Socialism for Today: Introduction + Capitalism chapters

Explain how pay has declined in the United States since the 1970s.

• Stagnation of the real wage: during the 1970s, the “real wage” (the purchasing power of the average pay of workers) stagnated, declining for the next fifteen years through the early 1990s.

  • By 1993, the real wage had fallen 16.3% below its 1972 peak

  • It did not reach the 1972 level until 2019 — 47 years later.

Elaborate on rising income inequality since the 1970s.

Although the economy has generated more goods and services since the 1970s, most people didn’t get a share of that increase.

• 1979-2019:

  • Income of bottom 80% of families fell from 59-50%

    • Share of top 5% income rose from 15%-22%

    • Share of top 1% income rose from 10.9%-19.1%

    • CEO pay in large corporation vs. average worker pay: 20 to 1 (1965) to 366 to 1 (2020)

• 35% of American families with TWO full-time workers do not earn enough income to cover basic needs (housing, food, medical care, transport, childcare, minimal household expenses)

  • 52% for Black families

  • 59% for Hispanic families

  • 44% for immigrants

Explain the economic insecurity of being a college teacher in the United States today in one statistic.

About 75% of college teachers in the U.S. today have temporary or part-time positions providing little to no job security, up from about half in 1987

What has been the biggest consequence of rising housing prices for U.S. households?

Many households have had to spend more than the recommended maximum of 30% of their income on housing.

• Some have devoted more than 50% of their income to housing.

Explain some of the major disadvantages of a for-profit healthcare system.

• Despite the expansion of government healthcare problems, in 2022, 24 million people remained uninsured.

• Benefits denial specialists: health insurance companies employ people whose job is to find a way to avoid paying for the person’s treatment

  • Even those with health insurance can find out too late that their insurance policy excludes treatments that are necessary and costly

Explain the skyrocketing cost of education in the United States.

• From 1980-2021, the cost of higher education tripled (rising FASTER THAN INFLATION), going from $8K in a four-year public college to $23K

  • From state funds to student debt: previously, the cost of a public college education was financed primarily out of state funds. But over time students have had to finance it largely themselves, leading to mushrooming student debt

Explain the rise in racial inequality after 1980

• Increased public sector jobs for POC: Due in part to the advances of the Civil Rights Movement, many Black women began obtaining good public sector jobs, while Black men got well-paying jobs in the public sector AND industry.

  • However, the:

    • Cutting back of public sector employment

    • Movement of industry out of industrial cities…

      • …disproportionately affected Black workers

• Decrease of employment/public sector — prison pipeline: In the 2000s, employment in manufacturing declined sharply while industrial/public sector jobs shrank. As a result, imprisonment replaced employment for growing numbers of Black people.