By the Numbers: The Incredibly Shrinking American Middle Class | Smart Charts, What Matters Today | BillMoyers.com
Go to the site and scroll down to read some of the statistics and look at the graphs. Do your eyes glaze over before you get to the end? Too bad because the information is really sobering. The middle class is getting poorer.
Something that really stands out to me is that the United States is the ONLY industrialized country that does not mandate paid maternity leave. France and Germany, on the other hand, offer approx. 100 days. Why do you think the U.S. differs so much from other industrialized countries on issues such as maternity leave and health care?
ReplyDeleteThe health industry here has been liberalized, to a greater extent which makes it costly for the government to do much about maternity leaves. Feel free to correct me, I haven't read much on health systems in other countries.
ReplyDeleteNice example of a fundamental flaw of American capitalism, wherein matters of rewards and productivity lead to a trade off between efficiency and equality
ReplyDeleteSomething that really stood out to me was the average number of hours US workers put in compared to Norwegians and French was a lot higher. After living in both Australia and Pakistan, I always felt that in USA you have to work a lot harder to maintain the same standard of living that you could attain in Australia or Pakistan by putting in fewer hours.
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ReplyDeleteThe thing that stood out to me was the poverty rate from 2009 - 2012 was 15 for the first time in about 50 years.. Its interesting to think if this has anything to do with the recession and the raise in unemployment during these years.
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