War on Workers Began in 1970s

A Real Movement of the 99%—

Don’t Look Down

William Spriggs

 

From 1946 through the 1970s, the incomes of Americans grew together. This, of course, does not mean everyone earned the same amount, but it did mean that if the economy grew, everyone’s income grew. That pattern allowed President John F. Kennedy to note in a 1963 speech that “a rising tide lifts all boats.” Since the 1970s, that has not been the case. A rising tide has lifted those at the top 1%, sunk those at the bottom and left the rest adrift in rough seas. President Kennedy used the speech to defend a project some felt was pork barrel politics.

Today, the claim that a growing economy benefits everyone is used to defend tax cuts to corporations—that send America's jobs overseas and shift their profits to tax haven countries—and the top 1%, like corporate CEOs who direct their corporations to borrow money to buy back the company stock to boost the CEO’s bonus for rising stock prices and their personal wealth in stock holdings.

Recent headlines have been dominated by Congressional Republican-led cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and unemployment insurance to longtime unemployed workers. Republicans believe this is a winning strategy because the path to the weird politics of their rise has been to convince those in the middle that it is the 20% at the bottom versus the 80% at the top. They have been reinforced by a prevailing notion that the growth in income inequality is the result of skills differences, with those industrious enough to study hard and get good education being rewarded and those too lazy to study being outpaced by advancing technology.

But the Great Recession affected highly educated and less educated workers. And the failure of young people to gain a foothold in the current job market makes clear that explanation of the world is not true. It certainly does not explain why the real growth in inequality is between the 99% and the 1%.