Schools in a banana republic

11-09-2010

Guest blog by Anthony Cody/Washington Post

Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times this week described the economic state of the nation in rather stark terms. Due to the accelerated concentration of wealth, this country is in danger of becoming what is derisively termed a "banana republic." This term has been used to describe the Central American dictatorships such as Nicaragua and the Honduras, where a handful of families control the wealth, land and economy, while the poor barely get by. Kristof shared [these] statistics...:The richest 1 percent of Americans now take home almost 24 percent of income, up from almost 9 percent in 1976. C.E.O.'s of the largest American companies earned an average of 42 times as much as the average worker in 1980, but 531 times as much in 2001. Perhaps the most astounding statistic is this: From 1980 to 2005, more than four-fifths of the total increase in American incomes went to the richest 1 percent. And the tax cuts from the Bush era continue to put billions in their pockets. How is today's economy affecting our students? (more…)

Also: New York Times, Daily Kos

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