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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

The Rich are Getting Richer, in Oregon and U.S.

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Wednesday, April 9, 2008   

Portland, OR – Does it take money to make money? In Oregon, the answer seems to be "yes." A new report on the nation's "income gap" says the poorest families' wages in Oregon haven't changed much since the late 1980s, while the richest Oregonians' family incomes have grown by an average of 46 percent.

Jared Bernstein, an economist for the Economic Policy Institute, says the biggest gains are being made by those who are rich, even by rich people's standards.

"There's enough capital and labor income accumulating at the top of the scale that it's actually a recognizable share of the income distribution. So these very large gains that are occurring up there are quite clearly at the expense of more broadly shared gains throughout the income scale."

The gap between rich and middle-income Oregonians has grown faster than in any other state except Connecticut, according to the report. It also shows middle-class family income in Oregon has grown by 8 percent since the late 1980s. Bernstein fears most such families are not in good enough financial shape to weather an economic downturn.

"We're concerned that families are uniquely exposed, economically exposed, to the costs of recession, and we're talking about middle-income families, with incomes barely recovered over this business cycle. And as we head into the recession, their incomes will take a further hit."

Today, the richest families in Oregon make almost 12 times as much as the poorest. State governments can only do so much about these income gaps, but the report suggests they could be improving the unemployment system, making taxes more progressive and doing more to help low-income families with health care, child care and job training.

The full report, "Pulling Apart: A State-by-State Analysis of Income Trends," is a joint effort of the Economic Policy Institute and the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities. It's available online at www.cbpp.org.


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