This is what class warfare looks like

It's a guerrilla war, a war of attrition, but a war nonetheless, with very real casualties. This, from the Christian Science Monitor for February 11, is another of those "let the item speak for itself" bits.

Most US workers saw their earnings fall or stagnate last year, with those at the bottom of the income scale hit hardest. ...

[T]he gap between workers in the 90th earning percentile and the 10th has never been wider. ...

The problem of widening wage inequality is not new, and is rooted in long-term trends. The rise of technology in the workplace, for example, puts a premium on educated workers and eats into the bargaining power of the less-skilled. The entry of about a million immigrants a year, puts downward pressure on wages in many low-income jobs. Offshore outsourcing of jobs and falling union representation also play a role. ...

The median weekly wage for the nation's 100 million workers was $625 in the fourth quarter last year. That's up 2 percent from the same quarter in 2002, barely beating inflation.

A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal-leaning think tank, finds that in 2003, earnings fell 0.1 percent for workers in the very middle of American wage scale (the 50th percentile.) Wages fell even more, 1.2 percent, for full-time workers at the lower end (the 10th percentile). For the 90th percentile, the change in after-inflation earnings was upward: a 1.1 percent rise.

The trend of widening wage gaps has been continuing, with few interruptions, since at least 1979. Today a worker at the 90th percentile earns $1,419 per week, 4.7 times as much as a worker at the 10th percentile in America's wage spectrum. In 1979, it was 3.7 times as much.

One irritating thing about the article is that is spent a fair amount of space considering how the harsh reality that too many of us face of struggling on in the face of squashed futures and blighted hopes will affect Shrub's re-election prospects. On the other hand, it did give the author a chance to say this:

Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina speaks of "two Americas," while the leading contender, John Kerry, promises "a prosperity where we will reduce the poverty of millions instead of constantly reducing taxes for millionaires."

Such appeals often haven't worked. Wall Street economist Lawrence Kudlow calls such talk "class-warfare speak."

But perhaps it could in a nation where the hottest Christmas sales this past season were at luxury stores like Tiffany.

Especially if people finally realize they're being played for suckers by corporate America and its fat cats.