America divided – this concept increasingly graces political discourse in the U.S., pitting left against right, conservative thought against the liberal agenda. But for decades, Americans have been rearranging along another divide, one just as stark if not far more significant – a chasm once bridged by a flourishing middle class.
Peter Temin, Professor Emeritus of Economics at MIT, believes the ongoing death of “middle America” has sparked the emergence of two countries within one, the hallmark of developing nations. In his new book, The Vanishing Middle Class: Prejudice and Power in a Dual Economy, Temin paints a bleak picture where one country has a bounty of resources and power, and the other toils day after day with minimal access to the long-coveted American dream.
In his view, the United States is shifting toward an economic and political makeup more similar to developing nations than the wealthy, economically stable nation it has long been. Temin applied W. Arthur Lewis’s economic model – designed to understand the workings of developing countries – to the United States in an effort to document how inequality has grown in America.
The 2017 World Economic Forum had the answer: "The people who have not benefited from globalization need to try harder to emulate those who have succeeded," and, "'People have to take more ownership of upgrading themselves on a continuous basis.'"
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 23 2017, @04:30PM (3 children)
Just because you have life goals doesn't mean we should let you fulfill all of them. If your goals are mutually exclusive with the happiness of millions of your peers, then your goals are morally flawed and I would have no problem with forcing you to relinquish them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 23 2017, @06:23PM (2 children)
I won't be happy until you are dead.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 24 2017, @07:48AM (1 child)
How unfortunate for you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 25 2017, @12:54AM
It is, but inshallah we will prevail, and you the kaffir will yield or die.