"These propositions are supported and developed in a new book called The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger. The book is reviewed by Daniel Finn in the current issue of Commonweal."
In the other post I referred to an article by Robert Reich: "A few days ago, I called attention
to a book whose thesis is that at a particular level of wealth, the
most important factor in a nation's well being is equality of income,
see here.
The lack of equality of income of in the United States is particularly
problematic. Robert Reich argues in the July 19/26 double issue of The
Nation argues that our income inequality caused the recession. He argues
that when earnings accumulate at the top, wealth is invested where
other big investors are likely to put their assets. This causes
speculative bubbles. Meanwhile, when wealth is concentrated at the top,
the rest do not have enough purchasing power to support the economy.
This helped us get into the recession and makes it more difficult to get
out.
"Reich
predicts that the pendulum will swing against the current inequality,
but he is not sure whether it will swing "with reforms that widen the
circle of prosperity or with demagoguery that turns America away from
the rest of the world, shrinks the economy and sets American against one
another."Reich outlines a series
of progressive reforms. But those reforms would require the support of
an enlightened business community to get through Congress.
"Although Reich purports to believe that such enlightenment will show up at some point, it seems more likely that change will only come when things get ugly -- when an economic populism of "mad-as-hell" Americans turn against the establishment. "
