archive

Get serious about rising inequality

Eric M. Zolt (UCLA): Inequality in America: Challenges for Tax and Spending Policies. Wagner A. Kamakura (Rice): What Happened to the American “Middle Class”? Class and Consumption in America. From the Stanford Center, here is their first annual National Report Card on Poverty and Inequality. Dylan Matthews interviews Lane Kenworthy, a sociologist who has a plan to make America more like Sweden (and more and more, and the introduction to Social Democratic America). From The Atlantic Monthly, Anne-Marie Slaughter on how the U.S. economy does not value caregivers; and Barbara Ehrenreich on how it is expensive to be poor. Should we raise the minimum wage? Jordan Weissmann on 11 questions and answers. Full employment gives people jobs — but it also gives them power. Want to help the middle class? Don’t kill corporate taxes — whether abolishing the corporate income tax will mostly benefit shareholders or workers is an empirical question. Michael Lind on how the young elite rise in Washington, D.C.: The White House engages in blatant class discrimination by allowing One Percenters to subsidize it. Josh Marshall on socioeconomic acrophobia. If things are as awful as we think they are, why hasn’t there been a broader revolt? Matt Miller wants to know (and more). Robert Reich on why there’s no outcry. Paul Ryan is wrong: Wealthiest Americans are not “makers”, they’re mercenary takers. Rachel Pearson on Texas’ other death penalty: A Galveston medical student describes life and death in the so-called safety net. John Cassidy on ten ways to get serious about rising inequality. Tom Perkins was right: We do hate the rich — and for good reason (and more by Alex Pareene).