How To Reduce Poverty In The United States
Reducing U.S. Poverty Rates: How Organized Labor Can Help
Intro
The current wealth inequality and continuing rise in poverty rates within the United States has troubling implications for a country that prides itself on being the “land of opportunity.” In recent years, wealth inequality has soared, reaching historic heights that are higher than any other developed Western country and rival those on the eve of The Great Depression (Fischer et al. 1996, Saez 2008). The top one percent of Americans owns 42 percent of the nation’s financial wealth while the bottom 80 percent of Americans own only five percent of the nation’s wealth (Domhoff 2010). The income of the top one percent has nearly tripled in the last 30 years while those at the bottom …show more content…
2013. Fast Food, Poverty Wages: The Public Cost of Low Wage Jobs in the Fast-Food Industry. UC Berkely Center for Labor Research and Education and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Retrieved December 10, 2013. (http://fastfoodforward.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Cost-Fast-Food-Report-FINAL.pdf).
Bureau of Labor Statistics. Union Members Summary. United States Department of Labor. Washington, DC. Retrieved December 9, 2013.
Chapman, Jeff and Jeff Thompson. 2006. The Economic Impacts of Local Living Wages. Economic Policy Institute. Washington, DC: EPI. Retrieved December 3, 2013. (http://www.epi.org/publication/bp170/).
Domhoff, G. William. 2002. Who Rules America? Power and Politics. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies.
Domhoff, G. William. 2010. Wealth, Income, and Power. Retrieved December 8, 2013. (http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html).
Ehenreich, Barbara. “Nickel and Dimed.” Harper’s Magazine, January 1999, pp. …show more content…
Wright. 1956. The Power Elite. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Newman, Katharine S. and Victor Tan Chen. 2007. The Missing Class: Portraits of the Near Poor in America. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Rosenfeld, Jake. 2010. “Little Labor: How Union Decline is Changing the American Landscape.” Pathways:3-6.
Saez, Emmanuel. 2008. “Striking It Richer,” Pathways:5-7.
Schmitt and Jones. 2012. Where Have All the Good Jobs Gone? Center for Economic and Policy Research. Washington, DC: CEPR. Retrieved December 6, 2013. (http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/good-jobs-2012-07.pdf)
Schmitt and Jones. 2013. Slow Progress for Fast-Food Workers. Center for Economic and Policy Research. Washington, DC: CEPR. Retrieved December 6, 2013. (http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/fast-food-workers-2013-08.pdf).
Western, Bruce. 2001. “Incarceration, Unemployment, and Inequality.” Focus (21):32-36.
Wilson, William Julius. 1999. “Jobless Poverty: A New Form of Social Dislocation in the Inner-City Ghetto.” in A Nation Divided: Diversity, Inequality, and Community in American Society, edited by Phyllis Moen, Donna Dempster-McClain, and Henry A. Walker. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University
Intro
The current wealth inequality and continuing rise in poverty rates within the United States has troubling implications for a country that prides itself on being the “land of opportunity.” In recent years, wealth inequality has soared, reaching historic heights that are higher than any other developed Western country and rival those on the eve of The Great Depression (Fischer et al. 1996, Saez 2008). The top one percent of Americans owns 42 percent of the nation’s financial wealth while the bottom 80 percent of Americans own only five percent of the nation’s wealth (Domhoff 2010). The income of the top one percent has nearly tripled in the last 30 years while those at the bottom …show more content…
2013. Fast Food, Poverty Wages: The Public Cost of Low Wage Jobs in the Fast-Food Industry. UC Berkely Center for Labor Research and Education and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Retrieved December 10, 2013. (http://fastfoodforward.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Cost-Fast-Food-Report-FINAL.pdf).
Bureau of Labor Statistics. Union Members Summary. United States Department of Labor. Washington, DC. Retrieved December 9, 2013.
Chapman, Jeff and Jeff Thompson. 2006. The Economic Impacts of Local Living Wages. Economic Policy Institute. Washington, DC: EPI. Retrieved December 3, 2013. (http://www.epi.org/publication/bp170/).
Domhoff, G. William. 2002. Who Rules America? Power and Politics. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies.
Domhoff, G. William. 2010. Wealth, Income, and Power. Retrieved December 8, 2013. (http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html).
Ehenreich, Barbara. “Nickel and Dimed.” Harper’s Magazine, January 1999, pp. …show more content…
Wright. 1956. The Power Elite. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Newman, Katharine S. and Victor Tan Chen. 2007. The Missing Class: Portraits of the Near Poor in America. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Rosenfeld, Jake. 2010. “Little Labor: How Union Decline is Changing the American Landscape.” Pathways:3-6.
Saez, Emmanuel. 2008. “Striking It Richer,” Pathways:5-7.
Schmitt and Jones. 2012. Where Have All the Good Jobs Gone? Center for Economic and Policy Research. Washington, DC: CEPR. Retrieved December 6, 2013. (http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/good-jobs-2012-07.pdf)
Schmitt and Jones. 2013. Slow Progress for Fast-Food Workers. Center for Economic and Policy Research. Washington, DC: CEPR. Retrieved December 6, 2013. (http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/fast-food-workers-2013-08.pdf).
Western, Bruce. 2001. “Incarceration, Unemployment, and Inequality.” Focus (21):32-36.
Wilson, William Julius. 1999. “Jobless Poverty: A New Form of Social Dislocation in the Inner-City Ghetto.” in A Nation Divided: Diversity, Inequality, and Community in American Society, edited by Phyllis Moen, Donna Dempster-McClain, and Henry A. Walker. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University