Inequality: The Defining Issue of Our Time
Imagine you are walking through the suburbs in 1970.
The neighborhood includes the families of bankers, lawyers, and factory workers. The houses are sturdy, spaced apart, and affordable with only one income.
At the local public school, the CEO’s son and the union member’s son play football together. Their families sit next to each other in the stands every Friday night. A few years later, when the blue-collar worker’s son needs a job, the CEO might offer him a handsome apprenticeship.
And if the working-class kid decides to get a college degree, he can do so without plunging himself into decades of debt. As he enters adulthood, he can reasonably imagine doing better than his parents.
How Times Have Changed
Although there were gaps in wealth and opportunity in 1970s America, the prosperity of the working class and the elite class were at least intertwined. The CEO earned roughly 20 to 30 times more than his average worker, but wages kept pace with labor productivity.
Fast forward from 1980 to today: Real wages remained stagnant while the fortunes of the top 0.01% ballooned. Union membership plummeted. Poverty has sprawled out…
