More and more coverage of American inequality, but I’m curious about how it’s often framed as the disappearance, or decline of the middle class. This article paints an interesting picture of American middle class decline relative to its counterpart in other countries, and paints a picture of economic crisis fueling the relative decline of Americans below the top income percentiles. Stagnant wages (relative to corporate profits) and America’s lost grip on education superiority are mentioned, but the role of government in mediating income distribution is only hinted at. Is this a story of austerity, or economic restructuring, or both? How Americans respond to their growing sense of falling behind, and of their children inheriting lower economic possibilities, will be driven by how they see government’s role in this story.
Read:
The American Middle Class Is No Longer the World’s Richest – NYTimes.com.