There is something out of whack in America. Instead of promoting equality, public policy has left millions locked into lives of restricted opportunity while bestowing the benefits of growth on the very few.
We know this and yet we let it continue. On Sept. 18, the Federal Reserve announced what sounded like good news: in the United States,
“the net worth of households and nonprofits rose by $1.4 trillion to $81.5 trillion during the second quarter of 2014. The value of directly and indirectly held corporate equities increased $1.0 trillion and the value of real estate expanded $230 billion.”
Taking a somewhat longer view, the Fed reported that since 2000, household wealth in the United States has grown by $37 trillion — from $44.45 trillion to $81.49 trillion at the end of the second quarter of this year, but these spectacular gains in wealth are mostly benefiting upper-income Americans.
[For more of this story, written by Thomas B. Edsall, go to http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09...mp;assetType=opinion]
Comments (0)