{"id":39894,"date":"2025-07-12T11:15:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T11:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=39894"},"modified":"2025-07-13T05:30:41","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T05:30:41","slug":"inequality-has-risen-from-1970-to-trump-%e2%88%92-that-has-3-hidden-costs-that-undermine-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/inequality-has-risen-from-1970-to-trump-%e2%88%92-that-has-3-hidden-costs-that-undermine-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Inequality has risen from 1970 to Trump \u2212 that has 3 hidden costs that undermine democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nathan Meyers<\/a>, UMass Amherst<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

America has never been richer<\/a>. But the gains are so lopsided<\/a> that the top 10% controls 69% of all wealth in the country, while the bottom half controls just 3%. Meanwhile, surging corporate profits<\/a> have mostly benefited investors, not the broader public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This divide is expected to widen after President Donald Trump\u2019s sweeping new spending bill<\/a> drastically cuts Medicaid and food aid<\/a>, programs that stabilize<\/a> the economy and subsidize low-wage employers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, the tax cuts<\/a> at the heart of the bill will deliver tens of billions of dollars in benefits to the wealthiest households while disproportionately burdening<\/a> low-income households<\/a>, according to analyses by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office<\/a> and Joint Committee on Taxation<\/a>. By 2033, the bottom 20% will pay more in taxes while the top 0.1% receive $43 billion in cuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am a sociologist<\/a> who studies economic inequality<\/a>, and my research demonstrates that the class-based inequalities<\/a> exacerbated by the Trump bill are not new. Rather, they are part of a 50-year trend<\/a> linked to social cleavages, political corruption and a declining belief in the common good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The roots of class-based inequality<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The decades following World War II were broadly prosperous, but conditions began changing in the 1970s. Class inequality has increased enormously since then, according to government data<\/a>, while income inequality<\/a> has risen for five decades at the expense of workers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economists usually gauge a country\u2019s economic health by looking at its gross domestic product as measured<\/a> through total spending<\/a> on everything from groceries to patents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But another way to view GDP is by looking at whether the money goes to workers or business owners. This second method \u2013 the income approach<\/a> \u2013 offers a clearer picture of who really benefits from economic growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The money that goes to labor\u2019s share of GDP, or workers, is represented by employee compensation<\/a>, including wages, salaries and benefits. The money left over for businesses after paying for work and materials is called gross operating surplus<\/a>, or business surplus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The share of GDP going to workers rose 12% from 1947 to 1970, then fell 14% between 1970 and 2023. The opposite happened with the business surplus, falling 18% in the early postwar decades before jumping 34% from 1970 to today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n