What Candidates Talk About When They Talk About Equality

http://www.thenation.com/article/what-candidates-talk-about-when-they-talk-about-equality/

While it would be wrong to imply that the mainstream media are ignoring economic inequality, Americans remain sadly uninformed about the severity of the problem. A study recently published in Perspectives on Psychological Science asked Americans to guess the ratio between the average Fortune 500 CEO’s earnings and their workers’ wages. The average estimate: 30 to 1. The truth: 354 to 1.

When the conversation is not overwhelmed by talk of “anchor babies” and Mexican murderers, Republicans are occasionally asked to address inequality. Some attack the banks, while others fulminate against the Fed or the Export-Import Bank. A few complain about corporate welfare. All of them attack Obama. One suspects that in this case, if not any others, Rand Paul was speaking for the pack when he explained: “Income inequality is due to some people working harder and selling more things…. We all end up working for people who are more successful than us.” He went on to add: “And that’s a good thing.” (Unique among his rivals, Donald Trump has called for higher taxes on the wealthy, especially hedge-fund managers and others who use the “carried interest” loophole to pay a fraction of the rate paid by wage earners.)

Almost never, however, is inequality tied to the myriad problems it causes in public and private life, to say nothing of the mockery it makes of the American Dream. To the GOP hopefuls, addressing the problem is as simple as stimulating growth. As Jeb Bush told National Journal, “If you’re not growing the economy, you’re not going to deal with income inequality.” Almost always, Barack Obama is blamed for standing in the way.

Bernie Sanders is obviously talking a great deal about inequality, though even his signature issue has been overshadowed by the controversy caused by the Black Lives Matter interruptions (and shut-downs) of his speeches, along with less serious distractions. This is deeply unfortunate, because Sanders is seeking to start a conversation that we have never before had in this country. Unlike pretty much every other serious candidate for national office in the past century (at least), Sanders is not “pro-growth” per se. As Jim Tankersley pointed out on The Washington Post’s Wonkblog, Sanders believes that “unchecked growth—especially when 99 percent of all new income goes to the top 1 percent—is absurd.” He has no interest in “growth for the sake of growth.” Instead, he seeks to foster “a society that provides a high quality of life for all of our people.” This will require the assertion of healthcare, childcare, and educational opportunity as fundamental rights, for starters. Sanders is also highlighting the destructive impact of unchecked growth on climate change and other environmental issues. He judges elite arguments about economic efficiency as simple corporate manipulation: “They’re efficient for the people who own the corporations. They’re not particularly efficient for the people who have been thrown out on the street.”