Inequality: The New Gilded Age
A conversation between Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald reportedly went like this: Fitzgerald says, “The rich are different from you and me.” To which Hemingway responded, “Yes, they have more money.” You bet they do. And now more than ever. The old Gilded Age pales in comparison to the current one. The wealthy of the late 19th century: Rockefeller, Vanderbilt and Mellon look impoverished in relation to the current crop of Bezos, Gates and Buffet. Inequality is at record levels. How has it happened? The attack on unions has hurt workers. CEO pay has gone through the roof. There have been massive tax cuts for the haves while the have-nots see their social safety net eroded. The enormous excesses of the first Gilded Age led to a populist backlash and the Progressive Era. Could we see a repeat of that today?
Speaker
Chuck Collins
Chuck Collins is director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies. He is author of Born on Third Base, 99 to 1 and Is Inequality in America Irreversible?
Michael Bennett –
Excellent discourse on the true economic reality.
Ruth Darden –
His lecture gave me more hope than I have been able to muster for many years.
Raoul –
Great talk. Thankfully there are many rich people who have a conscience and are on-board to do the right thing.
The 2010 midterms radical gerrymandering combined with voter suppression led to the current state of more Repub power than would exist otherwise. Repubs who don’t ‘cooperate’ with this PLAN will be pushed aside too if they’re no longer ‘useful’. People like James Buchanan and Charles Koch have long understood the vast majority of Americans would never support [their twisted agendas] if they knew what it meant for their communities and their neighbors and their children, and that vast majority would fight it! So we need to highlight that this is a very tiny, extremely rich and shrewd minority! It’s really frightening to me that so few Repubs have spoken up about what’s going on in their party and what it means to our country! We’re not seeing any Repub heroes now. So what the rest of us do RIGHT NOW really matters! = Engage in the process and hold legislators accountable! – if we do I think we can see a much better future.” [edited for length]
James Deveney –
Mr. Collins talk, which I heard on 88.5 FM Tampa, Fl., is spot on and I wish/hope more could listen. In every generation born there will be a majority who have empathy, realize that they are not the center of the world, and have the ability to change. There are a very small number born that are extreme in their views. There are a small number who haven’t any empathy, do think the world revolves around them, that they are always right in their actions and don’t care if their quest for money and power causes harm to people or the environment.
It is up to majority to contain the extreme actions. It can be done thru votes, laws and regulations to create a sustainable future. Mr. Collins was fortunate in the people who influenced him as he matured (his environment) [Edited for length].