“Bloodiest thing the world has seen”: David Cay Johnston on inequality’s looming disaster

[malaise]

http://www.salon.com/2014/05/22/bloodiest_thing_the_world_has_seen_david_cay_johnston_on_inequalitys_looming_disaster/
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Despite coming out during the same year as “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” and “The Divide,” Johnston’s newest release, “Divided: The Perils of Our Growing Inequality,” is a different kind of inequality book. Rather than a sweeping overview of centuries of economic history, or an on-the-ground examination of how our justice system ignores the powerful while brutalizing the rest, Johnston’s book is a collection of essays, speeches and excerpts — a kind of inequality reader. Featuring insights from philosophers, economists, journalists, researchers and even politicians, “Divided” reminds us how inequality is one of those rare problems that truly matters to all of us, no matter what our interests or chosen field.

Earlier this week, Salon reached Johnston via telephone to discuss “Divided,” whether American democracy can survive such great economic disparities, and how returning to a more equal society is literally a matter of life and death. Our conversation follows, and has been slightly edited for clarity and length. In addition, Johnston followed up with further thoughts via email.

To turn from how bad things are getting to how we can make them better, I’d like to ask you what solutions you’d like to see people organize around in terms of reducing inequality?

Number one, we’ve got to change the makeup of Congress. The Democrats got 1.4 million more votes than the Republicans [in 2010] but they have a minority [in Congress] because of gerrymandering. So we need to have state legislatures — and we may need a constitutional amendment to make districts evenly divided between the parties — that will get us more centrist candidates rather than extremists on both left and right.

Secondly, we’ve got to restore unions. If you believe in market economics, you’ve gotta believe in unions. Now, unions aren’t perfect, but neither are corporations, or the government or, for god’s sake, the clergy. Unions allow people as a group to negotiate for reasonable pay, and without unions you have big corporations, and individuals who have no bargaining power, such as a lot of unemployed workers. Our competitors all have unions. The Germans even have unions for executives. So we need to get back to unions if we’re going to improve people’s economics.

[rurallib]

1. mark to read tomorrow.

[Jefferson23]

2. It's the money, malaise..in the election cycles. It has to be confronted head on.

I support Senator Sanders, because he is speaking to the heart of the issue, he
knows the US must fight to over turn Citizens United and then move to public
funded elections...or this is all Americans will ever receive, the great uniter? I
don't think so.

* The president has consistently sided with Wall Street, whether it’s not prosecuting the criminality which brought down the economy in 2008, or supporting the Trans-Pacific Partnership — which is not about “free trade,” it’s about protecting existing ownership interests against the future. And so he’s just a really good example of where what he says and what he does don’t align. I don’t know the explanation for that. But having watched him very closely, I think it has to do in part with [that] he wants very much to be … the great uniter. And if you’re going to bring about the kind of change I think we need, there’s going to be a lot of divisiveness about it; and he just doesn’t have a stomach for it, it’s not who he is. He’s the “Can we please get along here together?” guy.

[malaise]

8. Did you see that Geithner interview with Jon Stewart

He pretty much said that the government's role is to prop up capitalism no matter the corruption.

[Jefferson23]

10. Yes, I saw that..he was a total failure and it is infuriating to listen to him.

Last edited Fri May 23, 2014, 03:49 PM - Edit history (1)

His legacy of complicity and failure will follow him no matter how many books he
writes in his defense.

[KoKo]

3. Recommend...

[adirondacker]

4. Big Kick & Rec! REALLY interesting read. Thanks for posting. nt

[G_j]

5. a constitutional amendment to make districts evenly divided between the parties

if only.. I'm now n one of those districts,

[snot]

6. Agreed; excellent read.

[cantbeserious]

7. Who Stole The American Dream - Hedrick Smith

Snip ...

As only a veteran reporter can, Smith fits the puzzle together, starting with Lewis Powell’s provocative memo that triggered a political rebellion that dramatically altered the landscape of power in Washington from then until today.

This is a book full of surprises and revelations—the accidental beginnings of the 401(k) plan, with disastrous economic consequences for many; the major policy changes that began under Jimmy Carter; how the New Economy disrupted America’s engine of shared prosperity, the “virtuous circle” of growth; and how America lost the title of “Land of Opportunity.” Smith documents the transfer of $6 trillion in middle-class wealth from home- owners to banks even before the housing boom went bust, and how the U.S. policy tilt favoring the rich is stunting America’s economic growth.

This book is essential reading for all of us who want to understand America today, or why average Americans are struggling to keep afloat. Smith reveals how pivotal laws and policies were altered while the public wasn’t looking, how Congress often ignores public opinion, why moderate politicians got shoved to the sidelines, and how Wall Street often wins politically by hiring over 1,400 former government officials as lobbyists.

Snip ...

http://hedricksmith.com/books/who-stole-the-american-dream/

Snip ...

It is sweeping in scope, broad but not particularly fresh to readers attuned to identifying the flaws in American society. For readers not so attuned, the book will almost certainly offer huge chunks of red meat as an incentive to improve American society.

Perhaps the most painful factor in the dismantling of a nation that used to value fairness is the shrinking of the middle class in tandem with creating a larger than ever gulf between the extremely wealthy and the extremely poor.

Smith makes the case that this did not occur by accident, or due to objective market forces. Instead, Smith shows how corporate chieftains in cahoots with their stockholders rather than their employees sold out those employees — sold them out with the blessing of U.S. senators, U.S. representatives, U.S. presidents, presidential appointees at executive branch agencies and a bare majority of U.S. Supreme Court justices validating the decisions of mostly Republican-appointed lower court judges.

Snip ...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2012/09/30/review-steal-the-dream/1601307/

[malaise]

9. Thanks for the links