![]() By 2015, 50 percent were middle-class, with growth occurring both at the upper and lower ends. ![]() Consider these changes: A report published by the Economic Policy Institute found that between 19 “the top 1 percent captured just 4.9 percent of all income growth over that period.” However, between 19 the trend dramatically reversed: “58.7 percent of all income growth concentrated in the hands of the top 1 percent of families.”Īccording to the Pew Research Center, “the hollowing of the American middle-class has proceeded steadily for more than four decades.” In 1971, 61 percent-a clear majority-of Americans were in the middle-class. Many young people find that the relative independence that membership in that class promises is simply beyond reach. The apparent alternative? Socialism.Īt the same time, the much-beleaguered middle class struggles. To end two of the greatest scourges of our day-racism and climate change-we must eradicate capitalism. ![]() Kendi puts the matter succinctly and with his characteristic antipathy to nuance: “Capitalism is essentially racist racism is essentially capitalist.” Climate journalist Paul Mason writes that “to save the planet, we have to end capitalism,” and unless we act swiftly, we face “global catastrophe.” The implications are clear. Public intellectuals give voice to rising concerns that capitalism is the root cause of some of our most persistent and seemingly intractable problems. The political agenda being pushed by Democrats in Congress and by the White House suggests, at the very least, a concerted effort to expand government programs, and in the process expand the lists of clients who find themselves increasingly dependent upon the largesse of the federal government. The same poll found that a majority of Democrats today have a positive view of socialism. When the same question was put to Americans in 1942, only 25 percent looked favorably on the socialist agenda. In a 2019 Gallup poll, 43 percent of Americans claimed that some form of socialism would be good for the country. ![]()
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