Dear Commons Community,

Reuters is reporting that from 2010 to 2013, average income for U.S. families rose about 4 percent after accounting for inflation. All of the income growth was concentrated among the top earners with the top 3 percent accounting for 30.5 percent of all income.The disparity was even greater by wealth, with the top 3-percent holding 54.4 percent of all net worth in 2013, up from 51.8 percent in 2007 and 44.8 percent in 1989. As reported by Reuters:
 

“Sept 4 (Reuters) – The gap between the richest Americans and the rest of the nation widened after the Great Recession, a survey by the Federal Reserve showed on Thursday, suggesting deepening U.S. income inequality. Though incomes of the highest-earners rose, none of the groups analyzed by the Fed had regained their 2007 income levels by 2013, underscoring deep scars from the financial crisis and its aftermath. The data comes from a massive survey of consumer finances conducted by the Fed Board of Governors every three years. Many other studies have also shown the lasting effects of the recession and documented rising income disparity in the United States. The Fed survey released suggests that wealth and income is concentrated not just within the top 1 percent, as some analyzes have suggested, but actually among a slightly broader slice of the ultra-rich: the top 3 percent. From 2010 to 2013, average income for U.S. families rose about 4 percent after accounting for inflation, the survey showed. All of the income growth was concentrated among the top earners, the survey showed, with the top 3 percent accounting for 30.5 percent of all income. The disparity was even greater by wealth, with the top 3-percent holding 54.4 percent of all net worth in 2013, up from 51.8 percent in 2007 and 44.8 percent in 1989. Fed Chair Janet Yellen has called income inequality a disturbing trend, attributing some of it to the weak jobs market but also to underlying trends like technology and globalization. Overall for U.S. families, wealth stabilized from 2010 to 2013, after falling sharply during the prior three years. Fed economists attributed that pattern to the declines in home and business ownership during the recession, which stripped many families of their biggest sources of wealth. Families with income in the bottom half of those surveyed reduced their participation in retirement plans, continuing a trend seen from 2007 to 2010, but middle-income families increased their participation somewhat, the survey found. Still, overall participation rates were down from levels seen in 2007. Although wealth did not change much overall, many measures of debt decreased, the survey found, driven largely by declines in home ownership. On average, debt fell 13 percent.”

Income inequality is a travesty for American society and is crushing our political, economic, and social lives.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Yesterday was the first day of prekindergarten for more than 51,000 children across New York City. It was the start of a vast and ambitious expansion of prekindergarten in the City’s schools.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, elected on promises of fighting income inequality, trumpeted the expansion of prekindergarten as a crucial step in leveling the playing field among children and declared it his first priority. He pushed to expand the system, more than doubling it in eight months. As reported in the New York Times:

“On Thursday, all that planning sprang to life as tens of thousands of 4-year-olds poured into freshly painted classrooms adorned with letters and numbers.

“President Kennedy said, quote, ‘Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education,’ ” Mr. de Blasio said. “It’s as simple as that. Until we get education right, we can’t get the rest of the equation right. Today is a huge step forward for getting education right in this city.”

The city’s preschool program, which is by far the largest of its kind in the country, will be closely watched by educators, advocates and others who argue that quality public school programs for 4-year-olds are critical to improving the academic outcomes for children whose families cannot afford private alternatives.

And how the city’s program fares this year will be crucial for Mr. de Blasio, who plans to expand the program next year to 70,000 prekindergarten seats, enough for every 4-year-old in the city, and will need the support of lawmakers in Albany.”

Congratulations to Mr. de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina. This is real education reform and a breath of fresh air from the “test till you drop” policies of the last twelve years.

Tony