Fast Facts

Over the last 25-30 years, the American economy has changed dramatically, especially in the way goods and services are produced and in the way this production and marketing system is owned and controlled. The changes have been great for the corporations, and devastatingly bad for workers.

Through a process of:

Investing profits made at home and investing overseas, corporations have reduced labor costs, while raising prices and maximizing profits.
Production here has become more and more decentralized, with smaller plants, and many contractors and subcontractors making parts or providing services and information, all separate from the finished product or service
Technological change has been revolutionary. Robotics, digital communication, and high speed, high power computer networks have redefined engineering, production, and customer service
Deregulation, allowing corporations more freedom than ever to create competition and cause further consolidation with little public oversight

. . . standards of living, wages, and access to health care and retirement benefits have declined substantially for millions of American workers. In fact, millions of high-paid, secure jobs have been abolished and replaced with lower wage, less secure ones.

So, in a relatively brief period of history, some 25-30 years, the economic picture has changed dramatically, and the status of the American working family has been substantially downgraded.

Families carry more debt than ever before
Families are working longer hours for less wages (adjusted for inflation), so that as incredible as it sounds, even though family working hours have more than doubled over the last 25 years, family income is up by a tiny percentage!
Workers in America have the longest work week in the industrial world
Corporations are paying less in taxes today than 25 years ago, even though their profits are higher than at any time in history. Obviously, with corporations paying less for government services, working families are paying more!