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Struggling to Serve at the Nation’s Richest University
Rosa Ines Rivera, a cook at the cafeteria for the Y.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, with 2 small children, describes the protests over the increase by Harvard administration of the premiums charged on health insurance that now take up over 10% of the income. She says she lives in public housing with her parents as she lost her apartment because she is behind on the rent, and now cannot afford to pay the increase in premiums. About 750 workers at Harvard are on strike on this issue. She says dining hall workers want the current pay of $31,193 a year increased to $35,000 to provide a living wage that helps them afford medical care, because of the high cost of living in Boston. To get some idea of the plight of workers who provide the kind of nutritious meals that a lot of students depend on for healthy living- Rivera says she takes in about $450 a week after taxes, or about $1800, rent is $1150, which leaves $650 for herself and two children for all food, and expenses in Boston. The $4000 in premiums for health insurance would be about 330 per month, leaving her about $320 for food and living expenses with 2 children. Why the need to bring up children in poverty in America, for generation after generation, after putting in a full day of work?
Sharp differences between Democratic and Republican parties in the the U.S. presidential election debates of 2015
11/16/2015
Sharp differences emerge between the two parties on the minimum wage, taxes, spending and foreign policy. For domestic policy there are now stark differences between the 2 parties not seen for many years when both parties stayed closer to the centre. One has to go back to the Reagan election to see such differences. This also reflects the issue of a shrinking middle class, and a white working class that is falling behind in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The Republican candidates except for John Kasich oppose increasing the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour set in 2009. The Democratic candidates O'Malley and Sanders support setting it at $15, and Hillary Clinton supports it at $12, as advised by economist Alan Krueger. Krueger sees no significant job losses at $12 an hour. Also to be factored in is the time period this goes into effect which may span some years. On taxes Democratic candidates support taxing the wealthy, especially the top 1%, Clinton favoring taxing wealthy above $250,000 in incomes. This would pay for free tution under the Sanders plan, or an alternative plan by Clinton with similiar outcomes. The Democratic candidates are focussed on a middle class and white working class that they see as falling behind. The Republicans focus on cutting taxes to create jobs. On foreign policy Sanders is against foreign intervention, Clinton supports limited engagement differing from Obama's very cautious policy. Republican candidates such as Jeb Bush call for intervention in Syria-Iraq, Trump not favoring intervention. Other issues setting the two parties apart is the approach to immigration and Obama health care program. Donald Trump has the most strident views on immigration calling for large deportations, and Hillary Clinton calling for giving a pathway to legal status for illegal immigrants. In the debates Democratic candidates repeatedly emphasize that immigration from Mexico is now practically nill following the sharp U.S. recession. Mainstream media on the Republican side see risks in the strident po
Grouped Articles
Parties’ Divide on the Economy Widens
Wall Street Journal 11/16/2015
Sanders: Unlike Clinton, I won’t seek ‘reckless adventures abroad’ - The Washington Post
Washington Post 11/19/2015
A political bomb is about to blow up in the Democrats’ faces - The Washington Post
Washington Post 12/25/2015
New York Times 01/29/2016
Finding Common Political Ground on Poverty
New York Times 02/02/2016
Donald Trump Notches More Wins, but Ted Cruz’s Victories Promise Long Race
Wall Street Journal 03/02/2016
Krugman on poverty and hardship in America in 2015
05/29/2015
Krugman cites a Federal Reserve survey that shows 47% of people saying they could not meet an unexpected $400 expense without borrowing or suffering economic hardship.
Grouped Articles
New York Times 05/29/2015
The I-Word Our Debates Are Missing
Wall Street Journal 12/10/2015
The Millions of Americans Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Barely Mention: The Poor
The New York Times 08/11/2016
The New York Times 08/12/2016
Apple must now pay its taxes. This is a vindication of protest | Owen Jones
The Guardian 08/30/2016
Struggling to Serve at the Nation’s Richest University
The New York Times 10/24/2016
Closing the gaps in the ideological debates in 2016 to tackle poverty in America, after the emergence of Donald Trump
02/02/2016
Eduardo Porter of the NYT reports on how experts on the left and right of the political spectrum are coming together in 2016 to tackle poverty in America. The emergence of billionaire Trump appealing to older non college educated workers and the people marginalized by globalized trade without providing any program specifics and lowering the political discourse to labels, exaggeration and misstatements, has acted as a catalyst for lowering the ideological barriers to action for experts on both sides.
Grouped Articles
Finding Common Political Ground on Poverty
New York Times 02/02/2016
How Far Left Has America Moved?
New York Times 02/12/2016
Bernie Sanders: Democrats Need to Wake Up
The New York Times 06/28/2016
The Millions of Americans Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Barely Mention: The Poor
The New York Times 08/11/2016
The New York Times 08/12/2016
From Trump to Brexit rhetoric: how today's politicians have got away with words
The Guardian 08/27/2016
Poverty among white Americans in 2010-2015
03/11/2009
A previous generation could count on good jobs in manufacturing with only a high school education. The last two decades of globalization have hit manufacturing jobs and wages in the U.S. hard and the impact is greatest on people without a college education. Other problems aggravating income and causing poverty is the increase of dropout rates from the labor force of young white American men, the effects of drug use and the lack of stable marraiges. This creates an underclass of whites in America, similiar to the underclass among minorities.
Grouped Articles
Racial Wealth Gap Widened During Recession
New York Times 04/28/2013
Wall Street Journal 09/14/2011
New York Times 06/22/2013
OECD report cites rising income inequality - The Washington Post
Washington Post 12/06/2011
U.S. Schools Chief Arne Duncan Labors to Straddle Political Divide
Wall Street Journal 07/22/2013
New York Times 02/10/2010
Deep Poverty in the U.S. increasing from about 30% of people in poverty in 1975 to 44% in 2013
09/17/2010
Deep poverty is defined as income 50% below the official poverty line. Since the beginning of the recession deep poverty in the U.S. has increased from 42% to 44%. The striking change in America is the accentuation of the income differences with the rise in deep poverty. This is coupled with similiar changes in income differences for the middle class Americans with income concentrated at the higher levels.
Grouped Articles
Wall Street Journal 10/11/2013
Patchwork of Local Wage Laws Fuels Debate Over Raising Federal Minimum
Wall Street Journal 12/01/2013
Bloomberg's Real Antipoverty Record
Wall Street Journal 12/18/2013
Wall Street Journal 09/17/2010
Upward Mobility Has Not Declined, Study Says
New York Times 01/23/2014
New Data Muddle Debate on Economic Mobility
Wall Street Journal 01/24/2014
America and a sense of white identity being shut out by 2016- frustration and protest against political correctness among white working class people and students
07/13/2016
White working class people and students on campus are expressing strong protest that white identity is being shut out with the demographic and social changes underway in America by 2016. What was essentially white and European being replaced by something different, with assimilation and melting pot precedent being replaced by something with which they are not familiar.
Grouped Articles
For Whites Sensing Decline, Donald Trump Unleashes Words of Resistance
The New York Times 07/13/2016
Brexit: The Era of the Angry Voter Is Upon Us - SPIEGEL ONLINE
SPIEGEL ONLINE 07/06/2016
Donald Trump positions himself as the voice of ‘the forgotten men and women’
Washington Post 07/22/2016
Two Political Conventions, Two Distinct World Views
WSJ 07/28/2016
Voices From Donald Trump’s Rallies, Uncensored
The New York Times 08/03/2016
Trump a Working-Class Hero? A Blue-Collar Town Debates His Credentials
The New York Times 08/26/2016
Paying for upward mobility and infrastructure in the U.S.- the number 34 and why it matters
08/12/2016
Infrastructure building would boost growth and jobs for the working class, providing access to public universities by removing high tution barriers would enable upward mobility for a once again growing middle class.
Grouped Articles
The New York Times 08/12/2016
Trump a Working-Class Hero? A Blue-Collar Town Debates His Credentials
The New York Times 08/26/2016
Apple should repay Ireland 13bn euros, European Commission rules - BBC News
BBC News 08/30/2016
Apple must now pay its taxes. This is a vindication of protest | Owen Jones
The Guardian 08/30/2016
The Economic Expansion Is Helping the Middle Class, Finally
The New York Times 09/13/2016
Struggling to Serve at the Nation’s Richest University
The New York Times 10/24/2016
The blue collar and white working class vote in the 2016 U.S. presidential election
11/12/2015
Grouped Articles
Both parties face a blue-collar imperative - The Washington Post
Washington Post 11/12/2015
Populism on the Rise in GOP Race for President
Wall Street Journal 11/12/2015
It’s the American Dream, Stupid
Wall Street Journal 01/10/2016
Here’s what a conservative policy agenda should look like in the Trump era - The Washington Post
Washington Post 01/27/2016
New York Times 01/29/2016
How Both Parties Lost the White Middle Class
New York Times 02/01/2016
The Bernie Sanders U.S. presidential campaign of 2016 and Howard Dean's campaign in 2004- upward mobility for working class Americans the issue in 2016, the Iraq war in 2004
08/09/2015
Howard Dean was governor of Vermont and Sanders was Mayor of Burlington, Vermont. Both candidates draw white, educated, affluent voters of the Democratic Party. But the situation is different in 2014, with the Democratic Party now 40% female, and many ethnic minorities represented in the party. Dean's major issue was his opposition to the Iraq war. Sanders says his positions are more class based and calls for a revolution to give working class Americans a chance for upward mobility.
Grouped Articles
Similarities Aside, Bernie Sanders Isn’t Rerunning Howard Dean’s 2004 Race
New York Times 08/09/2015
Bernie Sanders’s big challenge, explained in 2 charts - The Washington Post
Washington Post 08/12/2015
The Democrats’ Socialist Surge
Wall Street Journal 08/12/2015
How Bernie Sanders is plotting his path to the Democratic nomination - The Washington Post
Washington Post 09/12/2015
Sanders, Corbyn and the coming debate inside the Democratic Party - The Washington Post
Washington Post 09/13/2015
Why millennials love Bernie Sanders, and why that may not be enough - The Washington Post
Washington Post 10/28/2015
Social and economic mobility for the middle class emerging as the central issue in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign
09/13/2015
Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton in the Demcratic Party, and Jeb Bush in the Republican Party, are making social and economic mobility for the middle and working class a central issue in the 2016 presidential campaign. In Britain Corbyn's election to the leadership of the Labor Party with all other candidates doing poorly, is also creating a focus on economic issues and better access to education and jobs.
Grouped Articles
Sanders, Corbyn and the coming debate inside the Democratic Party - The Washington Post
Washington Post 09/13/2015
New Leader Turns British Labour Party to the Left
New York Times 09/14/2015
Wall Street Journal 09/17/2015
Not There Yet on Equal Opportunity
Wall Street Journal 10/21/2015
America’s white working class is a dying breed - The Washington Post
Washington Post 11/12/2015
The missing working class - The Washington Post
Washington Post 11/12/2015
Bernie Sanders days as a political leader in Vermont responding to concerns of individual working class people
01/30/2016
Grouped Articles
Bernie Sanders, Made in Vermont
New York Times 01/30/2016
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders Dig in for Long Battle Beyond Iowa Caucus
Wall Street Journal 02/02/2016
2 Questions for Bernie Sanders
New York Times 02/04/2016
How Democrats’ Shift to the Left Is Helping Bernie Sanders
Wall Street Journal 02/08/2016
How Far Left Has America Moved?
New York Times 02/12/2016
What Would Happen if Bernie Sanders Taxed Wall Street?
Wall Street Journal 02/16/2016
The youth class gap- Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam on the increasing disparities in educational and other opportunities of young people between upper middle class and working class
11/12/2015
Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam focusses on "the youth class gap," the widening gap between the educational and other opportunities available for upper middle class youth compared to youth from working class backgrounds.
Grouped Articles
Michael Gerson: Our disconnected working class - The Washington Post
Washington Post 11/12/2015
America’s white working class is a dying breed - The Washington Post
Washington Post 11/12/2015
The missing working class - The Washington Post
Washington Post 11/12/2015
It’s the American Dream, Stupid
Wall Street Journal 01/10/2016
Two Political Conventions, Two Distinct World Views
WSJ 07/28/2016
Voices From Donald Trump’s Rallies, Uncensored
The New York Times 08/03/2016
Tackling inner city poverty in the U.S.- problems and solutions
09/17/2015
Grouped Articles
Wall Street Journal 09/17/2015
New York Times 01/29/2016
The Millions of Americans Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Barely Mention: The Poor
The New York Times 08/11/2016
Struggling to Serve at the Nation’s Richest University
The New York Times 10/24/2016
In Los Angeles, Where the Rich and the Destitute Cross Paths
New York Times 07/02/2018
Washington Post 07/04/2018
Tackling middle class poverty in the U.S.- causes and strategies
03/11/2009
Shrinking incomes, low job growth, growth in temporary jobs, offshoring of jobs, are part of a trend since 1989. This is compounded by acceleration of developments during the last decade of low savings and paltry return on savings, effects on net worth of the financial crisis of 2008 through job losses, lost income, foreclosures, high cost of health care and college tution for children. The combination is creating a new kind of middle class poverty in the U.S. The Obama administration has pushed for college education even as it is becoming less affordable and neglected jobs training. The push to raise the minimum wage helps the poor but does not do as much for the middle class.
Grouped Articles
Wall Street Journal 09/14/2011
Japan Is a Model Not a Cautionary Tale
New York Times 06/09/2013
OECD report cites rising income inequality - The Washington Post
Washington Post 12/06/2011
8 States to Raise Minimum Wage
New York Times 12/23/2011
U.S. Schools Chief Arne Duncan Labors to Straddle Political Divide
Wall Street Journal 07/22/2013
New York Times 02/10/2010
Pope Francis and bringing issues of poverty, growing inequality and economc justice to the forefront
01/05/2014
Grouped Articles
Popular Voice in the Capitol? Itâs the Popeâs
New York Times 01/05/2014
Janet Yellen Warns of Inequality Threat
New York Times 10/17/2014
Economic-Ladder Concerns Trump Income Gap in Poll
Wall Street Journal 05/05/2015
In Fiery Speeches, Francis Excoriates Global Capitalism
New York Times 07/11/2015
A Humble Pope, Challenging the World
New York Times 09/18/2015
Pope Francis, in New York, Takes On Extremism and Inequality
New York Times 09/25/2015
U.S. poverty and moral arguments
10/31/2010
Do the poor deserve to be poor because they are indolent and lazy or are their many kinds of poor, some indolent and lazy just like some indolent and lazy wealthy. And in our society should there be opportunities for all. Are some poor doing everything including hard work and good habits but having one or two events push them below the poverty line because of unexpected bills, medical emergency, or some bad event outside their control? These are the moral arguments on different sides. Beyond this there are children, and is a fair society going to make opportunities available to all children of all classes? Egan takes up the issue of a U.S. Congress that employs a certain kind of moral argument for cutting off food stamps and unemployment benefits to the poor.
Grouped Articles
New York Times 12/19/2013
New York Times 10/31/2010
State of the Union: Obama Seeks to Narrow Income Gap
Wall Street Journal 01/29/2014
New York Times 05/04/2015
New York Times 05/29/2015
Wall Street Journal 09/17/2015
Social decline of the white working class and middle class in America
02/01/2016
Grouped Articles
How Both Parties Lost the White Middle Class
New York Times 02/01/2016
For Whites Sensing Decline, Donald Trump Unleashes Words of Resistance
The New York Times 07/13/2016
The Democratic Platform’s Sharp Left Turn
WSJ 07/12/2016
Donald Trump positions himself as the voice of ‘the forgotten men and women’
Washington Post 07/22/2016
Two Political Conventions, Two Distinct World Views
WSJ 07/28/2016
Voices From Donald Trump’s Rallies, Uncensored
The New York Times 08/03/2016
Globalization and the white working class in Europe and the U.S. in 2016- job losses, regional disparities, growing inequality with declining incomes
07/13/2016
Sanders, Trump, in the U.S., Marie Le Pen in France, and Brexiters in England appeal to white working class which has not benefitted from trade agreements and globalization. Globalization has produced very different outcomes for different industries and regions, benefitting some and hurting others. Leaders of existing political parties have failed to grasp and respond to these changes leaving room for others to take up the cause of the white working class. TPP trade agreement for instance benefits the information technology industry and hurts the automobile industry in the U.S., producing unequal outcomes that come after years of job losses and hollowing out in some industries- making it unpopular, and raising questions about the wisdom of such policies when most of the gains in free trade are already behind us according to Krugman and other experts.
Grouped Articles
Brexit: The Era of the Angry Voter Is Upon Us - SPIEGEL ONLINE
SPIEGEL ONLINE 07/06/2016
What the New GOP Means for Wall Street
WSJ 07/19/2016
Support for Trump in unexpected places | US elections 2016 | DW.COM | 20.07.2016
DW.COM 07/20/2016
The presidential campaign and the US middle class | US elections 2016 | DW.COM | 13.03.2016
DW.COM 03/13/2016
Hillary Clinton Asks Not for Trust, but for Faith in Her Competence
The New York Times 07/29/2016
Two Political Conventions, Two Distinct World Views
WSJ 07/28/2016
The Economist on corporate profits in America and the smaller share of output going to workers- a public debate in the U.S. presidential election of 2016
03/24/2016
Most of the candidates in the 2016 presidential election have emphasized the problems of sluggish wages and lack of upward mobility in the U.S. Here the Economist looks at the situation with a small number of firms reaping the benefits of high profits and a lagging working class. Rising disparities in income and inequality are creating social discontent and voter dissatisfaction with the establishment candidates.
Grouped Articles
Economist 03/24/2016
Apple should repay Ireland 13bn euros, European Commission rules - BBC News
BBC News 08/30/2016
Apple must now pay its taxes. This is a vindication of protest | Owen Jones
The Guardian 08/30/2016
U.S. Household Incomes Surged 5.2% in 2015, First Gain Since 2007
WSJ 09/13/2016
The New York Times 09/16/2016
Struggling to Serve at the Nation’s Richest University
The New York Times 10/24/2016
America's blue collar working class and the 2016 presidential election
08/26/2016
Grouped Articles
Trump a Working-Class Hero? A Blue-Collar Town Debates His Credentials
The New York Times 08/26/2016
Apple should repay Ireland 13bn euros, European Commission rules - BBC News
BBC News 08/30/2016
Obama blasts Trump as a phony champion of the working class
Washington Post 09/14/2016
Working-Class White Men Are Falling Further and Further Behind College Graduates
WSJ 10/05/2016
Struggling to Serve at the Nation’s Richest University
The New York Times 10/24/2016
Big government is the new West Coast craze
Washington Post 11/06/2016
Bernie Sanders on the Democratic Party agenda in 2016, the Brexit and Trump voter, and the working class American
06/29/2016
Grouped Articles
Bernie Sanders: Democrats Need to Wake Up
The New York Times 06/28/2016
Brexit: a disaster decades in the making | Gary Younge
The Guardian 06/30/2016
Brexit: The Era of the Angry Voter Is Upon Us - SPIEGEL ONLINE
SPIEGEL ONLINE 07/06/2016
Donald Trump positions himself as the voice of ‘the forgotten men and women’
Washington Post 07/22/2016
Bernie Sanders Says ‘Elect Hillary,’ Gets Heavily Booed
WSJ 07/25/2016
Bernie Sanders aims to cool tensions in Philadelphia
CNN 07/25/2016
2016 U.S. presidential election- matching programs and slogans for improving the life of the middle and working class
08/04/2016
Ultimately politicians have to deliver and you need well planned programs, specifics for action, to build infrastructure, to create jobs, and to increase wages and incomes for people working in the service economy and in manufacturing industries- how this happens as anger is being vented through slogans and the wall itself becomes a metaphor for those left out in the last 2 decades of tech based prosperity, is itself a question in the 2016 U.S. presidential elction.
Grouped Articles
Voices From Donald Trump’s Rallies, Uncensored
The New York Times 08/03/2016
Robust Jobs Report Spurs Fed Watch
WSJ 08/05/2016
Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton Spar Over Economic Proposals
WSJ 08/09/2016
The New York Times 08/12/2016
Trump a Working-Class Hero? A Blue-Collar Town Debates His Credentials
The New York Times 08/26/2016
Apple should repay Ireland 13bn euros, European Commission rules - BBC News
BBC News 08/30/2016
Meyerson, Cherlin and Dionne in the Washington Post on the severe problems facing America's white working class by 2015
11/12/2015
Meyerson, Cherlin and Dionne describes the severe problems facing the white working class in America by 2015, as incomes and educational opportunities decline, and social structures disintegrate. Upward and social mobility in the U.S. is severely affected by this situation.
Grouped Articles
America’s white working class is a dying breed - The Washington Post
Washington Post 11/12/2015
The missing working class - The Washington Post
Washington Post 11/12/2015
Both parties face a blue-collar imperative - The Washington Post
Washington Post 11/12/2015
German lessons on power-sharing - The Washington Post
Washington Post 11/12/2015
Populism on the Rise in GOP Race for President
Wall Street Journal 11/12/2015
The Bleak Reality Driving Trump’s Rise
Wall Street Journal 12/16/2015
Stories of America's working class in 2016-2017
10/25/2016
Grouped Articles
Struggling to Serve at the Nation’s Richest University
The New York Times 10/24/2016
Big government is the new West Coast craze
Washington Post 11/06/2016
The Guardian 11/06/2016
Trump era confronts organized labor with gravest crisis in decades
Washington Post 12/09/2016
Washington Post 07/04/2018
Opinion | The Best Way for Democrats to Win Working-Class Voters
09/24/2018
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