Income inequality has been escalating in this country since around 1980 and continues to get worse. Manufacturing jobs have been disappearing since the late 1970s, and the jobs that have “replaced” them have been substandard.

The US labor union movement has done nothing to counter this, and as a result, the percentage of the unionized workforce is below 10%. Our national debt is over $39 TRILLION. Our “leaders” have no solutions for working people, whether they be Democrat or Republican, or leaders of the labor movement. In addition, Donald Trump has now initiated a war in Iran, even though the Iranians posed no credible threat to the US. He wants our sons and daughters to do the dirty work for Israel.

Led by fools and liars, our troops may be heading into a war that is likely to produce a high level of casualties. The situation requires some fresh thinking if we are to try to change it. This talk will try to clear up the fake underbrush about our situation so we can concentrate on the future.

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Author’s note:

I was asked to speak to a group in the San Francisco Bay Area about the war on the US working class and the war on Iran, which I did on March 29 (2026).

To do this, I went back to an article I published in 2009, detailing the war on working people in the US.  This article had been published in an Indian academic journal (Indian Journal of Politics and International Relations, and my article—you must scroll down—is in the issue at https://sirp.mgu.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/IJPAIR-Vol.2.-1-January-June-2009.pdf) and was partially republished by Z Net. It wasn’t published in several US publications to which I had submitted, and I have never seen it utilized by academics or activists in the United States, so it is all-but-unknown.  However, the material is increasingly important and arguably should be revisited.  It looks at changes in the US economy and the effects on workers between 1947 and 2005.

What my article shows is that this period is divided into two parts.  The first, from 1947-1973, shows the US economy growing, doubling real incomes after inflation was removed.  Not only that, but after dividing US income levels by fifths (quintiles), which is a standard tactic for sociologists, we can see that this growth level was distributed fairly equally across all five quintiles.  (Note:  all quintiles are 20% of the US income distribution except for the top level; the US Census Bureau does NOT show data for the 96-100^th percentiles, so the top category only shows 15% of the income distribution.  Nonetheless, my data is comparable since this is true across all time periods included herein.)  Anyway, the main point is true:  US incomes basically doubled over the period, and this held true for all five quintiles.  This is the period where the “American dream” was based on real economic growth and was distributed fairly equally.

However, the second part of the data, 1973 to 2005, we see radical change.  First, economic growth was much, much less, and incomes were unequally distributed.  In the first sub-part, 1973-2001, we see some growth at all levels—although far less than that of the 1947-73 period—but it became very unequal as one goes up the income level:  the lowest quintile (1^st) saw 14% growth, while the fifth , quintile saw 58% growth.

The second sub-part of the second part of the data—2001-2005, or W’s first term—we see things worsen drastically:  not only is their less growth—only 1.94% for the fifth (top) quintile!—but the bottom 80% (no misprint) LOST income during this period!  The top 5% captured whatever economic growth there was, not sharing it with the bottom 95%.

But what has happened since 2005?  To be honest, I don’t have the data to be able to present concretely.  The Census Bureau quit presenting it in ways that I could combine with that data that I had assembled earlier.  However, we had the Great Recession in 2008-09, and we know how well that went for people.  I don’t think there was much recovery between 2009 and 2019, especially in the early years, and then we had the COVID epidemic, and following….  So, my data is a snapshot of economic reality just before the Great Recession.

I think, by any reasonable standard of interpreting this economic data, that we can safely say that the ruling elites have been directly attacking Americans of all income levels, with the greatest negative impact being on the poorest quintile, since especially the turn of the 21^st Century!

After this presentation—which has not been put together in this way by anyone else to my knowledge—I then discussed the economic impact of the war on Iran and how it was also hurting Americans and, as always, hurting those in worse shape more than those in better shape.  Obviously, gas prices have shot up, and about 35% of the world’s fertilizer is now unavailable to the Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which will ultimately hurt farmers around the world, reducing crop production and food consumption, while raising the prices of agricultural-based commodities.  Not good—and bound to get worse the longer Trump’s war continues.  (And we are subsequently learning of further impacts, such as denial of helium, an essential chemical needed by the microchip industry; I’m confident in asserting that the impact will expand even more as the war continues.)

So, I definitively established—based on empirical data—that the economic war against most Americans began in the earliest days of this century and this war is escalating with Trump’s war against Iran.  No wonder most people are hurting from these on-going and now combined assaults, and it’s getting notably worse for many!

We discussed other things like how the US National Debt has expanded from $ .9 trillion in 1981, when Reagan entered the presidency, to over $39 trillion and growing today under Trump.  We also talked about the measure of income inequality—as computed by the CIA—showed the US to be more unequal in 2007 than some of the poorest nations on Earth, including Mozambique, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and elsewhere.  I’m not going to elaborate here, but these issues are explained and discussed in my article.

Interestingly, unlike many  Q & A sessions, the Q & A session after my presentation turned into a forum of very experienced organizers covering a wide range of issues, including globalism, white supremacy, the US Empire, building political organizations, as well as confronting issues such as how to consciously operate politically in a world that Trump seeks to totally dominate while seeking to build a strong and effective anti-war movement.   This discussion might be of interest to many people, so I’m including this in the presentation.

For those who don’t know me or are unaware of my work over the past 40 years, I’m a US military veteran (USMC, 1969-73, who stayed in the States the whole time), a long-time political activist and union member who has worked on a global scale, and have worked as an industrial printer, secretary, high school teacher, and finally as a Professor of Sociology at Purdue University Northwest; I’m now retired. I have published over 300 articles in the US and in 11 different countries.  My writings—most linked to original articles—can be found at https://www.pnw.edu/personal…/kim-scipes-ph-d/publications . 

If you are trying to think about organizing people, I think this video would be of great interest. If you think it’s worthy, please share widely with your contacts and ask them to share with your’s. When we get good material, we need to share it widely!  However, watching and discussing with groups of people might be an even better use of this video.

I hope it will be of interest to each of you and your friends!  Toward global solidarity!

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