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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJoseph Stiglitz: Slow Growth and Inequality are Political Choices. We Can Choose Otherwise.
November/December 2014
Conclusion: Slow Growth and Inequality are Political Choices. We Can Choose Otherwise.
By Joseph E. Stiglitz
The growing debate about inequality in America today is, above all, about the nature of our society, our vision of who we are, and others vision of us. We used to think of ourselves as a middle-class society, where each generation was better off than the last. At the foundation of our democracy was the middle classthe modern-day version of the small, property-owning American farmer whom Thomas Jefferson saw as the backbone of the country. It was understood that the best way to grow was to build out from the middlerather than trickle down from the top. This commonsense perspective has been verified by studies at the International Monetary Fund, which demonstrate that countries with greater equality perform betterhigher growth, more stability. It was one of the main messages of my book The Price of Inequality. Because of our tolerance for inequality, even the quintessential American Dream has been shown to be a myth: America is less of a land of opportunity than even most countries of old Europe.
really good:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/novemberdecember_2014/features/conclusion_slow_growth_and_ine052716.php?page=all
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Can you say "Keynesian"? Not with this media, thank you.
so few listen
thanks for your reply Octafish,,
Stiglitz deserves more than crickets!
peace,
kp
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Monday, September 16, 2013
By Greg Palast for Reader Supported News
Joseph Stiglitz couldn't believe his ears. Here they were in the White House, with President Bill Clinton asking the chiefs of the US Treasury for guidance on the life and death of America's economy, when the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers turns to his boss, Secretary Robert Rubin, and says, "What would Goldman think of that?"
Huh?
Then, at another meeting, Summers said it again: What would Goldman think?A shocked Stiglitz, then Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisors, told me he'd turned to Summers, and asked if Summers thought it appropriate to decide US economic policy based on "what Goldman thought." As opposed to say, the facts, or say, the needs of the American public, you know, all that stuff that we heard in Cabinet meetings on The West Wing.
Summers looked at Stiglitz like Stiglitz was some kind of naive fool who'd read too many civics books.
CONTINUED...
http://www.gregpalast.com/larry-summers-goldman-sacked/
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Octafish
(55,745 posts)...from Trickle Down Supply Side Market Driven Voodoo Economics as practiced by Witch Doktor Ronnie Reagan and his shaman wannabe accomplices in fraud.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered it was a false Hope -- not just on my part.
eppur_se_muova
(36,289 posts)Different bunch of oligarchs, same attitude.
daleanime
(17,796 posts)Missed this yesterday, glad to catch it now.
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)More education and more labor force participation, for example, are NOT going to create more jobs, much less more "good" jobs.
And when he says "the growing debate about inequality". Well, that seems to have been settled in the last election, as the voters, once again, voted for MORE inequality. Not that voters really had much choice, in that regard.
The2ndWheel
(7,947 posts)The reason the US doesn't get healthcare is because Europe does. US taxpayers pay for a global military, so nobody can say no to the US government if something needs to be done militarily. Countries in Europe obviously used to be expanding empires, but they lost the 20th century, which they're ok with now, because they have a bunch of social programs they can pay for instead.
Nothing happens in a vacuum. Europe doesn't get all their "free" stuff just because they're smart.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)are always, and I mean always, right. Yet no one ever seems to pay any attention to them. Prophets without honor.
redruddyred
(1,615 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Just brilliant!
It's a damned shame we cannot adopt some of Joseph's common sense solutions.