Word: underclasses
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Murray ends his Wall Street Journal editorial (which is an excerpt from his forthcoming book) with a distressing conclusion: "Unchecked, these trends will lead the U.S. toward something resembling a caste society, with the underclass mired ever more firmly at the bottom and the cognitive elite ever more firmly anchored...
...just alter the roles of blacks as consumers and producers of art. They have also influenced the very nature of the new black art. For African Americans, it is the best of times and the worst of times: America has the largest black middle class and the largest black underclass in its history. The current achievements in black culture are unfolding against this conflicting socioeconomic backdrop. Despite remarkable gains, a sense of precariousness haunts the new black middle class and the art it creates and takes to heart. The economic advancement remains newfound and insecure. Hence the new black...
...similar argument can be made for welfare reform. The natural rate of unemployment includes people who are between jobs as well as people who can't find work. It doesn't include members of the welfare underclass who aren't even looking for a job. Putting them to work increases total employment but does not create inflationary pressure...
Workers who are not part of the underclass are feeling some of the same put- it-in-their-face spirit. Many who once thought they did not need a union to enjoy good pay and pleasant working conditions have changed their minds. Ruthless company-downsizing drives and continued layoffs, coupled with rising pay for top managers, have made their bosses look a good deal less benevolent. After Armco Steel announced a stock offering that included $45 million to be sold to key managers on generous terms, while leaving health and benefit plans unfunded to the tune of $1 billion, workers...
...passage of two years has not vindicated Quayle's Murphy Brown salvo.The proof is in his own book. It's not just that Bush and Quayle lost the election. It's not just the current emphasis on welfare as the source of all evil in the underclass. (If welfare is the cause of single motherhood and cutting off welfare is the solution, what does Murphy Brown have to do with anything?) Even Quayle now distances himself from the cultural...