Two interesting pieces on this ever-pressing subject, one short and one long.
The short one is from Nate Silver's incisive fivethirtyeight.com, where an article invites you in its title to "Meet The 80 People Who Are As Rich As Half The World." More interesting than the people on the list (some of whom you've surely heard of and many you probably haven't) is just the sheer incongruity of the comparison: 80 people vs. 3.6 billion.
The long piece is from this week's New Yorker, where Jill Lepore reviews several recent accounts of rising economic inequality in America and discusses both the problem itself and the problems with how the problem is discussed. Well worth a read, here.
The popular concept of “inequality” refers to the gap between the middle class and rich, ignoring the canyon between the poor and middle class. Our own modern history shows what would need to be done to reverse the deterioration of the US, reducing actual inequality. From FDR to Reagan, we had implemented policies and programs that took the US to its height of wealth and productivity. We then began reversing course, ending those policies and programs. When Reagan was first elected, launching the long campaign against our poor, the overall quality of life in the US was rated at #1. By the time Obama was elected, this had already plunged to #43. In the real world, not everyone can work (health, etc.) and there aren’t jobs for all who urgently need one. It’s impossible to save (much less,rebuild) the middle class without shoring up the poor, putting the rungs back on the ladder out of poverty. We won’t do that, so the middle class will continue to be phased out.