Wednesday, November 23, 2011

A terrific video, and the questions it doesn't ask.



There's plenty in this video I can get behind. The super-rich need less influence on the government and higher taxes, so that government services can be restored. 

But he doesn't ask the question, here, of how the gap-growth between the rich and poor got started in the first place. Incidentally, I can't think of any reason why the incomes of the middle class should be proportionate to the growth of the economy at all.

If that were the case; i.e., if "a rising tide lifts all boats" (which it doesn't), average working Americans would be making much more money than they currently do--and notably, terrifically more money than average working-class people around the world.

That's the rub. The economy growth of a single country has no relationship at all to the world labor market. In fact, the more power that globalization wields against wages (which will only increase), the less will the middle class have any means, or even justification, for seeing any benefit from economic growth. As long as incomes keep pace with inflation (it's in corporations' interest to keep their prices within the purchasing means of most people), the market will never share the country's wealth with the middle class.

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