Too bad there is not a new world we can run to.
REH From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ed Weick Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2012 7:45 AM To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION'; [email protected] Subject: [Futurework] Gloomy America Worth reading, but brace yourselves, it's gloomy. Ed http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/19/us/many-american-workers-are-underemployed -and-underpaid.html?_r=1 <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/19/us/many-american-workers-are-underemploye d-and-underpaid.html?_r=1&hp> &hp Sample: Now, with the economy shaping up as the central issue of the presidential election, both President Obama and Mitt Romney have been relentlessly trying to make the case that their policies would bring prosperity back. The unease of voters is striking: in a <http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/04/19/us/politics/20120419_poll_doc s.html?ref=politics> New York Times/CBS News poll in April, half of the respondents said they thought the next generation of Americans would be worse off, while only about a quarter said it would have a better future. And household wealth is dropping. The Federal Reserve <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/12/business/economy/family-net-worth-drops-t o-level-of-early-90s-fed-says.html?ref=binyaminappelbaum> reported last week that the economic crisis left the median American family in 2010 with no more wealth than in the early 1990s, wiping away two decades of gains. With stocks too risky for many small investors and savings accounts paying little interest, building up a nest egg is a challenge even for those who can afford to sock away some of their money. Expenses like putting a child through college - where tuition has been <http://trends.collegeboard.org/college_pricing> rising faster than inflation or wages - can be a daunting task. When Morgan Woodward, 21, began her freshman year at the University of California, Berkeley, three years ago, her parents paid about $9,000 a year in tuition and fees. Now <http://students.berkeley.edu/finaid/news/detail25.htm> they pay closer to $13,000, and they are bracing for the possibility of another jump next year. With their incomes flat, though, they recently borrowed money to pay for her final year, and to begin paying the tuition of their son, who plans to start college this fall.
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