The 1 Percent's Problem

By Joseph E. Stiglitz

Vanity Fair
June 2, 2012

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/05/joseph-stiglitz-the-price-on-inequality

Let's start by laying down the baseline premise: inequality
in America has been widening for dec­ades. We're all aware of
the fact. Yes, there are some on the right who deny this
reality, but serious analysts across the political spectrum
take it for granted. I won't run through all the evidence
here, except to say that the gap between the 1 percent and
the 99 percent is vast when looked at in terms of annual
income, and even vaster when looked at in terms of wealth -
that is, in terms of accumulated capital and other assets.
Consider the Walton family: the six heirs to the Walmart
empire possess a combined wealth of some $90 billion, which
is equivalent to the wealth of the entire bottom 30 percent
of U.S. society. (Many at the bottom have zero or negative
net worth, especially after the housing debacle.) Warren
Buffett put the matter correctly when he said, "There's been
class warfare going on for the last 20 years and my class has
won."

So, no: there's little debate over the basic fact of widening
inequality. The debate is over its meaning. From the right,
you sometimes hear the argument made that inequality is
basically a good thing: as the rich increasingly benefit, so
does everyone else. This argument is false: while the rich
have been growing richer, most Americans (and not just those
at the bottom) have been unable to maintain their standard of
living, let alone to keep pace. A typical full-time male
worker receives the same income today he did a third of a
century ago.

To read more, go to
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/05/joseph-stiglitz-the-price-on-inequality

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