December 2005 | Hightower Lowdown
Boom Time for the Rich
By Jim Hightower
America is enjoying a “boom,” right? More wealth is being generated than ever before, productivity continues to rise, and profits are soaring. Yet, most Americans are asking themselves, “a boom for whom?”
Let’s run some numbers. Washington officials recently rejoiced that overall incomes in our country were up by nearly three percent in 2003, the last year for which such data has been analyzed. What they did not mention, though, was that nearly all of this economic happiness shone on the very richest Americans, and none fell on the vast majority of people.
In fact, one-fourth of all of America’s increase in income went to only 129,000 people — the top one-tenth of one percent of our population who are millionaires! The rest of that top one percent (those hauling in at least $327,000 a year) also did well, enjoying a four percent boost in their incomes.
The other 99 percent of us? We averaged less than a two-percent rise. Since inflation that year was 2.3 percent, this means that, rather than getting ahead, the average American fell behind, losing buying power.
Due to the Wal-Martization of our economy, middle-class jobs are disappearing … and so is the middle class. Today, only one-fourth of American workers have a “good-job,” which is defined as one paying at least $32,000 a year and providing both health care and a pension.
Yes, there’s a boom … but only for those at the top. As New York Times economics columnist Mark Stein wrote: “Among the world’s major economies, America’s disparity in incomes between the very top and everyone else is exceeded only by the gaps in Mexico and Russia.”
Is that the best we can do? Not only is such a gap an affront to our middle-class ideals — but it’s also dangerous. If the corporate elites persist in shutting out the majority from America’s boom, they are inviting some real booms to come their way.
Jim Hightower is the best-selling author of “Let’s Stop Beating Around the Bush,” from Viking Press. For more information, visit jimhightower.com.
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