steve Fraser notes its hallmarks: crony capitalism, extreme inequalities in wealth and income, ostentatious spending and wage depression. Mark Twain is responsible for naming the period between Reconstruction and Roosevelt, ‘The Gilded Age.’ As THE OXFORD COMPANION TO UNITED STATES HISTORY notes, it is the only period to be commonly known by a pejorative name.
Women in a Difficult Economy, Heidi Harmann
[...] Gilded America By hysperia But what is more striking to many is a close look at the economic inequality in the homeland of the ?American Dream.? The United States is the most economically stratified society in the western world. As THE WALL STREET JOURNAL … mirabile dictu - http://alterwords.wordpress.com [...]