5. The US Political and Economic Scene

This chapter reviews the American political, economic and social scenes, and provides information about American involvement in conflict around the world, economic growth rates since the Great Depression, income and wealth inequalities, social mobility, labor participation in the workforce, and manufacturing jobs. Growth rates are low and are expected to remain low; wealth Inequality shows that the richest 1% of Americans own more that 50% of the wealth; social mobility is low and declining; discrimination is rising; participation in the workforce is the lowest in many years; and the manufacturing sector continues to lose jobs. Though the situation is stable, trends of change seem to suggest that a new crisis is looming.