Inequality is killing us

[applegrove]

Inequality is killing us

by Van R. Newkirk II

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/11/5/1445388/-Inequality-is-killing-us

"SNIP................


In addition to all the other things that wealth inequality is doing—establishing neo-caste systems, eroding mobility, perpetuating oppression, and generally stagnating societal development—Vox is reporting on a new book called The Health Gap by Michael Marmot that indicates that poverty and inequality themselves can make people sick and die earlier. Vox reports:

His findings are stunning. Marmot discovered that health and social status are often inextricably linked — even when you control for income, education, and other risk factors. This is true if you look at countries or at cities, or even drill down to the level smaller communities. And the implication of this research is that high levels of inequality can, on their own, make people sick.

Most famously, his Whitehall studies established a link between the relative rank of officers in the British civil service and their risk of disease and death. The higher an officer was ranked, the better his or her health. This was despite the fact that all civil servants were relatively well-off, with similar levels of education. Again, the stratification itself seemed to be the important factor.
One of Marmot's important findings is that both income and place in a hierarchy independent of income affect health. Higher-ranking individuals in the same class as lower-ranking individuals are still healthier on average. Both of these dynamics are important in the United States, where the middle is being stretched out between an increasingly large wealth gap.

What this also means, largely, is that government stimuli and welfare programs designed to reduce inequality might help make health outcomes better, especially for poor, minority, and other disadvantaged populations. This holds some interesting implications for the Affordable Care Act, which functions as both a stimulus and health care outcomes booster for low-income people. While this seems to be a boon to public health, states that have not chosen to expand Medicaid (largely in the Deep South) may set themselves back, creating a further reinforcement of inequality.




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[Rex]

1. 'poverty and inequality themselves can make people sick and die earlier.'

And it will get worse.

[applegrove]

2. That is probably why the higher ups in the GOP hate Obamacare so much....they need a die off of

the masses for some reason, probably so they alone can live forever when science makes it possible and to save on taxes.

[Rex]

3. Not some reason, advances in industry will make a lot of human labor obsolete

as robots take their place. What do you do with those extra people? Also the GOP knows as well as the Dems that we are moving as much industry offshore as possible. To save a buck. All for corporate gain, that runs government. This is known. Not new or sifi.

Yet it will be ignored along with the planet as it dies off, for human habilitation. Just humans are too greedy/shortsighted to keep their eye on what matters.

And they run the world. A few of them own half of it already. Around 80 people. Now ain't that a mind blower? All the billions in the world dying from hunger and neglect, yet 80 people own half the worlds wealth in 2015.

It cannot get better until it gets unavoidable. And I guess we just want that more than we want to be proactive on this planet.

[Hydra]

4. The sad thing is how many people think this is a great thing

We have enough for everyone, yet we're driven to destroy each other...