It’s a French word meaning “The class of industrial wage earners who, possessing neither capital nor production means, must earn their living by selling their labor.” In Marxist theory they are the class of wage-earners, especially industrial workers, in a capitalist society, whose only possession of significant material value is their labour.
The Congressional Budget Office has issued a report saying that the lowest earning 20% of Americans have seen their income increase by 18% since 1980. The highest earning 1% saw their earnings increase by 275% in the same period. At the same time the number of middle class families declined. Those middle class families have become even poorer.
From the CBO report:
The share of income going to higher-income households rose, while the share going to lower-income households fell.
- The top fifth of the population saw a 10-percentage-point increase in their share of after-tax income.
- Most of that growth went to the top 1 percent of the population.
- All other groups saw their shares decline by 2 to 3 percentage points.
In other words the proletariat has increased in numbers even as the richest became even more wealthy. The reason? The outsourcing of manufacturing, along with increases in technology, has reduced labor requirements. America just does not need as many middle management workers.
The social issue is the question, how will we feed and support a society that offers declining opportunity for those who lack technical skills? Most people recognize the question but neither private enterprise nor government is prepared to discuss the issue.
Perhaps the majority, by their behavior, are saying, “Who cares? The stock market is up, my house value is up and cars are selling well. So what’s the problem?”
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