The wealth, income and wage gap in America will continue to widen under President Obama.
In 2008, union activists were fantasizing about an Obama administration committed to a remix of the American economy and a shift in power to the working class. We weren’t thinking about socialism - god forbid! - just some good old-fashioned collective bargaining. You know, labor and management fighting it out over the slice of the pie.
But in 2009, we saw a modest measure to reform labor law go up in smoke (EFCA would have made private sector union organizing a bit easier) and a white house barely lifting a finger to save it.
Meanwhile, the unionization rate in the business economy continues to plunge with fewer than one in 14 workers represented; and most Americans identifying the union workforce as privileged government employees who create bureaucratic inefficiencies and pension-driven budget deficits.
Then, of course, there’s health reform which covers the uninsured, protects those with pre-existing conditions and keeps kids up to 26 in their parents plans. But it may not control medical costs or stop premium increases. With court challenges to the individual mandate and house republican show-trials ahead, it’s hard see how this program really levels the economic playing field.
So I can understand how the Bush tax cuts became a last stand among many liberals and progressives. And despite the fact that the president’s deal with republicans may have been politically smart - enabling success in the lame duck session, boosting his stature and possibly adding a little fuel to the economy - by retaining tax cuts for the rich, Obama basically threw in the towel in the fight for economic equality.
The "old equalizers" - business-sector unions and progressive taxation - are now moving off the grid.
With the Obama administration watching from the sidelines.