"Income chasm widening in state; Only the top earners gaining, study finds" by Robert Gavin, Globe Staff | August 15, 2008
The gap between rich and poor has widened substantially in Massachusetts over the past two decades, according to a new study by the University of Massachusetts. Only those earning the highest incomes benefited from gains in technology, productivity, and globalization, while middle-class earnings stagnated and incomes for poor families plunged 15 percent.
The poorer have gotten poorer, in part, because of profound changes in the economy. Foreign competition and automation, for example, have eroded manufacturing jobs in Massachusetts, which have fallen by about half since the late 1980s. That has closed a path to middle-class wages for many less educated and less skilled workers, and left them with low-paying service jobs.
These workers, in turn, must compete with a vast pool of low-skilled workers, which holds down wages.
How much you wanna bet the words ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS don't come up in this piece?
Hey, why would it, right?
It is an elite corporate War Daily we are talking here!
Also see: The Economic Untouchables
The Boston Globe Worships the Wealthy Elite
Only U.S. Elite Need Apply
Meanwhile, those with skills and education can command premium pay as companies compete to hire them. In Massachusetts, growing biotechnology, technology, and financial services sectors are competing for highly skilled workers, often in short supply, and paying high salaries to get them. The result is not only a wider gap between rich and poor, but additional pressure on those at the bottom. As highly paid, highly skilled workers spend, prices can rise across the board, putting most of the squeeze on lower-income groups.
Great economy, huh? All for ONE CLASS!!!!
One example is Boston's housing market. The combination of tight supply and high incomes has made it one of the nation's costliest, even in a downturn.
Annette Jones, 60, of Dorchester, earns $25,000 a year as a receptionist, but had to pay more than $1,500 a month to get an apartment big enough for her and two children. Her 18-year-old daughter is autistic and receives disability payments, which helps Jones make ends meet.
Trillions for wars, billions for banks, billions for Israel, taxpayer $$$ for illegals, rich Hollywood folk, Wall Street, corporations, favored clients and BANK, but NOTHING for YOU, Americans!
But that's getting harder to do, Jones said. A divorced single mother, she has not had a raise for several years, but costs keep rising. She's squeezed her food budget by buying in bulk, has cut out roller skating trips with her children, and expects another winter with the thermostat set no higher than 65 degrees.
How come the ILLEGALS get aid, but AMERICANS DON'T?
While the rich LUXURIATE above it all!!!
Making things even tougher, her employer recently changed its health plan, and Jones's out-of-pocket expenses for medication have risen to as much as $300 per month, from $60.
Are they pooching her in the butt, too?
"Everything is going up except my paycheck," she said. "I'm always robbing Peter to pay Paul."
Hey, same as this debt-ridden state government!
While many economists have raised concerns about income inequality in recent years, others say studies such as UMass's fail to account for an important component of the US economy: mobility. In other words, a family at the bottom of the income scale in 1979 could have moved to the top by 2006 as wage-earners improved skills and education and found higher-paying jobs.
FUCK YOU and your FUCKING PROPAGANDA, richers!!
Did an exercise at school once that pretty much debunked that shit.
Yes, some get lucky and escape their class, but most don't.
In addition, income is not necessarily the best way to measure economic well-being, said David Tuerck, executive director of the Beacon Hill Institute, a think tank at Suffolk University.
"What really matters is expenditures, what a household can and does spend," Tuerck said. "If Bill Gates's income goes to zero, he could still live a pretty good lifestyle spending his billions."
Oh, this guy is something else!
What if WE DON'T HAVE BILLIONS in the BANK, jerk?
This whole philosophy right here is a SHIT-EATING INSULT to you, 'murkn!!!!
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