Surviving Capitalism (Not) : The road to inequality is paved with low-paying jobs (2 charts)

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, October 4, 2012

The road to inequality is paved with low-paying jobs (2 charts)

Click here to access article by David Ruccio from Real-World Economics Review Blog.

This economist has assembled information in the form of charts regarding changes in jobs and wages that compares the period of recession defined as 1st quarter of 2008 to 1st quarter of 2010 with that of "recovery" defined as 1st quarter of 2010 to 1st quarter of 2012. As you may have already guessed, it illustrates the inevitable outcome of the dynamics of capitalism: the One Percent are getting richer while the 99 Percent are getting poorer. Another end result of capitalist dynamics is the ever increasing use of fossil fuels which is destroying our ecosystem.

Of course, these continuing trends will inevitably lead to destruction of the capitalist system (revolution) possibly leading to another, more socially just organization of society, or it will lead to a totally fascist state, and it will lead eventually to a planet that cannot support human life (read some of the latest, depressing thoughts on this subject). What outcomes would you like to see? Okay, get active and contribute, in any way you can, toward building a just, sustainable society.