The Shrike Economy of America

Photo by Glenn Vermeersch - toughlittlebirds.com

I came to the realization that we are living in a Shrike world, where lower and middle income families are impaled on the spikes of the economy
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Distributional National Accounts: Methods and Estimates for the United States - Table II

I’m not a bird watcher by any means, so when I saw the word Shrike used as a title for a haunting song by an artist named Hozier, I had to look it up.  The Shrike is a small bird – no bigger than a Robin – that lives in a hedgerow and impales its prey on thorns.  For obvious reason, that image of a bird using a thorn bush as its own personal pantry was difficult for me to shake.  I ruminated about it for days.

Around the same time I was thinking about the Shrike’s unique hunting and feeding style, I read a report on the American economy – comparing population and income from 1946 to 1980 and then from 1980-2014.  This report, written by Thomas Piketty and a couple of UC Berkley professors, provides an equally haunting image; one that helped me better understand the seething sense of anger that bubbles up in social media and political campaign and in op-ed articles at just about every turn.

The authors state that “for the bottom 50% of working age adults….income has collapsed since 1979.”

 I know that we’ve seen this data in other ways, but the charts are stark and stunning.   In the 34 years between 1946 – 1980, the bottom 50% and the middle class was doing quite well.  For the most part during that period all lower and middle income groups saw incomes rise by more than 100%.  At the same time, the top 10% had more modest income gains; somewhere between 47-79%.

​But, in the 34 years between 1980 and 2014, the wheels fell off for the lower and middle income families.  Instead of income gains, those at the bottom saw a 25% decrease in income while others saw only single digit increases.  During those same 34 years, the wealthiest segment of the population saw income gains above 200%, 300%, 500% and even 600%.




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The data is pretty astounding.  I was pondering these reports and had the image of the Shrike in the back of my mind as I was walking into a Quaker meeting on a recent Sunday and the two images just merged together.  I stopped walking and stood for a moment to absorb the thought.  I came to the realization that we are living in a Shrike world, where lower and middle income families are impaled on the spikes of the economy so that the wealthiest can feed themselves to excess.

I’m not sure what to do with this image and information.  Just writing about it doesn’t seem to be enough.

I’m old enough to remember the venerable Senator William Proxmire, a Wisconsin legend.  I especially remember his Golden Fleece Award – issued monthly to government agencies that Proxmire thought were wasting taxpayer dollars.

Maybe it’s time to bring back that Proxmire tradition.  Maybe we should begin issuing monthly SHRIKE awards to the people and companies who do the most harm to lower and working class families; to those who use their position of influence and power to enrich themselves and their friends at the expense of the community.

The SHRIKE award shouldn’t be limited to politicians.  Slumlords would be an apt recipient as too would be the folks who were operating an opioid prescription mill in Wauwatosa, WI.  How about doctors who scam Medicare to enrich their own pocketbook?  Big environmental polluters would be good recipients.  After all, many companies pollute the environment while reaping profits from their actions and leave the “clean up” from their mess up to the taxpayers.
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Once you start thinking about it, the list of possible SHRIKE Award recipients seems – unfortunately – endless.  Who will you nominate?

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