"Inequality for All"

About 60 people attended Carbon County’s premier showing of Robert Reich’s film “Inequality for All” at the Mahoning Cinema.  The film looks at economic trends in the U.S. since the 1920s in an entertaining (and rather disturbing) mixture of graphics, interviews, and classroom lectures.

The audience learned that 70% of the American economy depends on consumer spending.  If the middle class shrinks, people will not be able to purchase consumer goods, and the economy will contract further.  We learned that wages have been stagnant for years, while the top 1% takes a greater and greater share of the wealth.  We also learned that that top 1% spends very little on consumer goods.  We learned that the decline of unions has corresponded with the decline of the middle class.  And Reich presented graphic evidence of how the entire democratic system is being perverted by the campaign contributions of wealthy individuals.

One of the depressing items in the film was the data on income inequality and upward mobility.  The United States is near the bottom of countries with income inequality, although if I remember correctly, we are ahead of Uganda.  As for upward mobility, almost every industrialized country does better than we do. We still have the belief that anyone can move up, but it really is a myth.

By the way, the movie has a local connection.  One of the people mentioned in the credits as helping to fund the film was our own Carbon County resident, Jeremy Haloskie.  Thanks Jeremy.