HAPPY NEW YEAR, AMERICAN DREAM

Sklar, H. (2006) THE GAZETTE/ 1/2/4A

Seventy percent of Americans believe that the American dream will become harder to obtain. Wages are lower by 11% than in peak 1973. CEO’s compensation is hundred times over in increases. The rich get richer and everyone else stagnates. Uprward intragenerational mobility has been flat since 1980.We have a new record of uninsured workers. Tax curs go to the rich. We are less competitive as we pay for outsourcing with our job loss and pay for imbalance of payments as cheap goods come in to the USA with our taxes... We are a nation of debtors.

Most countries in Europe and Scandinavia are healthier, wealthier per capita, and more literate in math and science. The USA has dropped from #1 to #5 in global technology. Money should be invested in research and development and in education. When a job goes overseas, so does the creativity. Why? Because innovations usually come from being near a production so that one can see how to improve it. Even in Friedman THE EARTH IS FLAT, this semi-apologist for globalization recognizes that complete open markets can literally hollow out the country. We end up with minimum wage service workers and the super rich.