Ugc 211 1st Edition Lecture 18Current Lecture Film Continued o Government sets the rules by which the market functions o Same pattern of inequality o Some people in the US are doing better than anyone in world history o Big companies are designed to make profits, not good jobs in the US o Nobody is helping the American worker o With money comes the capacity to control politics o Taxation system has tilted towards rich in the past 10 years o Tuition has went up - $15,000 for in state o If you don’t have voice, power, or economic standing, you don’t have anyone to protect you o We make the rules of the economy and we have the power to change the rules o History is on the side of positive social change – civil right, social rights, environmental protection o Power is in your hands – you can create change Inequality for All o Robert Reich: author of 13 books, professor of public policy at UC Berkley, President Clinton’s Secretary of Labor, expert on economics, comes from a poor background (single mother), has a disease that doesn’t allow him to grow, moved from big city to rural area in Midwest where he was also poor there, moved all over place with mother for a better life, he’s been wealthy and poor (all in between) o The film: 2013 release at Sundance film festival, follows Reich’s semester long “Wealth and Poverty” class at Berkley. His main point: middle class provides 70% of spending in U.S. and they are the real job creators o Our wages are actually lower than they were in 1978 o Income distribution looks like a suspension bridge (1928-2007)o Top 1% income share was the highest before the Great Depression (crash) o Median salary in US is $50,000 o Decline in manufacturing mirrors decline in middle class o Smartphone – not concentrated in one country, made from pieces that come from all over the world o Incomes have changed over the years o The Great Prosperity (1947-1977) o Suspension bridge – American economic history These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.o Middle class kept spending even while wages were flat: Women went back to work, work longer hours, people went into debt (housing) o Money spent on lobbyists (work for big corporations – can spend lots of money on wining and dining politicians and on campaigns – makes them feel they owe them something or they just tell them they owe them something)o Taxes pay for all the things we can’t afford like healthcare, school, roads – can’t afford as individuals o Pay taxes based on what you ear – many loopholes (upper class make a million a year pay less percentage of their earnings)o The more money you have, you pays less a percentage of their income o When there is high inequality, more violence and racial tension o Asset inequality and transformative assets o Segregation tax o Home equity o Racial Targeting o Predatory loans o When something really bad happens in the U.S., people of color feel it more than others. o Patricia Williams: housing discrimination, professor at Columbia, corrects application, red