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Wednesday, February 12th, 2020

U.N. warns that runaway inequality is destabilizing the world’s democracies

Author:     Christopher Ingraham
Source:     The Washington Post
Publication Date:     Feb. 11, 2020 at 5:03 a.m. PST
 Link: U.N. warns that runaway inequality is destabilizing the world’s democracies
Stephan:   History is so clear that grotesque wealth inequality creates social instability and violence, that you would think that everyone would see the relationship based on the past. But they don't because greed is so powerful it literally blinds people to the crisis. The problem is worldwide but, as this report describes,  it is developing in the United States in a way that literally threatens our democracy.

Runaway inequality is eroding trust in democratic societies and paving the way for authoritarian and nativist regimes to take root, according to a dire new report from the United Nations.

The findings note that solutions — including robust social safety nets, an active redistribution of wealth and the protection of workers rights — “have been recommended for decades” and are well within the capacity of the world’s wealthy nations.

But in many countries, including the United States, such initiatives have been blocked by “economic elites” because they inevitably challenge the interests of certain individuals and groups, the report says, affecting the balance of power in nations that pursue greater economic redistribution.

The broad contours of income and wealth inequality in the United States are, at this point, well-known. The top 1 percent of households have roughly doubled their share of the nation’s wealth since 1980, leaving less behind for everyone else. The 400 richest […]

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3 Comments

  1. Jon on Wednesday, February 12, 2020 at 5:17 pm

    “Defenders of the economic status quo have argued, at times, that inequality is probably not rising all that much. But even if it is, it may well be the inevitable byproduct of a capitalist society and, in fact, it might actually be good. Economic inequality, in this view, is simply the price of paying a fair remuneration to the people who produce the iPhones and the cool apps and the free shipping that all of us — even the less fortunate — are now able to enjoy”……..this is nothing more than a rationalization for Greed.

  2. Will on Thursday, February 13, 2020 at 4:53 am

    There was a phrase I first heard in a high school history class many years ago “enlightened self-interest”. I was taught that the wealthy were willing to be taxed because they recognized they prospered and were better off if they willingly gave up some of their wealth for the common good.

    Greed worldwide exceeds all bounds. How many estates, personal jets, yachts, exotic sports cars and other babbles can you accumulate while millions go without the basics of life? Don’t they understand that life is short and death is sure no matter your wealth?

  3. Rev. Dean on Thursday, February 13, 2020 at 10:52 am

    Capitalism is like a snake who is so hungry it starts eating it’s own tail and eventually nothing is left as it destroys itself.