[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [Marxism] Study Shows Income Gap Between Rich and Poor Keeps Growing, With Deadly Effects

[David Green]

   NY Times, Sept. 11, 2019
   Study Shows Income Gap Between Rich and Poor Keeps Growing, With Deadly
   Effects
   By Lola Fadulu

   WASHINGTON — The expanding gap between rich and poor is not only
   widening the gulf in incomes and wealth in America. It is helping the rich
   lead longer lives, while cutting short the lives of those who are
   struggling, according to a study released this week by the Government
   Accountability Office.

   Almost three-quarters of rich Americans who were in their 50s and 60s in
   1992 were still alive in 2014. Just over half of poor Americans in their
   50s and 60s in 1992 made it to 2014.

   “It’s not only that rich people are living longer but some people’s life
   expectancy is actually shrinking compared to their parents, for some groups
   of people,” said Kathleen Romig, a senior policy analyst at the liberal
   Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

   Income inequality has roiled American society and politics for years,
   animating the rise of Barack Obama out of the collapse of the financial
   system in 2008, energizing right-wing populism and the emergence of
   nationalist leaders like Donald J. Trump, and pushing the Democratic Party
   leftward. Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist who
   is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, commissioned the report
   from the Government Accountability Office, Congress’s independent watchdog,
   and seized on its findings.

   “Poverty is a life-threatening issue for millions of people in this
   country, and this report confirms it,” Mr. Sanders said in a statement.

   The Census Bureau reported on Tuesday that the poverty rate declined
   last year to 11.8 percent, the lowest level since 2001. But median
   household income was $63,200 in 2018, essentially unchanged from a year
   earlier, and income gains slowed last year from the increases posted in
   2015 and 2016.

   The accountability office’s study looked more broadly at the
   relationship between income, wealth and longevity — and how wealth and
   income are distributed among older Americans over time. It found that while
   more older Americans were living into their 70s and 80s, not everyone was
   living longer. Greater levels of income and wealth were associated with
   greater longevity.

   The report looked at the population of Americans born between 1931 and
   1941. Just 52 percent of that group who had incomes in the bottom 20
   percent of midcareer earnings were alive in 2014, compared with nearly 75
   percent of people in the top 20 percent. The study found similar results
   when zeroing in on accumulated wealth instead of annual income.

   The accountability office found that demographic characteristics were
   also associated with longevity. Women in the group tended to live longer
   than men: Almost 70 percent of women were living in 2014, compared with
   almost 60 percent of men.

   But, Ms. Romig noted, “the poorest 40 percent of women actually have
   lower life expectancies than their mothers did.”

   Non-Hispanic whites and Hispanics tended to live longer than blacks: 68
   percent of Hispanics and 65 percent of non-Hispanic whites lived to at
   least 2014, compared with 52 percent of non-Hispanic blacks.

   Advocates have long pointed to racism in the health care system, for
   example, as a culprit for the high black maternal mortality rate.

   Of the group born between 1931 and 1941, 75 percent who graduated from
   college were alive in 2014, compared with 65 percent of those who graduated
   from high school and 50 percent of those who had less than a high school
   diploma or an equivalency diploma.

   This is in part because people with a college education generally have
   higher incomes and wealth accumulation than those who did not attend
   college.

   “We don’t want groups of people moving backward,” Ms. Romig said,
   adding: “We don’t just want some people to be healthier and longer lived;
   we want everyone to equally share in these gains.”

   The study notes that a significant portion of the original group was
   alive in 2014. “Taken all together,” it said, “individuals may live a long
   time, even individuals with factors associated with lower longevity, such
   as low income or education.”

   But even though Americans may live a long time, they are struggling. The
   portion of Americans aged 55 or older who are still working increased from
   30 percent in 1989 to 40 percent in 2018, in part because stagnating wages
   are hindering savings and wealth accumulation.

   When older Americans do finally retire, most are depending on Social
   Security and other safety net programs. This is alarming because Social
   Security is “facing financial difficulties that, if not addressed, will
   affect its long-term stability,” the study said.

   “If no changes are made, current projections indicate that by 2034, the
   retirement program trust fund will only be sufficient to pay 77 percent of
   scheduled benefits,” the study said.

   That finding could help conservatives resurrect efforts to overhaul
   Social Security — and cut the growth of benefits for some. Rachel Greszler,
   a research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said Social
   Security needed “immediate reforms.” She suggested that policymakers “bring
   benefits up and maintain them for lower-income individuals” while “reducing
   benefits for upper-income earners who don’t need it as much and have
   retirement accounts they can rely on.”

   Presidential candidates, including Mr. Sanders, are not likely to
   embrace that conclusion, but they will press the issue of growing
   inequality.

   “We must put an end to the obscene income and wealth inequality in our
   country, and ensure living wages, quality health care and retirement
   security for our seniors as human rights,” Mr. Sanders said.

   “If we do not urgently act to solve the economic distress of millions of
   Americans,” he added, “a whole generation will be condemned to early death.”


On Wed, Sep 11, 2019 at 1:20 PM C. G. Estabrook via Peace-discuss <
peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote:

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