Third World America - Arianna Huffington [95]
26 “From 1980 to around 1987 …”: Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F. Katz, “Long-Run Changes in the Wage Structure: Narrowing, Widening, Polarizing,” 2007, www.brookings.edu.
27 In 1995, the midway point: John Cassidy, “Who Killed the Middle Class?” 16 Oct. 1995, www.newyorker.com.
28 In contrast, the nation’s top 5 percent: Ibid.
29 According to a report compiled by Elizabeth Warren: Testimony of Elizabeth Warren, Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, U.S. Senate, 25 Jan. 2007, www.banking.senate.gov.
30 Over the same period, the top 1 percent: Emmanuel Saez, “Striking It Richer: The Evolution of Top Incomes in the United States (Update with 2007 Estimates),” Pathways Magazine, Stanford Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality, Winter 2008, 6–7.
31 And according to a report released in May 2010: “The State of Metropolitan America,” 9 May 2010, www.brookings.edu.
32 Indeed, in a 2008 Pew survey: Pew Research Center, “Inside the Middle Class: Bad Times Hit the Good Life,” 9 Apr. 2008, www.pewsocialtrends.org.
33 It was, according to Pew: Ibid.
34 In a revised take on the original Misery Index: Marcus Baram, “The Real Misery Index April 2010: Underemployment Woes Lead to Two-Tier Economy,” 12 May 2010, www.huffingtonpost.com.
35 One of the most glaring examples: Gretchen Morgenson, “Death of a Loophole, and Swiss Banks Will Mourn,” 26 Mar. 2010, www.nytimes.com.
36 According to the White House: Office of the Press Secretary, “Leveling the Playing Field: Curbing Tax Havens and Removing Tax Incentives for Shifting Jobs Overseas,” 4 May 2009, www.whitehouse.gov.
37 In December 2008, the Government Accountability Office: United States Government Accountability Office, “International Taxation: Large U.S. Corporations and Federal Contractors with Subsidiaries in Jurisdictions Listed as Tax Havens or Financial Privacy Jurisdictions,” Dec. 2008, www.gao.gov.
38 Even more egregiously: Ibid.
39 It’s as easy as opening up: Michael Brostek, “Cayman Islands: Business Advantages and Tax Minimization Attract U.S. Persons and Enforcement Challenges Exist,” United States Government Accountability Office, 24 Jul. 2010, www.gao.gov.
40 At the time of the GAO report: United States Government Accountability Office, “International Taxation: Large U.S. Corporations and Federal Contractors with Subsidiaries in Jurisdictions Listed as Tax Havens or Financial Privacy Jurisdictions,” Dec. 2008, www.gao.gov.
41 The company got billions from U.S. taxpayers: Farah Stockman, “Top Iraq Contractor Skirts US Taxes Offshore,” 6 Mar. 2008, www.bostonglobe.com.
42 In 2008, KBR listed 10,500 Americans: Ibid.
43 Indeed, back in 2002, to call attention: Arianna Huffington, “Tax Avoidance and a Tan: Why I’m Thinking of Moving This Column to Bermuda,” 15 May 2002, ariannaonline.huffingtonpost.com.
44 Washington has been trying: Stephen Ohlemacher, “Obama Cracking Down on Tax Havens,” Associated Press, 4 May 2009.
45 The latest tax-reform bills are far from perfect: Gretchen Morgenson, “Death of a Loophole, and Swiss Banks Will Mourn,” 26 Mar. 2010, www.nytimes.com.
46 As the law stands now: Pat Garofalo, “Baucus and Orszag See ‘Growing Sense of Inevitability’ for Ending Hedge Fund Manager Tax Break,” 13 May 2010, www.thinkprogress.org.
47 According to former labor secretary Robert Reich, in 2009: Robert Reich, “Closing Tax Loopholes for Billionaires,” 23 May 2010, www.huffingtonpost.com.
48 Closing this outrageous loophole: Ibid.
49 Indeed, the double standard was famously ridiculed: Tomoeh Murakami Tse, “Buffett Slams Tax System Disparities,” 27 Jun. 2007, www.washingtonpost.com.
50 A more accurate snapshot: Nan Mooney, Not Keeping Up with Our Parents: The Decline of the Professional Middle Class (Boston: Beacon Press, 2008), 3–6.
51 the jobless rate is almost 10 percent: Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization,” 2 Apr. 2010, www.bls.gov.
52 and twenty-six million people: Rex Nutting, “GDP to Show More Balanced Growth, Survey