Danger: Income Inequality Threatens National Stability
by Tula Connell, Oct 14, 2011
by Tula Connell, Oct 14, 2011
Income inequality has become so severe in this nation that people in Really Important Positions (except for most Republicans in Congress) are starting to take note–and issue warnings.
Saying “income inequality is just getting worse and worse and worse,” James Chanos, president and founder of the New York-based investment firm Kynikos Associates, told Bloomberg this week that the widening gap between rich and poor is reshaping the U.S. economy, leaving it more vulnerable to recurring financial crises and less likely to generate enduring expansions. As Bloomberg paraphrased his comments: Left unchecked, the decades-long trend toward increasing inequality may condemn Wall Street to a generation of unimpressive returns and even shake social stability… Separately, Nouriel Roubini, chairman of Roubini Global Economics and economics professor at New York University, published an article yesterday describing “The Instability of Inequality.” In it, Roubini argues that “globalization, unfettered financial capitalism, andredistribution of income and wealth from labor to capital could lead capitalism to self- destruct,”
Saying “income inequality is just getting worse and worse and worse,” James Chanos, president and founder of the New York-based investment firm Kynikos Associates, told Bloomberg this week that the widening gap between rich and poor is reshaping the U.S. economy, leaving it more vulnerable to recurring financial crises and less likely to generate enduring expansions. As Bloomberg paraphrased his comments: Left unchecked, the decades-long trend toward increasing inequality may condemn Wall Street to a generation of unimpressive returns and even shake social stability… Separately, Nouriel Roubini, chairman of Roubini Global Economics and economics professor at New York University, published an article yesterday describing “The Instability of Inequality.” In it, Roubini argues that “globalization, unfettered financial capitalism, andredistribution of income and wealth from labor to capital could lead capitalism to self- destruct,”
Which is why:
Even before the Great Depression, Europe’s enlightened “bourgeois” classes recognized that, to avoid revolution, workers’ rights needed to be protected, wage and labor conditions improved, and a welfare state created to redistribute wealth and finance public goods – education, health care, and a social safety net.
Today, Roubini warned, the United States and many other countries are ignoring these lessons at their peril. Any economic model that does not properly address inequality will eventually face a crisis of legitimacy. Unless the relative economic roles of the market and the state are rebalanced, the protests of 2011 will become more severe, with social and political instability eventually harming long-term economic growth and welfare. The incredible tenacity of protestors at Occupy Wall Street actions around the country has ratcheted up this much-needed discussion, one in which even the son of a billionaire sides with the 99 percent.
Even before the Great Depression, Europe’s enlightened “bourgeois” classes recognized that, to avoid revolution, workers’ rights needed to be protected, wage and labor conditions improved, and a welfare state created to redistribute wealth and finance public goods – education, health care, and a social safety net.
Today, Roubini warned, the United States and many other countries are ignoring these lessons at their peril. Any economic model that does not properly address inequality will eventually face a crisis of legitimacy. Unless the relative economic roles of the market and the state are rebalanced, the protests of 2011 will become more severe, with social and political instability eventually harming long-term economic growth and welfare. The incredible tenacity of protestors at Occupy Wall Street actions around the country has ratcheted up this much-needed discussion, one in which even the son of a billionaire sides with the 99 percent.
Says Howard Buffet, Warren Buffet’s son:
“There has never been a larger gap between earnings in this country. There has never been a time in my lifetime when the governement is going to cut an incredible amount of programs that support poor people and feed them.”
“There has never been a larger gap between earnings in this country. There has never been a time in my lifetime when the governement is going to cut an incredible amount of programs that support poor people and feed them.”
Ordo ab Chao
1 comment:
Says Howard Buffet, Warren Buffet’s son:
“There has never been a larger gap between earnings in this country. There has never been a time in my lifetime when the governement is going to cut an incredible amount of programs that support poor people and feed them.”
The "government" is using "my" tax money to fund people who want life-long HANDOUTS!!!! Get them OFF of handouts and IN in job market. That is the best thing that could happen to them AND taxpayers.
...And if you want to close the earnings gap, DONATE ALL OF YOUR MONEY TO THE POOR. Then both you AND the poor will be poor. Until the POOR STOP MAKING POOR DECISIONS, they will ALWAYS BE POOR!!!!! Wake up Buffett!!!
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