LA becomes biggest city yet to agree to $15 minimum wage...

It looks like the "Fight for 15" continues to gather momentum...

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/20/us/los-angeles-expected-to-raise-minimum-wage-to-15-an-hour.html?_r=0

Income inequality in the United States...

In class we have been discussing income inequality in the United States.  We have been discussing how extreme income inequality has become and why.  And we have started to discuss what might be done to improve the situation.  The following articles all address some issue related to income inequality.  You are to read each and then respond on your own blog what you learned from the article.  Make sure to answer the questions listed under each article.  But don't stop there.  Go further.  Reflect on what the article means.  Connect it with what we have learned in class.  Provide your own reflection and analysis.

The first two articles address an issue we have already discussed.  The close connection between the decline of unions and the growth of income inequality...

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/02/27/3627959/unions-income-inequality-2/

http://www.epi.org/press/unions-decline-inequality-rises/

Questions:

1. Why does fewer workers in unions lead to greater income inequality?

2. What was the percentage of workers in unions in 1967 (estimate using the graph)?  What is the percentage of workers in unions today?

3. What happened in 1935 that helped unions grow?

4. What has happened since that has lead to unions decline?

The next article discusses how raising the minimum wage can help reduce income inequality...

http://www.epi.org/publication/its-time-to-raise-the-minimum-wage/

1. Which groups of workers would benefit most from a raise in the minimum wage?

2. What do they mean by "indexing" the minimum wage?  How does this help fix the inflation problem?

The last article connects income inequality with the recent riots in Baltimore...

http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/29/news/economy/roubini-baltimore-riots-inequality/

1. What does the author argue is the connection between the riots in Baltimore and economic inequality?

2. What does the author think we should do about it?  Do you agree?

Bonus question:  What is the cartoon on this post telling?  What do you think about it?

Income inequality and labor unions?...

The following video shows the close relationship between rates of unionization of workers and levels of income inequality in society...



This article goes into further detail on the subject...

http://www.epi.org/blog/union-decline-rising-inequality-charts/

What does this mean?  What is the connection between the current rates of union membership and inequality in U.S. society today?  Respond on your blog.