Joseph Stiglitz: The Price of Inequality and the Myth of Opportunity

[marmar]

Published on Wednesday, June 6, 2012 by Project Syndicate
The Price of Inequality and the Myth of Opportunity

by Joseph Stiglitz


America likes to think of itself as a land of opportunity, and others view it in much the same light. But, while we can all think of examples of Americans who rose to the top on their own, what really matters are the statistics: to what extent do an individual’s life chances depend on the income and education of his or her parents?

Nowadays, these numbers show that the American dream is a myth. There is less equality of opportunity in the United States today than there is in Europe – or, indeed, in any advanced industrial country for which there are data.

This is one of the reasons that America has the highest level of inequality of any of the advanced countries – and its gap with the rest has been widening. In the “recovery” of 2009-2010, the top 1% of US income earners captured 93% of the income growth. Other inequality indicators – like wealth, health, and life expectancy – are as bad or even worse. The clear trend is one of concentration of income and wealth at the top, the hollowing out of the middle, and increasing poverty at the bottom.

It would be one thing if the high incomes of those at the top were the result of greater contributions to society, but the Great Recession showed otherwise: even bankers who had led the global economy, as well as their own firms, to the brink of ruin, received outsize bonuses. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/06/06-6

[polichick]

1. Loved his segment on NPR yesterday. k&r

[xchrom]

2. Du rec. Nt

[Bill USA]

3. great piece. recommended. bookmarked.

[bvar22]

4. At one time, not so long ago,

the USA had the wealthiest and most Upwardly Mobile Middle/Working Class in the World.

Does anybody remember what Economic Policies made that possible,
especially in regards to:

*Income Tax

*International Trade Policy

*Fair Competition (Sherman Anti-Trust Act)

*Banking & Investment regulation

*Affordable Higher Education

*Organized LABOR

*Quality family wide affordable Health Care

Refresh my memory,
which Political Party made those things possible for the Working Class,
and where ARE they today?



You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their excuses.
[font size=5 color=green]Solidarity99![/font][font size=2 color=green]
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[The Wizard]

5. General strike

or everyone takes off one day a week. If everyone takes off one day a week oil prices will drop because the lack of demand will drop accordingly. This means a cut in oil profits and that's less money the oil lobby has to bribe Congress.

[raccoon]

6. Bookmarked to read later. recd. nt

[yurbud]

7. and we haven't yet pried their manicured, sociopathic fingers from the levers of power

it's going to take a critical mass of protests, leaks, and non-cooperation by the middle class middle men needed to execute the orders of the sociopathic trust fund babies to bring them down.