Too Much Stuff by Kozo Yamamura

Author:Kozo Yamamura [Yamamura, Kozo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781447335672
Publisher: Policy Press

Conclusion

The American economy remains sluggish in 2016. Although the economic growth rate exceeded 2 percent in some quarters and stock prices and the profits of many firms are rising, the benefits are not trickling down to a large majority of the population. The respected Pew Research Institute, in its survey made in January 2015, found that 55 percent of Americans saw their real income “falling behind,” while 37 percent found their real income “just keeping up with the rising cost of living.” Median household real income was $53,013 in 2014, which was 7 percent below the pre-recession peak of $56,436 in 1999. Even near the end of 2015, almost 7 million fewer people were employed than when the Great Recession began in 2008. Moreover, some 40 percent of the newly created jobs in 2015 were lower-paying jobs in the service and other industries, and up to 15.8 percent of the young, aged between 18 and 29, were still underemployed in the early months of 2016.11

Put simply, the post-1980 economic stagnation continues, with all of its grave social and economic consequences, and there is no sign of the political gridlock abating, as is starkly evidenced in the 2016 campaigns by the candidates for the presidency. It is time for Americans to realize that they live in a new world and to make the necessary systemic change in their capitalism that will enable them to make much more investment to meet societal needs, which is the only way to reinvigorate their economy and democracy.

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