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The "quiet catastrophe" is particularly dismaying because it is so quiet, without social turmoil or even debate. It is this: After 88 consecutive months of the economic expansion that began in June 2009, a smaller percentage of American males in the prime working years (ages 25 to 54) are working than were working near the end of the Great Depression in 1940, when the unemployment rate was above 14 percent. If the labor-force participation rate were as high today as it was as recently as 2000, nearly 10 million more Americans would have jobs.
The work rate for adult men has plunged 13 percentage points in a half-century. This "work deficit" of "Great Depression-scale underutilization" of male potential workers is the subject of Nicholas Eberstadt's new monograph "Men Without Work: America's Invisible Crisis," which explores the economic and moral causes and consequences of this:
Is it an aberration, or a harbinger of things to come?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 09 2016, @05:16AM
increase the top bracket tax rate to something north of 50% on income tax
The Billionaires' Tax was cut and cut and cut (ultimately to 25 percent) preceding the Crash of 1929.
When the country was regaining its footing (FDR) and through Truman and Ike (AKA "Happy Days"), the rate was indeed over 90 percent. [archive.li]
As you note, in the JFK years, it dropped "all the way down" to 70 percent.
So, yeah. We have a model that works.
[and on] capital gains
Get your name on the ballot.
I'll vote for you.
...and I wonder if it's too late for any of this without The Ownership Class all dying.
...and getting a brand new Constitution.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by Francis on Sunday October 09 2016, @02:19PM
The first step here is getting campaign finance reform. I'm not sure if we need to ban all private funds from campaigns or if it would be sufficient to ban people and companies from running ads on behalf of candidates.
But, in either case, cutting out the disproportionate influence that the wealthy have on the process would go along ways towards correcting these things. People like Hillary take large amounts of money from special interests and then turn around and claim that they aren't being influenced by it. I'm not personally buying it. But, if somebody would like to give me $100m to see if that changes my opinion, I'd be more than happy to take them up on the offer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 09 2016, @07:34PM
The first step here is getting campaign finance reform
Amen.
Responding to the "Money is not speech and corporations are not people" notion for a constitutional amendment, Ralph Nader (a VERY smart guy) says it's much simpler than that:
All public elections should be publicly funded.
It's so obvious when you think about it for a moment.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]