1 a level comparable to that of Sri Lanka

January 30, 2012 12:00 AM

After five years of growth, the United States have more doubt. The increase in the price of oil, the inflationary threat, the reversal of trend in the real estate market concerned of course a few handfuls of economists, but not the vast majority of the inhabitants of the power of the planet. In this election period where the war in Iraq more than the economic record of the Bush administration, concerned a question haunts however much of the public: If the growth is there, why some did not see not Recipient is close that the circle in an editorial the "New York Times' columnist Paul Krugman, who, in early September, while the campaign began, observed:"we have finally a discussion of national inequality, and the right panic."

Rarely, in the temple of capitalism, newspapers will have spent as much of "each" the excesses of the patterns involved in financial scandals repeatedly and whose incomes are growing as fast than appears to lower their moral sense. Especially considering that despite the economic dynamism of the record profits made by businesses, unemployment at historically low levels (4.4) and strong productivity gains ( 33.4 between 1995 and 2005), average employees, pay sheets stagnant since the beginning of the century. The rich get richer, middle-class stalled and, for the poorest, the "American dream" away.

The US, paradise of the "self made man", remain a society two-speed in which the social elevator seems blocked. Last year, the very conservative "wall street Journal" had even been forced to admit that, according to international studies, it is easier for a child born poor to climb the social ladder in France in the US. Perish!

How is changing the gap

between rich and poor

"Business week" is embarrassed at the seams. "The average CEO salary is $ 10.5 million, or 369 times average employee pay, against 28 times in 1970," noted the bible American business last month, calculating that if the wages of the performers had progressed at the same pace as those of the patterns, they now receive on average nearly 300,000 euros a year and not 22,000!

Over time, this growing disparity reflected in gaps of heritage. In 2004, the richest Americans have 190 times the most important heritage that median heritage (1), against 125 times in the 1960s. And, at the Summit, 1 of the wealthiest Americans control a third of the wealth of the country, so that the poor and middle class, 80 of the population, have, them, as 15.

"The numbers speak." Between 2000 and 2005, despite four years of growth, the number of poor rose from 11.3 to 12.6 of the population (or 37 million people, Editor's note). The phenomenon is not cyclic. "And the real incomes of the 20 poorest households declined by 5," calculates Jared Bernstein, a researcher at the Economic Policy Institute and author of an reference annual report, called "The State of Working America."

Equally problematic is the social ascent. While possible, it is still very theoretical. Half of the children of poor parents will be poor adults while more than 40 of the children of rich will themselves continue to be part of the rich, says economist Miles Corak study. "The probability that children in the 20 of poorest may one day join the class of the richest is very low," added Jared Bernstein. The bankruptcy of the educational system there is for many, because less than a third of the young Americans obtain the equivalent of the ex-DEUG. Golden campus are the image of a relatively fixed society, this then that education has never been also instrumental. Since the beginning of the 1980s, the differential in salary between a young holds the equivalent of the Bachelor graduate and another with the equivalent of a DEUG has doubled to nearly 20,000 euros.

Gap deepens and the social elevator breaks down at the time where companies are less and less many to support the entire health-care spending, exploding. In 1979, 69 of U.S. employers were willing to fund a mutual, 55.9 in 2004. The trend is the same for pensions, since the number of companies offering a plan said to "guaranteed benefits" the monthly payments are defined in advance and indexed for inflation for the duration of retirement fell from 39 in 1980 to 19 in 2003. Today, major groups still providing a supplementary retirement prefer opt for a "defined contribution" plan: employees then receive a fixed amount each month or a "cash" at their departure. The risk has been transferred to employees and disparities will no doubt large between the future generations of retirees.

The social situation

is it serious

If the rich are rich but that the poor live increasingly better, growing inequality is a disaster After all, America would, according to some, that the reflection of a world in which are rewarded the most talented. "CEOs are better paid, but the athletes, the best-known artists or the most effective lawyers also", is she excited a New York banker, who refuses to be shown the finger. Refuting all pessimistic speech, the Liberals of the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation argued that biased, the

statistics give a false image. "The quality of life of the middle class and the poor is never was also high", writes James Sherk, policy analyst with the Heritage. The rich had large houses with air conditioning; Today, they are more alone. Even if the salaries of some stagnant and large business return on the benefits gained, total, US companies spend value more for health coverage and pensions for their employees. Above all, says the Heritage Foundation, the statistics do not take into account the fact that the rich are financing social safety nets (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security). In addition, considers this "think tank", when comparing the 20 of the more affluent households in the poorest 20, statisticians should specify that the first represent 25 of the population and the latter, 14, because it is often of lone-parent households. Nothing shocking in this case, according to its members, to ensure that 25 of Americans earn more than 14, by as much as the richest households rely often on two salaries.

"Since the age of the caves, habitat and the daily life of human progress." Should we be satisfied if little "America has found the gold but it benefits mainly to those who already have full pockets," said Jared Bernstein. For millions of Americans, the question now is "rent" or "health". In their book, "Not covered in America", on the 45 million people without health insurance, researcher Susan Starr Sered and Rushika Fernandopulle doctor portray thus where preventive medicine and dental care are a luxury out of reach, and where the first cause of personal bankruptcy is now linked to health-care spending. "My alleged sometimes not enough smile", explained, there is little radio, an employee of Bank victim of a rage of teeth and forced to suffer in silence.

"In the 1960s, revenues were progressing for all." In part because the black minorities found work in the cities and the women worked more and more. In the 1970s, improvements in health for the elderly have also helped reduce gaps. "Since then, income seem frozen in time for the poorest", regrets Sandy Jencks, Professor at the John Kennedy School of Government of Harvard.

What policies

consider

"Lower taxes", implored the Republicans, for which the current success of the United States shows that the system works. "Must be privatizing pensions and encourage health savings accounts," provides even the Bush Presidency. "Rename a bit of power to the unions, increase the minimum wage (currently of 5.15 dollars an hour at the federal level), give the taxation more redistributive in nature", require the Democrats. The fiscal policy of the Bush administration indeed especially is the happiness of the most privileged households. Brookings Institution so calculated that the tax cuts benefited 70 in the fifth quintile, the 20 of the richest households.

But, beyond the debate in the short term on salaries and taxation, many consider essential to repairing the social elevator starting by making just the educational system. The head of the American Dream Initiative to ensure that the "American dream" is new possible, Senator of the State of New York, Hillary Clinton, gives priority to education. "Since two hundred and thirty years, the Americans are United by a single common dream that tomorrow will be better than today ' hui", argued this summer at the beginning of his campaign, before explaining: "they earn less, increases the cost of living for the middle class and, since five years, the cost of higher education jumped by 50." Associated with the Democratic Leadership Council, a laboratory of ideas, she proposes to remove inefficient considered subsidies to companies and assign them to the funding of the University system and reserved for less affluent household tax credits. "The United States were the first country in the world by the percentage of graduates of the University." "They are now in the seventh, this will affect our competitiveness," explained the close reflection of the Clinton group.

Devote means health seems just as urgent. According to statistics, whites still live on average six years longer than blacks and, in terms of infant mortality, the United States (6.8 deaths per 1,000 births) are generally less well than Cuba (6.45), not to mention France (4.3), essentially because the black infant mortality rate amounted to 14.1, a level comparable to that of Sri Lanka. The last two Presidents Bush and Clinton have failed to reform the health care system, but stagnation will longer be an option. Today, 35 millions of poor people benefit from a disease a minimum (Medicaid) coverage and 46 million "working poor", the famous "working poor", cannot, themselves, to afford health insurance and therefore pray to stay healthy.

With such a challenge, seem non-existent. "In Europe, the State and the political speakers to regulate and offset some of the negative effects of the market." Here, the State is décrédibilisé. In the years 1930-1940, the central Government could act. He won the war and improving the plight of the poor. Since then, the State has become a symbol of corruption and military chess. "Should first restore its image before it can consider a form of collective action", concludes Sandy Jencks, Harvard.