...the standoff in Wisconsin between the governor and the unions.
Since the teachers agreed last Friday to contribute more to their health care and retirement benefits, this has to be about more than just budgetary issues. I think President Obama is right; it feels like an assault on unions. (And, by extension, the middle class.)
And that would fit right in with the Republican Party's tendency in the last thirty years to redistribute wealth up.
The chart above is from the current issue of Mother Jones:
A huge share of the nation's economic growth over the past 30 years has gone to the top one-hundredth of one percent, who now make an average of $27 million per household. The average income for the bottom 90 percent of us? $31,244.
Now let's be clear about one thing: my family and I are very comfortable. This isn't about class warfare. (Heck, I can't even imagine being in the top 1% -- what do people do with all that money?)
And this isn't about the moral dimension of such inequality. (I'll leave that to others.)
No, what concerns me most is the practical consequences of such a society. I can't believe a nation's future can be bright if its citizens don't benefit from the system. (See: Egypt.) Do I have the answer? Of course not. But it looks to me like we're on the wrong track as a country, and busting the unions just doesn't strike me as the way out.
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