Chart of the Day

This chart has popped up on a couple of cable programs, and it illustrates what the attempts by Rethugs to undermine unions mean for the middle class at large. The blue and red lines represent the middle class share of the national income and union membership, respectively, since 1967, and they track downward closely together. That's what is so significant about the recent events in Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan by corporate interests to turn back gains made by organized labor: the fight to maintain a middle class coincides with the fight to preserve union rights and membership.

(chart: K. Waters & D. Madland, Center for American Progress)