Ending Hunger in America, 2014 Hunger Report Full Report | Page 57
CHAPTER 1
passing on debt to future generations of Americans who would pay for it in higher taxes.30
In fact, both political parties are more preoccupied with the deficit than they need to be.
From 1946 to 1976, the national debt actually doubled in size.31 But because the economy was
growing faster than the debt, the debt shrank to 33 percent of GDP.32 In the meantime, an entire
generation of Americans enjoyed rapidly improving living standards. Between 1947 and 1973,
the economy’s annual productivity growth averaged 2.9 percent,33 and because low unemployment was the norm, it was a period of broadly shared growth. That changed beginning in 1980,
when the gains from productivity
growth started to go increasingly to
Table 1.1 Jobs and Income Policy Preferences of Affluent vs.
the wealthiest Americans.
General Public
Productivity is still on the
increase; it has grown an average of
Policy
2.3 percent annually since 1995.34 If
this well-established trend continues
The government in Washington
ought to see to it that everyone
for the next 25 years, and if prowho wants to work can find a job
ductivity gains are broadly shared
The federal government should
again, the real value of wages (the
provide jobs for everyone able
value once adjusted for inflation)
and willing to work who cannot
find a job in private employment
will be on average 75 percent higher.
That’s quite a jump in disposable
Source: Demos. Table 2 in Mijin Cha (December 7, 2012), “Why is Washington Reducing the
income.