Yeskel co-authors book on growing economic divide

by Daniel J. Fitzgibbons, Chronicle staff

Felice Yeskel

     "Society is growing more economically unequal," she says. "One percent of the population owns more wealth than 90 percent combined. That level of inequality hasn't been seen since 1929."

     Since the late 1980s, says Yeskel, "The economy has been great if you're an asset owner."

     As a counterpoint to the glowing news accounts of the economic boom, Yeskel translated her concerns about economic inequity into a new book, "Economic Apartheid in America: A Primer on Economic Inequality and Insecurity." As the title indicates, the work is intended to introduce readers to the economic system using straightforward language and easily understood illustrations, charts and cartoons.

     Released on Labor Day by The New Press, the book is co-authored by Hampshire College alumnus Chuck Collins and United for a Fair Economy, an advocacy group the two founded in 1994. Yeskel says the book is partly intended to serve as a "wake-up call" about what's wrong with the economy and offers some suggestions for turning things around through political action.

     Though she is not an economist, the director of The Stonewall Center has a longstanding interest in issues of class and their relationship to social problems such as racism, sexism and homophobia.

     The role of the economy in those issues came alive for Yeskel in the 1980s, when a number of groups, including gays, immigrants, women and children on welfare, and the homeless, became targets of political and social rhetoric.

     Both Yeskel, who was active on gay rights issues, and Collins, who was working on issues affecting the homeless, grew increasingly frustrated by the political and economic pressures that, in their view, were exacerbating the problems.

     "When people are stressed by work, they scapegoat people," says Yeskel. "Legislators were saying people were more worried about themselves than the homeless or immigrants."

     All the while, she said, some politicians exploited the divide, blaming various groups for a host of social, economic and political ills. But as Yeskel saw the problem, the divisiveness was directly related to economic pressures.

     "I don't think gay people are destroying the nuclear family," she remembers thinking at the time, "but the economy is."

     "My concern around issues of class led me kicking and screaming to economics," she jokes. Studying the development of the U.S. economic system and American history gave her a new perspective on the current state of the nation.

     "In the last 20 years, there have been dramatic shifts in the economy on the macro level," Yeskel says.

     Ordinary wage earners have seen their piece of the pie shrink away through the '90s, she notes, while wages stagnated and lost buying power. People are working longer hours and many families need two incomes to get by. More companies are hiring only part-time or temporary workers. Meanwhile, benefits such health care and pensions are greatly reduced, if they are offered at all.

     At the same time, says Yeskel, the wealthy are retreating to gated communities while the nation's prison system fills up with people from the bottom of the economic ladder.

     "In the 1960s, they launched a War on Poverty," says Yeskel. "In the 1990s, there's a war on the poor."

     And it's not just the poor who are getting hit, she says. "There's increased insecurity for people in the middle. The only ways for those people to improve their lives is by working more or taking on more consumer debt."

     Some traditional protections for the working class, such as labor unions, have been under attack for years, she says. Excluding public employees, only about 10 percent of the workforce is now unionized, she says, a sharp drop from the period following World War II when organized labor represented about one-third of workers.

     At the same time, Yeskel says, the government continues to negotiate free trade agreements that protect corporate interests, but offer few safeguards for workers in the either the U.S. or abroad. If anyone doubts the power of business, she adds, more than half of the largest economies in the world are corporations.

     Those trends and the growing influence of corporate power spell long-term trouble for the U.S. if they go unchecked, predicts Yeskel.

     "All of this puts tremendous stress on families," she says. "There's less time for children, less time for community activities, less time for charitable works and, I think, less time for the political process and that's very detrimental for democracy, society and the economy."

     Yeskel is particularly concerned about the increasing influence of corporations on the political process and elected officials.

     "You have to take contributions or court those interests to get elected. ... Given the way the political system is right now, they have to represent corporate interests," she says. "Ordinary people realize there isn't much difference between the two parties and that leads to apathy."

     But according to Yeskel, there are signs that there is nascent public awareness of the economic inequalities plaguing the country. During the past year, huge protests were mounted in Seattle during the World Trade Organization meetings and the International Monetary Fund conference in Washington, D.C. Coordinated protests are planned worldwide during next week's IMF-World Bank meeting in Prague.

     In those protests, Yeskel sees a reflection of earlier reform movements, including the rise of the Populist Party and the Knights of Labor in the 1880s and Huey Long's "share the wealth" campaign in the 1930s.

     A correction to the growing divide is overdue, says Yeskel, because too many people are on the losing end of the current economy.

     "Economics is not a science, it's about values. I just know that in my bones," she says. "I feel a moral obligation to do something about what I believe. ... As a new parent, I feel more of an obligation to take responsibility for the legacy my daughter is getting."

     Felice Yeskel and Chuck Collins will lead a mini-workshop and discussion of UFE's Campaign to Close America's Economic Divide on Thursday, Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. at Food for Thought Books, 106 N. Pleasant St. in Amherst. She will also be at the Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley on Oct. 21 at 3:30 p.m.