economic inequality – American Delusions

What’s Wrong With Inequality – the word?

November 26, 2021 Comments Off

Ban inequality – the word, the naked word, from our political rhetoric. Inequality is everywhere around us in the media sphere as well as in our day-to-day conversations. Amongst progressive folk one can drop the word like an F bomb and summon up agreeable outrage in one’s interlocutors without saying --->> read more -->>

Tightrope – Americans reaching for hope by Kristof and WuDunn – book review

May 1, 2020 Comments Off

Kristof and WuDunn’s book, Tightrope – Americans Reaching for Hope, spent some weeks on bestseller lists. Kristof is a well known reporter and writer for the NYTimes. It centers around the town of Yamhill OR and the people that Kristof grew up among. The stories of industrial decline, increasing inequality, --->> read more -->>

Recently Noted – Robert Reich: how we got into this mess and how we get out of it

December 29, 2017 Comments Off

Recently Noted – Robert Reich: how we got into this mess and how we get out of it This is a good description of how we got into our current mess; the way out is weaker. Nevertheless, well worth the six minute view. A few thoughts To be clear the --->> read more -->>

Recently Noted: World Inequality Report 2018 – findings and policies

December 14, 2017 Comments Off

Inequality in the World – findings Inequality in wealth and income is not a new phenomenon. Nevertheless, recent decades in the US, and as this new report World Inequality Report 2018 shows, the world has seen a real explosion in inequality. As shown in the charts below the US is --->> read more -->>

Fragmentation and Isolation in the US Economy – Distressed Communities Index

September 29, 2017 Comments Off

It is widely known that the bottom 80% of the US population has been stuck in neutral or gone backwards in terms of income and wealth over the last 45 years. But even this woeful state of affairs is not distributed evenly across the country. A new analysis of the --->> read more -->>

Affirmative Action For Whites – began in the 1930s

July 17, 2017 Comments Off

Affirmative Action For Whites – began in the 1930s As noted here in “Creating Segregated America in the 20th Century – government in action” segregated America didn’t happen by chance nor by choice of the victims. Consistent white supremacist government action supported by private institutions created the segregation that persists --->> read more -->>

Building the New American Economy – Not

April 5, 2017 Comments Off

The title of this short book, only 130 pages, Building the New American Economy: smart, fair, & sustainable by Jeffrey D. Sachs with a foreword by Bernie Sanders (Columbia University Press, 2017) is unfortunately misleading. There is much here about the new economy. The misleading part is that there is --->> read more -->>

economy

Park Avenue and How We Got There

January 22, 2017 Comments Off

“There” is our current situation in which our government has been bought by the rich and corporations, over 80% of the population has not had a pay raise in 40 years and the public sphere, schools, parks, our infrastructure, really anything not behind the gated walls of private wealth, is --->> read more -->>

Economic Inequality – Does It Matter?

May 9, 2012 Comments Off

It is fairly widely known that income and wealth inequality in the US is as high or higher than at any time except perhaps the Robber Baron period at the end of the 19th century. Lots of articles and books explain how this has come about over the last 30 --->> read more -->>