Justice and Morality in the Modern American Economy

What We Will Explore

❖ Understanding the American Economy

❖ Looking at the Social Justice Issues

❖ Searching for Solutions

❖ A New Vision: Sowing the Seeds of a Just and Sustainable Society

Housekeeping Stuff

Class Notes:terryokeefe.atavist.com/classnotes/class-notes

Copies of Slides

Course Reading

Questions

Pre-Class Sessions

1947 - 2016: From Deep Equality to Deepest Inequality

How Did We Get from There to Here?

A Story in Three Parts

❖ 1947 - 1973: We Dreamed a Dream

❖ 1974 -1990: The Bubble Bursts

❖ 1991 - 2016: the Modern American Economy

1947 - 1973: We Dreamed a Dream

❖ After the War - America Rules

❖ From the Farms to the Factory

❖ Consumerism & Birth of the Middle Class

❖ Economy Grows at 3-4% for 25 Straight Years

❖ The Most Egalitarian Economy in History

1974 - 1990: Cracks in the Promised Land

❖ Foreign Competition

❖ Collapse of American Industries

❖ First Signs of Long-term Unemployment

❖ The Slow Demise of Labor Unions

❖ Balance of Power Shifts to Corporations

1991 - 2016 The Modern American Economy

❖ The Globalization of the World Economy

❖ The Rise of Automation

❖ Outsourcing of Jobs, Parts, Products, Plants

❖ Executive Compensation - Salary to Stock Options

❖ The Financialization of America

❖ Labor Shortage becomes a Labor Glut

❖ Productivity-Sharing Disappears

❖ Profits and Wealth Stream to the Top

❖ Public Policy tilts toward the Rich

❖ Decline in Upward Mobility

❖ An Aristocracy of Wealth

1991 - 2016 The Modern American Economy

What Drives Inequality❖ The Global Marketplace

❖ Technology and Outsourcing

❖ Hollowing Out of Middle-Class Jobs

❖ Workplace Imbalance

❖ Stock Option Compensation

❖ Lower Taxes on Corps and on the Rich

NEXT SUNDAY: Discuss the Reading Exploring the Economic Issues Economic Systems and Values