Americans Facing More Inequality, More Debt & More Government Tyranny

Americans Facing More Inequality, More Debt & More Trouble?

Did America's record-high level of economic inequality in 2007 help cause the financial crisis of 2008? With Americans' borrowing back on the rise and signs that economic inequality is growing, could there be another financial crisis in the near future? Paul Solman continues his series of reports on U.S. economic inequality.

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Americans Facing More Inequality, More Debt and Now More Trouble?

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Study Shows Wealthy Feel Less Empathy: Identification with and understanding of another's situation, feelings, and motives.

In an academic article published in the August edition of Current Directions in Psychological Science, three researchers compiled studies done by themselves and others on the effects of income, and perceived class status, on thinking and behavior. Multiple studies demonstrate that upper-class individuals are more focused on their personal experience, and less on context, than their less fortunate counterparts. Upper-class individuals are also less likely to show empathy for others, and less likely to share resources, than those in the working-class.  GUEST: Dacher Keltner, Professor of Psychology at the University of California Berkeley, co-director of The Greater Good Science Center, and one of three authors of the article, “Social Class as Culture: The Convergence of Resources and Rank in the Social Realm”  uprisingradio.org

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Record number of Americans (45.8 million or or 15% of the population) get food aid: govt

A record 46 million Americans, or 15 percent of the population, have received government aid to buy food this year, according to data released by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).   - Yahoo! News

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How The Income Gap Plays Out For Rich And Poor

The gap between rich and poor has widened. Wealth is more and more concentrated among a select few, and those few are mostly white. The median wealth of white households is now 20 times that of black households, and 18 times that of Hispanic households, according to the Pew Research Center.  : NPR

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Recovering US job market is leaving black men behind

For them, the Great Recession not only led to the largest increase in unemployment for any category of American worker, but it also is pinching a lot longer. About 1 in 6 black men over age 20 in the labor force is jobless – and that number has barely improved since the economic recovery officially began two years ago.
In Detroit, Las Vegas, Milwaukee, Min­neap­olis-St. Paul, and several other US cities, Depression-era unemployment rates above 20 percent beset the black community, estimates one economic policy group, citing government data. Moreover, the problem may get worse because city governments, which traditionally employ many African-American men, are laying off workers to cope with budget shortfalls, say experts on black employment.   - CSMonitor.com

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Study Shows Racial Wealth Gap Grows Wider

There's long been a big gap between the wealth of white families and the wealth of African-Americans and Hispanics. But the Great Recession has made it much worse — the divide is almost twice what it used to be.
That's according to a new study by the Pew Research Center, which says that the decline in the housing market is the main cause.  : NPR

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