The gap is growing between America’s rich and poor. Economic critic Robert Kuttner says the U.S. government must take a more active role in closing that gap. Kuttner is editor of American Prospect and his new book is The Squandering of America.
Weigh in: Have you seen changes in the gap between the rich and poor during your lifetime? Give concrete examples if you can.
The Squandering of America is available for purchase at amazon.com
I'm all for the mixed economy (middle-class Europeans I've known have a solidity, pleasantness, and low level of anxiety I generally see in America mostly in the children of the wealthy), but wasn't a great deal of the success of the post-war period's rooted in the rest of the world's either half-destroyed or mired in State Capitalism or both?
Good work, Mr. Kuttner. Keep talking it up.
I'm getting the distinct feeling that we're in a lot of trouble.
Oh yes being a "nouveau pauvre" myself I have seen this from both sides. I love the lack of concern (pretension) about "rank" and basic kindness I find among "working class" people and I get appalled at how I'm treated at the doctor's office, which is how the rest of the world always was.
My former career bears witness the deliberate destruction of American manufacturing by "financial engineers" after 1975, starting with American Can deciding to become Primerica. If only Mr. Kuttner can gain traction outside NPR-world to get his accurate message to the talking heads who don't understand the serious damage inflicted by thirty years of MBAs on Wall Street and in consulting. Thank you for this start on the dialogue.
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