Sunday, March 24, 2013
Friday, March 22, 2013
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Dear President Obama … I hope you won't remain silent http://gu.com/p/3eg2t
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
The 1%
You forget one important reason for the stability of the US political system: a sizable and constantly growing middle class. The size and wealth of this stabilizing buffer of society has been shrinking since the 80s. The GDP per capita has doubled, but it has not doubled on all capita. For most people (most= more that 50%) the GDP on their capita has actually shrunk. Clearly the past three decades have witness a reallocation of this country wealth on an unprecedented scale. You ask "why shouldn't the top 1% have 40% of the nation's wealth? " The answer is very simple: it is for the same reason why the top 1% should not own 99% of the nation's wealth. The fact that the upward mobility in US is below that of Europe should worry people. And the great equalizer, education, is becoming a heavier burden on most households. At some point markets need a correction to help maintain that which is vital in a free market: fairness of competition. That is why monopolies were destroyed, not by the will of the markets, but by the will of the people, that is why insider trading is punished. That is why a minority owning a large chunk of the wealth can rigg the rules of the game to their will, to the point that if your're born on a wrong zip cote, "the shining city on the hill" will only be a postcard image for you.
Labels:
free markets,
wealth inequality
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)