The haves and the have nots
We examine the Occupy Wall Street movement and ask what has happened to the American middle class.
If you believe the protesters on Wall Street, there is a one to 99 per cent split between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’.
The ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protestors chant is: “We are the 99 per cent”, as opposed to the one per cent of society who make the big money while everyone else just gets by.
The average American household still has an income somewhere between $30,000 and $80,000, which really has not improved since the Great Depression.
Yet, today there is a top one per cent of earners with an average salary of $380,000 a year.
The spread between the two is quite alarming. So just what has happened to the middle class in the US?
Also on the show, we talk to the head of SAP, the world’s biggest business software company, about creating jobs and the Eurozone crisis.
Bill McDermott, co-CEO of SAP, tells Counting the Cost how the German company has kept itself out of trouble and what he thinks about the Eurozone’s attempts at recovery.
And not only has the McDonald’s Big Mac shrunk in Argentina, you will be lucky to even find it on the menu. So what does that tell us about the country’s economy?
Counting the Cost can be seen each week at the following times GMT: Friday: 2230; Saturday: 0930; Sunday: 0330; Monday: 1630. Click here for more on Counting the Cost. |
