In his latest Baltimore Sun opinion column, political science professor Thomas Schaller suggests that persistent and growing dependence on federal subsidies like food stamps, unemployment insurance and Medicaid “implies that economic inequality is worsening” in the U.S., in contrast to “preposterous warnings about creeping socialism.” Schaller cites data indicating that between 2009 and 2011 overall household incomes grew by 14%, but while wealth rose by 21% for the wealthiest 13% of Americans, it actually declined for every other wealth category in the bottom 87%.
In time for Labor Day, the New Republic has highlighted another of Schaller’s Baltimore Sun columns, this one on the discrepancy between increases in U.S. worker productivity and flat-lined compensation.
Tags: CAHSS, PoliticalScience