In today’s New York Times, Timothy Noah extends the Times’
ongoing discussion of The
Great Divide, “a series on inequality — the haves, the have-nots and
everyone in between — in the United States and around the world, and its
implications for economics, politics, society and culture.
“The series moderator is Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel
laureate in economics, a Columbia professor
and a former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and chief economist
for the World Bank.”
Noah’s central point is that the wealth being accumulated by
the 1% of us is a challenge to America’s economic health and so is the growing
skills-based gap.
I’d add that the 1% ought to be worried about the growing
poverty within the 99% because that’s money disappearing from the pockets and
purses of the customers and potential customers needed to buy the goods and
services offered or promoted by the 99%—and the erosion of the buying power of
the 99% has been continuing since 1979.
Also, the 1% needs to remember that the world history of
revolutions tells us gross imbalances in rich vs. poor have ultimately not gone
well for the terribly outnumbered rich.
Timothy Noah is the author of “The Great Divergence:
America’s Growing Inequality Crisis And What We Can Do About It.”
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