There is great hand-wringing in the United States about stagnant
living standards and rising inequality. But despite this growing
concern, too many liberals are reluctant to embrace the best proven
agent of greater earnings equality—strong labor unions. Many
well-meaning liberals point to global competition as the cause
of widening gaps between semiskilled and knowledge workers, creating
income disparity and stagnant living standards. According to their
formula, education and retraining are the remedy for this increasing
inequality.