Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: frustrated

Falling into the Income Gap

This article explains some more reasons why politicians are indifferent to America's economic problems.  (Link courtesy of my_partner_doug.) Being college-educated insulates them from the worst unemployment, as does living in or near Washington, D.C.  Their personal comfort robs them of a sense of urgency, such as is felt by the many citizens struggling to keep their lights on.  Also, when the wealthy 10% and the non-wealthy 90% differ on policy decisions, the wealthy opinion almost always prevails, based on observations of past results.

This is a problem, because when the gap between rich and poor gets too wide, a society tears itself apart.  History is quite clear on that point.  Even before it gets that bad, social aspects break down, causing an increase in crime and other problems.  So then, things that increase, or fail to alleviate, the widening income gap are actually un-American in that they reduce the chance of America surviving as a nation.  It would be bitterly ironic if one of the world's greatest social experiments collapsed because people couldn't be bothered to give a rat's ass about each other.  What war couldn't accomplish, greed and indifference very well might.
Tags: economics, news, politics
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  • 15 comments
siege

siege

March 5 2011, 03:46:00 UTC 10 years ago

I had a bit of a realization today, at work. Very rich people -- millionaires and billionaires -- might in fact NOT want deflation in their economy. Their power is based on having lots of money and resources to throw around, and deflation increases the buying power of people poorer than they, ironically proportionally decreasing their own power. Which means that more resources stay with the people who need them, instead of being pulled up to the top where those resources can be used to pump money into Scrooge McDuck's new bin.
ysabetwordsmith

Yes...

ysabetwordsmith

March 5 2011, 20:23:09 UTC 10 years ago

Likely so. That doesn't make their model of economy actually viable, though.