Very long survey article... "I've been wondering how I wound up like this, and when I look around, I see a lot of people in the same situation. What happened?"
That's what millions of people are asking now as we collectively put a nail in the coffin of the first decade of the millennium.
Call it the Decade of Fear - fear of terrorism, fear of global warming, fear of unemployment, fear of economic collapse, fear of the H1N1 flu.
... At eight years and running since the United States invaded Afghanistan in response to the Sept. 11 attacks, the overseas assault on terror has lasted longer than World War II. It's been far less lethal than most other wars - the death toll of 5,000 is only one-tenth of the number of battlefield casualties in the Vietnam War. But experts say that is partly because armor and medical care are better.
As a side effect, veterans are coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan disabled and suffering post-traumatic stress in greater numbers than in any other war this country has fought.
... Statewide unemployment, at 12.3 percent, is the worst in 70 years. Add in the people who are underemployed and those who have given up looking, and the number leaps to 22.5 percent.
... According to the U.S. Census, median household income in America actually fell to $50,303 last year from $52,500 in 2000. The average chief executive officer, according to the Economic Policy Institute, makes about 262 times more than the average worker - compared with 143 times more in 2002, and 71 times more in 1989.
Shrinking middle class, the left calls it. The natural reward for those who work hardest, the right calls it.
Read more:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/19/MN121B4T7C.DTL&tsp=1
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
