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Nicholas Kristof takes another shot at painting for us the lurid picture of American inequality, and since I am feeling a little depressed after last night's debate, as we stare down the barrel of a possible Romney victory and the effective consolidation of plutocratic rule, I will keep Kristof's cute little morality play.
Before we do that, though, one substantive point that he raises is worth highlighting. He notes that when Americans are asked which country they would prefer to live in, in terms of wealth distribution, America or Sweden, 90% of Americans actually prefer Sweden, at least when the national labels are not used but are only denoted by their distribution. You have to wonder why the Democrats cannot win when they have overwhelming facts like this on their side, but as Kristof concludes: "Perhaps nothing gets done because, in polls, Americans hugely underestimate the level of inequality here. Not only do we aspire to live in Sweden, but we think we already do." But why can't we get past this lie, when it is not even a close call?
_ _ _
Imagine a kindergarten with 100 students, lavishly supplied with books, crayons and toys.
Yet you gasp: one avaricious little boy is jealously guarding a mountain of toys for himself. A handful of other children are quietly playing with a few toys each, while 90 of the children are looking on forlornly — empty-handed.
The one greedy boy has hoarded more toys than all those 90 children put together!
“What’s going on?” you ask. “Let’s learn to share! One child shouldn’t hog everything for himself!”
The greedy little boy looks at you, indignant. “Do you believe in redistribution?” he asks suspiciously, his lips curling in contempt. “I don’t want to share. This is America!”
And then he summons his private security firm and has you dragged off the premises. Well, maybe not, but you get the point.
That kindergarten distribution is precisely what America looks like. Our wealth has become so skewed that the top 1 percent possesses a greater collective worth than the entire bottom 90 percent, according to the Economic Policy Institute in Washington.
-- Nicholas D. Kristof at The New York Times
Before we do that, though, one substantive point that he raises is worth highlighting. He notes that when Americans are asked which country they would prefer to live in, in terms of wealth distribution, America or Sweden, 90% of Americans actually prefer Sweden, at least when the national labels are not used but are only denoted by their distribution. You have to wonder why the Democrats cannot win when they have overwhelming facts like this on their side, but as Kristof concludes: "Perhaps nothing gets done because, in polls, Americans hugely underestimate the level of inequality here. Not only do we aspire to live in Sweden, but we think we already do." But why can't we get past this lie, when it is not even a close call?
_ _ _
Imagine a kindergarten with 100 students, lavishly supplied with books, crayons and toys.
Yet you gasp: one avaricious little boy is jealously guarding a mountain of toys for himself. A handful of other children are quietly playing with a few toys each, while 90 of the children are looking on forlornly — empty-handed.
The one greedy boy has hoarded more toys than all those 90 children put together!
“What’s going on?” you ask. “Let’s learn to share! One child shouldn’t hog everything for himself!”
The greedy little boy looks at you, indignant. “Do you believe in redistribution?” he asks suspiciously, his lips curling in contempt. “I don’t want to share. This is America!”
And then he summons his private security firm and has you dragged off the premises. Well, maybe not, but you get the point.
That kindergarten distribution is precisely what America looks like. Our wealth has become so skewed that the top 1 percent possesses a greater collective worth than the entire bottom 90 percent, according to the Economic Policy Institute in Washington.
-- Nicholas D. Kristof at The New York Times
