Cities take turn towards playground for rich

A generation ago, America's cities stood in a state of decay, largely abandoned by the wealthy for more suburban locales that sprawled across metropolitan areas that encircled urban centers.

Cities are increasingly home to only the wealthy.

But a funny thing happened in the last 20 years -- many children of those people who fled the city decided they wanted to live downtown, or at least closer to it. The result was places like New York City, Washington, Chicago and San Francisco became revitalized, but also insanely expensive. And many who had rode out the difficult times were now left to find someplace else to live.

Why is this? The population shift is a symptom of the times we live in. Many of those "making it" come from dual-income families that earn and therefore can spend more. But most everyday Americans don't fall into that category. In fact, for many of "the rest," pay has actually fallen in recent years.

A new National Bureau of Economic Research document details that shift. The more wealthy, increasingly white urban population can afford to buy homes close to their jobs. But most can't. As the Huffington Post details about the report:

This is primarily a story about time: Skilled workers, somewhat paradoxically, are working more than their unskilled counterparts. So gentrification becomes about moving to try to maximize the leisure time they have in the fraction of their lives that isn't spent sitting at a desk. 

But this is also a story about transportation and density, two things that American cities are notoriously poor at managing. If we built higher, more people could live closer to work for cheaper (empty foreign real estate purchases in New York aside). Similarly, if there were better public transportation from the city peripheries, there would be less need for the wealthy to crowd into the city centers.

The Teamsters agree that transportation plays a major role. That's why the union put forward it's "Let's Get America Working" platform earlier this year, and why a real investment in infrastructure is needed.

But with that said, neighborhoods are more vibrant when they are represented by a cross-section of this great country. People may not be able to live in their dream home, but they shouldn't be forced from the places they've called home for decades either. American cities should have a place for everyone to put down roots.

Congress needs to solve stagnant wages

The U.S. economic recovery is not what it seems. Yes, it is clear that the unemployment rate has fallen dramatically since the Great Recession ended. But the benefits that usually follow such a change, like wage hikes for everyday Americans, have been much harder to find.

In fact, low- and middle-income earners are struggling just to reach their salary levels before the recession. Nearly 15 percent of Americans lived in poverty last year, and the household median income hasn't budged in recent years. Why is that? There are a multitude of reasons.

As former labor reporter Steven Greenhouse wrote in The New York Times:

In fact, the labor market is a lot softer than a 5.1 percent jobless rate would indicate. For one thing, the percentage of Americans who are working has fallen considerably since the recession began. This disappearance of several million workers — as labor force dropouts they are not factored into the jobless rate — has meant continued labor market weakness, which goes far to explain why wage increases remain so elusive. End of story, many economists say. 

But work force experts assert that economists ignore many other factors that help explain America’s stubborn wage stagnation. Outsourcing, offshoring and imports exert a steady downward tug on wages. Labor unions have lost considerable muscle. Many employers have embraced pay-for-performance policies that often mean nice bonuses for the few instead of across-the-board raises for the many.

The Teamsters have been sticking up for workers on this issue for years, and renewed that push as part of our "Let's Get America Working" platform rolled out in September. Finally, it seems others are beginning to take notice as well. Income inequality is becoming rampant in this country. But how do we overcome it?

It begins by having Congress reject lousy trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would ship thousands of jobs overseas and reduces the wages for many that are left behind. Elected officials also need to invest in infrastructure, which in turn will create good-paying jobs. And they must allow workers to organize for more power and fairness on the job.

Lawmakers can no longer turn a blind eye to the nation's workers. They need to be recognized and represented. That means approving policies that help them, not just big business.