The first decade of the 21st century has been an ominous harbinger for the American worker.
Children and adults in poverty, the working poor, and the working class are increasing; the middle-class is eroding; and the pooling of capital among the 1% is expanding, forming the anchor stalling the progress of the USS Democracy.
In The State of Working America (12th ed), Mishel, Bivens, Gould, and Shierholz identify the disturbing trends that signal the approaching death of the American worker:
America’s vast middle class has suffered a ‘lost decade’ and faces the threat of another (p. 5)....Income and wage inequality have risen sharply over the last 30 years (p. 6)....Rising inequality is the major cause of wage stagnation for workers and of the failure of low- and middle-income families to appropriately benefit from growth (p. 6)....Economic policies caused increased inequality of
