My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth. Abraham Lincoln
Even in the mid nineteenth century, we were feeling like the American dream was in jeopardy as evidenced by Lincoln’s quote above. Today, however, the dream of a chicken in every pot or the dream of owning your own home is eluding more and more Americans at an alarming rate. The problem is definitely economic. Lisa Wirthman in her Denver Post article “Mind the Gap” reports that the richest 400 individuals in American have more wealth than the bottom 150 million individuals combined! She points out that the shrinking middle class is a problem for all of us, in large part because there are more of us. If the middle class folk continue to work longer hours that never net them higher wages or increased job opportunity, who will be spending? The middle class, she points out, are the real job creators. And even scarier, as we concentrate the wealth in the upper tail of the curve, we are also concentrating the power in the hands of the wealthiest Americans. So…we will be led like sheep to slaughter as the kingpins feather their nests.
Wirtham suggests some solutions:
- raise the minimum wage – this would impact 16.5 million people with a net loss of less than 500,000 workers and improve life by decreasing turnover and training expenses
- make child care more affordable so that 50% or more of a single mom’s salary doesn’t go to childcare before rent or food
- put money where it counts – K12 education and higher education: the greatest predictors of mobility are education and the ability to own a home. Many of us are leaving college with tens of thousands of dollars in debt from student loans…we won’t be homeowners any time soon.
The problem is huge, but the solutions are there. We need to wake up now and ban together to support bills that can and will help the masses. We outnumber them, but we are giving our power away with apathy!