Noon Edition airs on Fridays at noon on WFIU.

The United States has a problem with growing income inequality.

The post-World War II period saw major economic growth in the U.S. and the increases in earnings were fairly evenly distributed until the 1970s when the economy slowed down.

While top bracket incomes continued to grow, lower bracket incomes became stagnant.

This trend has largely continued to the present day, as CEO pay far outstrips that of the lower employees.

Though U.S. unemployment is at a two decades-long low and salaries are higher, actual purchasing power for lower income brackets is largely unchanged since the beginning of the 1970s according to Pew Research Center.

The result is a concentration of wages and wealth at the highest income brackets similar to the situation right before the Great Depression.

On this week's Noon Edition, we'll discuss widening income inequality in Indiana and around the country.

You can follow us on Twitter @NoonEdition or join us on the air by calling in at 812-855-0811 or toll-free at 1-877-285-9348. You can also send us questions for the show at news@indianapublicmedia.org.

Guests

Erin Macey, Policy Analyst at the Indiana Institute for Working Families

Dr. Leslie Lenkowsky, Professor of Practice, School of Public and Environmental Affairs

Conversation on Income Inequality

Erin Macey advocates for working families in Indiana and has seen the real effects of income inequality on Hoosiers.

"What this translates to is families making incredibly difficult decisions, feeling like they're living on the edge or being pushed over the edge, sometimes into bankruptcy," Macey says. "They're rationing medications, they're going back to work two weeks after a c-section because they can't pay the bills, they're leaving their infants in substandard child care so that they can work."

Macey suggests that we should empower workers to combat income and wealth inequality.

"When people are able to collectively bargain, wages are both more transparent, they're higher, and they have more benefits," Macey says.

Leslie Lenkowsky taught a course on income inequality at Indiana University. He argues that we need to exercise caution when implementing solutions to income inequality so that we don't make the situation worse.

"We always have to keep in mind there are plenty of things we could think of doing, but everything has a cost, and we have to make sure that in putting new programs in place that we don't make things worse," he says.

Lenkowsky is not surprised that politicians don't seem particularly interested in income inequality.

"In comparison to some of the European welfare states, equality and inequality have never had as much political resonance in the United States," he says.