We Need to Understand the Anger That Has Fueled the Trump Campaign

By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Facebook Page

25 October 16

o understand the anger that has fueled the Trump campaign, look at 5 trends.

1. Whites saw their household net worth fall from a median of $192,500 before the Great Recession to $141,900 in 2013, according to a Pew Research Center analysis. (Whites still have an average net worth about 13 times greater than blacks and 10 times greater than Hispanics.)

2. Factoring in inflation, white male’s salaries have barely budged in the past decade, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Still, their paychecks, on average, are far larger than those of women, blacks and Hispanics.)

3. White women have overtaken men in earning college degrees, according to census data. (White men still hold a big educational advantage over blacks and Hispanics.)

4. Fueled by suicides, drug overdoses and alcohol-related illnesses, mortality rates for middle-age whites have increased even as they continue to fall among middle-age blacks and Hispanics. (Still, white men continue to have a longer life expectancy than black men, according to Centers for Disease Control data, though shorter than Hispanics.)

5. The number of incarcerated white men has ballooned, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. (Black and Hispanic men remain far more likely to be jailed.)

If these 5 trends continue, the anger that fueled Trump could well fuel another demagogue.

What do you think?