About 3.5 million people, about one-third of which are children, are homeless at some point in the year in the US. Source: National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty.
One or two generations ago it was possible for a middle class family to live on one income. Now it takes two incomes to try to enjoy the same quality of life. Wages have not kept up with inflation; adjusted for inflation, families have lost ground over the past ten years. The cost of basics like housing, education and health care have all increased at a much higher rate than wages and salaries. In 1967, the middle 60% of households received over 52% of all income. In 1998, it was down to 47%. The share going to the poor has also fallen, with the top 20% seeing their share rise. And for the top half of one percent, there has been a stellar rise.
A record 2.8 million homes received a foreclosure notice in 2009, higher than both 2008 and 2007. In 2011, that downfall is expected to rise to well over 3 million homes. Sources: Reuters and RealtyTrac.
Eleven million homeowners (about one in four homeowners) in the US are "under water" or owe more on their mortgages than their house is worth. Source: "Home truths," The Economist, October 23, 2010.
For the first time since the 1940s, the real incomes of middle-class families are lower at the end of the business cycle (of the 2000s) than they were at the beginning. Despite the fact that the American workforce is working harder, smarter and more efficiently than ever before, they are sharing ever less of the benefits that they are creating. In other words, they are being robbed. This is true for white families but especially true for African American families whose gains in the 1990s have mostly been eliminated since then. Source: Jared Bernstein and Heidi Shierholz, State of Working America.
The US has the greatest inequality between rich and poor among all Western industrialized nations and it has been getting worse for 40 years. The World Factbook, published by the CIA, includes an international ranking of the inequality among families inside of each country, called the Gini Index. The US Gini index ranking of 45 in 2007 is the same as that of Argentina, Cameroon, and Cote d'Ivorie. The highest inequality can be found in countries like Namibia, South Africa, Haiti and Guatemala. The US Gini ranking of 45 compares poorly to Japan (38), India (36), New Zealand, UK (34), Greece (33), Spain (32), Canada (32), France (32), South Korea (31), Netherlands (30), Ireland (30), Australia (30), Germany (27), Norway (25), and Sweden (23). Source: CIA The World Factbook:
Thomas Jefferson once observed that the systematic restructuring of society to benefit the rich over the poor and middle class is a natural appetite of the rich. "Experience declares that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, and I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor." But Jefferson also knew that justice can only be delayed so long and expressed as much when he said, "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that his justice cannot sleep forever."
The rich talk about "the rise of socialism" in order to divert attention from the fact that they are absolutely devouring the basics of the poor and everyone else! Many of those crying socialism the loudest (Beck and Limbaugh) are doing it only to enrich or empower themselves. But they are right about one thing: there is a class war going on in the US. It's just that they will of course never admit that the rich are winning this class war hands down, as people like Warren Buffet do admit.
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