{"id":803,"date":"2014-03-11T00:04:54","date_gmt":"2014-03-11T00:04:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.coolsociology.net\/SOAN324WP\/?p=803"},"modified":"2014-07-13T05:36:00","modified_gmt":"2014-07-13T05:36:00","slug":"mind-the-gap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mcguire-spickard.com\/SOAN324WP\/?p=803","title":{"rendered":"Mind The Gap"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mind The Gap<\/a><\/p>\n

My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth. \u00a0Abraham Lincoln<\/em><\/p>\n

Even in the mid nineteenth century, we were feeling like the American dream was in jeopardy as evidenced by Lincoln’s quote above. \u00a0Today, 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. \u00a0The problem is definitely economic. \u00a0 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! \u00a0 \u00a0She points out that the shrinking middle class is a problem for all of us, in large part because there are more of us. \u00a0If the middle class folk continue to work longer hours that never net them higher wages or increased job opportunity, who will be spending? \u00a0The middle class, she points out, are the real job creators. \u00a0And 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. \u00a0So…we will be led like sheep to slaughter as the kingpins feather their nests.<\/p>\n

Wirtham suggests some solutions:<\/p>\n