PERRspectives: Income Inequality and the Invisible Finger of the Market
"Income inequality is not a disease, but rather a symptom of a disease. For over four decades, the United States has suffered from an atrophying of the great American middle class. The decline of post-World War II American economic dominance, the rise of new international competitors, the withering (and the smothering) of trade unions and accelerating globalization with its seamless transnational flow of capital, investment and automated production are among the factors which have choked off the supply of large numbers of good paying jobs for working Americans. If you have any doubt about America's painful transition from a manufacturing powerhouse to a lower-wage service economy, look no further than the top employers in 1955 (GM, U.S. Steel, General Electric, Chrysler and Standard Oil of New Jersey) and now (Walmart, IBM, UPS, Target, Kroger)."
