Recently,
a team of economists led by Harvard's Raj Chetty released a report claiming
that upward economic mobility in America has not really declined in the last 30 years. Robert Kuttner,
writing in the Mar/Apr issue of The American Prospect, and James
Surowiecki, writing in the Mar 3, 2014 issue of The New Yorker both
commented on this report. Kuttner
and Surowiecki both make the same
point: Yes, mobility has not
declined much in the last 30 years---because by 30 years ago it was already
nearly zero. In fact, although
there was considerable mobility in the late nineteenth century, by WWI most
people were destined to die in the same class they were born in. But until about 1973, this was no cause
for alarm. In order to improve your condition, you need not escape the class
you were born in if the standard of living of
your whole class is rapidly rising.
With the rise of labor unions in the 30s and 40s, and the GI Bill after WWII, the American
worker gained a higher income, more access to education, and more income
security than his parents had ever dreamed of---and he did it mostly without
leaving the class he was born in.
You do not need to change busses to get to where you wish to go, if the
bus you are on is already taking you there.
But
since about 1973, real wages in America have been stagnant or
falling. In the post-war era up
until 1973, there were huge gains
in productivity, and this productivity gain was always shared with the workers whose sweat and genius made it
possible. But since that time,
there has been a ruthless war against the middle class. The elites---Organized Money is a better term---began
breaking unions, and taking over media outlets and pouring money into political
campaigns, with the aim of electing anti-union, right-wing puppets who would
pass anti-union legislation, appoint anti-union, right-wing judges and sign
trade treaties allowing corporations to sidestep American labor standards by
transferring production to low wage countries. (Just the threat of such a transfer allows corporations to
extort drastic wage concessions, whether the plant is moved or not.) As a result, the good, middle-class job
is becoming a thing of the past.
There are very few decent employment prospects left in manufacturing,
mining, or agriculture in the U.S. today.
When you kill the bottom of the food chain, you kill the whole
ecosystem. And historically, good
union jobs in these sectors were the foundation of the "food chain"
that sustained the whole middle class.
There
have been massive productivity gains since 1973, but none of it has been shared
with labor. If it had been, the
U.S. median household income level would be about $82,000 per year, and not
$42,000. At that wage, the class
mobility question would become moot.
With a median household income of $82,000, most people would have a livable wage where they're at.
