… and ….
The world’s productivity revolution is outpacing the political will of rich societies to fairly distribute its benefits. The result is widening inequality coupled with slow growth and stubbornly high unemployment.
I think Robert Reich has some interesting things to day in his essay: The Answer Isn’t Socialism; It’s Capitalism That Better Spreads the Benefits of the Productivity Revolution
Although I also think he’s kind of playing on the word “socialism” ina way that is not fully necessary, but that’s OK.
A resurgent right insists on even more tax breaks for corporations and the rich, massive cuts in public spending that will destroy what’s left of our safety nets, including Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid, fewer rights for organized labor, more deregulation of labor markets, and a lower (or no) minimum wage.
This is, quite simply, nuts.
And this is why a second Obama administration, should there be one, must focus its attention on more broadly distributing the gains from growth. This doesn’t mean “redistributing” from rich to poor, as in a zero-sum game. To the contrary, the rich will do far better with a smaller share of a robust, growing economy than they’re doing with a large share of an economy that’s barely moving forward.
As in the “Keep the money moving” theory of making for a stronger economy.