Thread by @TheNextSystem

Do we need to just change who is running the system, or (also) change the system itself?

Let's look at the key indicators in the US that are declining or stagnant regardless of who has been in office so we understand the full scope of the problem.

Here come lots of 📉s! 1/

Let's start with the economy.

Since 1973, the poverty rate has remained relatively constant around 13% despite being named as a priority by most politicians from both major political parties. 2/

When we measure the poverty rate in line with international norms, out of the 36 OECD countries, the United States ranks dead last. 3/

Since 1970, the wealth share of the top 1 percent has substantially increased, while that of the middle 40 percent has fallen. 4/

Trends around wealth inequality are even more pronounced when looking at race. In 1983, Black and Hispanic households had just $7,000 and $4,100 respectively in median net worth. Median Black household wealth is on a path to hit zero by 2053. 5/

High levels of income inequality are associated with a host of negative effects, such as low social mobility, low economic growth, poor mental health, and more. 6/

The United States is one of the most economically unequal countries in the OECD. 7/

For the vast majority of Americans, wages have been stagnant for more than 40 years. Average hourly earnings today are essentially the same as they were in 1970 when inflation is factored in. 8/

How does the political economic system in the US treat women, children, and elders?

The US’s high rates of child poverty, when compared with other developed nations, are a direct result of differences in attention and funding. 9/

While improving in recent years, the United States still has one of the worst infant mortality rates of any advanced country. 10/

Due to the inadequacies of the retirement system, Americans retire at lower rates than their peers in other nations, remaining in the workforce longer. 11/

Around 36% of all women in the United States have experienced physical or sexual violence from a partner in their lifetime. 12/

The United States also has one of the worst maternal mortality rates among advanced countries, with around 26 mothers dying during childbirth for every 100,000 live births. 13/

The US continues to lag behind when it comes to representation in high political office. It famously has yet to have a woman president or vice president and just four women have served on the Supreme Court in its entire history (out of 114 total judges). 14/

Are Americans getting ahead or falling behind?

It was not uncommon in the 1960s to be able to pay for your entire year’s tuition + fees w/a part-time summer job, or for parents w/a blue-collar job to be able to afford a child’s tuition by saving a few weeks of their salary. 15/

Since 1970, the homeownership rate for Black and Hispanic families has been virtually stagnant (and the gap between them and White families virtually the same)—with any gains almost entirely wiped out by the the financial crisis. 16/

Does everyone in the US pay their fair share?

Starting in the 1970s, spurred on by the infamous “Powell memorandum” and conservative think tanks, corporations began to agitate for lower tax rates and utilize loopholes and accounting tricks to hide their profits. 17/

The top individual tax rate has fallen precipitously, with the biggest drops coming in during the Reagan administration as part of the now thoroughly discredited program of “trickle-down economics.” 18/

And how does the US system treat working people?

Since the 1970s, attacks on labor unions by businesses and their allies in government have continued to increase, causing union density to plummet. 19/

The official unemployment rate may be masking long-term, systemic weakness in the labor market. 20/

While union membership is declining across the advanced world, the United States continues to have lower rates than many of its contemporaries. 21/

SO MANY CHARTS! 22/

The US is not a healthy society.

The rising cost of healthcare has led to tens of thousands of bankruptcies as the result of medical debt, countless millions of severe illnesses and premature deaths, and the evisceration of savings and retirement income for many Americans. 23/

The reason for the incredible disparity between the US and other countries is driven, at least in part, by the for-profit nature of many parts of the healthcare system. 24/

Life expectancy in the United States has now dropped twice in the past three years, a trend unseen since the great influenza pandemic in the aftermath of World War I. 25/

Despite the extraordinarily high cost of healthcare in the United States, the system delivers comparatively poor outcomes across a variety of indicators.26/

The trends around the climate crisis are dire.

The historical legacy of US emissions (and the continued rise in emissions worldwide) has led to steadily increasing average temperatures in the United States. 27/

Despite recent reductions, the United States remains one of the world’s top contributors of the greenhouse gasses that are altering the planet’s climate and threatening the lives and livelihoods of tens of millions of people around the world. 28/

What about crime, punishment, and state violence?

Beginning in the 1970s US incarceration rates began to skyrocket. 29/

The United States has the highest prison population rate in the entire world. 30/

With the exception of Mexico, which is gripped by a drug war (fueled by US demand), the United States has the highest homicide rate of any OECD country (5 times higher than some European countries). 31/

The United States also plays a leading role in exporting violence around the world. 32/

Is this what democracy looks like?

Since the early 1970s, there has been a slow but steady erosion of public confidence in some of the key institutions of the United States’ democratic system. 33/

When measured against other OECD countries, the United States finished dead last in both the raw and weighted Index of Economic Democracy. 34/

You can access all of these charts, with expanded commentary, in both embeddable web versions and a nice PDF you can print and share, in our new Index of Systemic Trends. thenextsystem.org/learn/stories/… 36/