GOVERNMENT CONTRACTORS One-percenters like Boeing, Northrup-Grumman, and Lockeed Martin have charged the government billons of dollars for post-911 safety projects. Read Steven Brill’s deeply incisive article in the September 2016 issue of The Atlantic magazine at http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/backissues/ page 61. Steven Brill, “Are We Any Safer?” The Atlantic, September 2016.

PEW SURVEY SHOWS NEAR-UNIVERSAL INCOME LOSSES

Households in all economic tiers experienced near-universal decreases in median incomes across U.S. metropolitan areas, according to the independent Pew Foundation’s Research Center. Middle-income households lost ground financially in 222 of 229 metropolitan areas from 1999 to 2014. Meanwhile, those in the lower-income tier saw their median income slip in 221 areas and those in the upper-income households took a financial hit in 215 areas.

Pew Research Center 2014 American Community Survey

MIDWEST HAS TOP 10 MIDDLE-CLASS AREAS

The 10 metropolitan areas with the greatest shares of middle-income adults are located mostly in the Midwest, according to the independent Pew Foundation’s Research Center. Metropolitan areas with the largest upper-income shares are mostly in the Northeast or on the California coast, while the 10 metropolitan areas with the biggest lower-income tiers are in the southwest, several on the border with Mexico.

Pew Research Center 2014 American Community Survey

TRUMP’S WHITE WORKING-CLASS SUPPORTERS

[Donald] Trump’s white working class supporters — who provide somewhere between 58 percent and 62 percent of his votes, according to data from NBC and ABC polls — have suffered a stunning loss of relative status over the past 40 years. Their wages have stagnated or declined; the ascendance of minorities has threatened their cultural dominance; and the growth of an increasingly large and affluent upper middle class has pushed goods and services once viewed as theirs by right beyond their reach.

Thomas B. Edsall, “How Falling Behind the Joneses Fueled the Rise of Trump,” New York Times, July 7, 2016, Opinion Pages.

MANY ESSENTIAL EXPENDITURES HAVE BECOME UNAFFORDABLE

For those in the bottom third of the income distribution, even essential expenditures have become unaffordable: the $7,000 to $10,000 average cost of a funeral, the $33,865 average cost of a new car, the $18,000 average annual cost of child care.

Crucially important is the fact that rising inequality constitutes a double whammy. It raises the cost of sought-after goods and it increases the economic gap between the working class and the affluent, spurring nostalgia for what was (even if what was really wasn’t).

Thomas B. Edsall, “How Falling Behind the Joneses Fueled the Rise of Trump,” New York Times, July 7, 2016, Opinion Pages.

WEALTHY PULLED THE RUG OUT

“In effect, the increase in the resources commandeered by the overclass has pulled the rug out from under the once upwardly mobile white working class.”

Thomas B. Edsall, “How Falling Behind the Joneses Fueled the Rise of Trump,” New York Times, July 7, 2016, Opinion Pages.

WEALTHY CAN BID UP THE PRICES

Thomas Edsall, writing in the New York Times, noted: “Growing income inequality in the U.S. has meant that, as those at the top are able bid up the price of valued goods like housing and access to good schools, those in lower groups have struggled to maintain their positions.” [quoting an essay titled, “Keeping Up With the Joneses,” presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association by Neil Fligstein, a professor of sociology at Berkeley, Pat Hastings, a Ph.D. candidate at Berkeley, and Adam Goldstein, a professor of sociology at Princeton University.]

Thomas B. Edsall, “How Falling Behind the Joneses Fueled the Rise of Trump,” New York Times, July 7, 2016, Opinion Pages.