The Hunger Games Economy

The Hunger Games Economy  Jeff Faux: Dreams of Wall St. and Military Industrial Complex are not compatible with dreams of USA middle class

The United States can no longer satisfy the three great dreams that have driven USA politics over the last decades. 

1st is the dream of Wall Street and business for unregulated access to speculative profits.

2nd is the dream of the military and foreign-policy elite and the military-industrial complex for global hegemony.

3rd is the dream of ordinary USA citizens for a rising living standard.

Wages rose steadily since World War II, they flattened out after 1979 and essentially have been flat.

There are three things that happened since the end of the '70s.

1.  globalization, exposing USA workers to a very brutal and competitive global labor market before they were prepared.

2. weakening of the bargaining position of the average USA worker.The Hunger Games Economy

3. shredding of the safety net, the real value of the minimum wage, and the kinds of New Deal protections for labor that have been frayed away over the last 10 or 15 years.