As most individuals and families in the country are acutely aware, the nation is in the midst of a middle-class squeeze as incomes become ever more polarized. The struggle for even two-earner households to cover such basic needs as housing, transportation, medical care and child care is intense. A Sept. 13 news article in The Salt Lake Tribune providing evidence of a relatively low level of inequality in Utah would seem to suggest that such strains do not apply here — or at least not as much as in the rest of the nation.
In fact, a fuller assessment of evidence reveals that Utah is not immune and in some ways is not well-positioned for the economic and social scourges rendered by growing inequality — what we characterize as “the great polarization.