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The Economic Woes of Ordinary Citizens

In the 1950's, economists triumphantly announced that America was “classless” – we were all middle class. Now we see a widening gap between the “haves” and the “have-nots.” Consider how our institutions work to reinforce the divide, and whether a more just system is possible. (And just how does our monetary system work, anyway?) Read informative articles on the website and come ready to participate in a well facilitated discussion.

Why does this happen? Is it the inevitable working-out of competition? Or do our institutions work to reinforce the divide? Our monetary system is supposed to funnel money where needed, not favoring any sector but greasing the wheels of the economic system to facilitate borrowing and spending. Does it do this, or does it favor one sector over another? The following articles will shed some light and raise some questions.

The Economic Elite Have Engineered an Extraordinary Coup, Threatening the Very Existence of the Middle Class. By David DeGraw in Amped Status, Feb 15, 2010.

Facts and figures on the hardships facing the group that used to call itself "middle class."

Economics For The Rest Of Us: a review of the book, MUST THE RICH ROCK ON FOREVER?
By Sam Pizzigati, Too Much, February 1, 2010

Economics has dealt with growing "the economy" but its effect has been merely to grow the wealth of the richest among us.

Background information for the American Monetary Act shows how banks effectively issue money, how their demand for interest keep us under their control, and how a governmental take-back of money creation would liberate the people.

Are We Still A Middle-Class Nation? by Michael Lind, The Atlantic Monthly, Jan-Feb 2004

It's no accident that the United States has always been an economic paradise for the middle class — that class was invented and reinvented by the government. Now the government needs to reinvent it again — before it's too late

Wall Street Rules, By Dean Baker
t r u t h o u t | Perspective, Wednesday 21 June 2006

"The Fed" is supposed to keep our economy humming along, not too fast, not too slow. It turns out that the definition of "too fast" includes any kind of rise in wages. No wonder wages have stagnated over the last 30 years.

How Money Is Created, Where It Goes: "Taking Populism Seriously," by Adrian Kuzminski, Information Clearing House, http://informationclearinghouse.info/article23080.htm

Today our money is created top-down as loans from the privately owned Federal Reserve to big banks, who re-lend to corporations and to the public at rates of interest profitable (when repaid) to themselves. This is a system which demands economic growth and insures that wealth will be concentrated in the hands of creditors.

Why 'Economics' As Taught And Practiced Does Not Work For Human Beings: "What You Didn’t Learn in Ec 101." Talk by Neva Goodwin for SRI in the Rockies, October 9, 2004

Wal-Mart has been an exemplary model of "competition" in economic theory -- it's worked like a dream, except with results very different from those predicted in your Economics 101 course. This shows why unbridled competition will always result in losses for individuals, the environment, the community.

What happened to our productivity gains? "The Rich get Richer; Regular People Lose Ground," by Larry Beinhart, AlterNet. Posted June 4, 2007, and still relevant

The economy keeps growing, as does the enormous wealth of the wealthy, while the average person makes less than they did when Bush took Office. This is Bush's magic economic formula, now continued by Barack Obama.

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