Richard Wilkinson is a Public Health Researcher. He has a
new book out, The Spirit Level,
co-authored with Kate Pickett, in which he provides an exhaustive statistical
analysis of the effects of income inequality in modern society. I could go on,
but here - just watch this TED talk:
It drives me a bit batty when the chimps on MSM spout the
party meme concerning the motives of #occupy participants, how they’re just
jealous, how they just want more without having to work for it. Truth is, while
some of the most affected by income inequality have joined the movement, most
of them are too busy standing in line at soup kitchens. No, most of the people
involved in #occupy are young or entering middle age and come from middle class
homes and backgrounds. They tend to be educated. If their youth plays a factor
in their involvement, it’s because the young can still afford to be idealistic – they haven’t been co-opted (yet) and aren’t as afraid of losing their
precious stuff.
They’ve seen how much harder it’s gotten on their parents
to maintain homes and families as adjusted incomes have remained frozen or shrunken,
and they see how much harder it’s going to be in the future. They see how
inequality leads to greater class/racial/gender conflict.
And they just aren’t as afraid of rocking the bus. When
one is next in line to be thrown under said bus, there isn’t much to
lose.
Anyway, I though it was interesting that Mr. Wilkinson’s
data revealed such a dependable and constant relationship between income
inequality and the failure of societies to be healthy. I love how the data
shows that it isn’t the method of promoting greater equality that counts – just
the greater equality itself.
There was a sign at #occupy Vancouver
For me, for most of the people I met there and talked to,
it wasn’t about securing more for “me”. I’m a happy camper, and I live with my
choices. Rather, it was about recognizing and acknowledging that the greed of
the wealthiest comes at the cost of the most vulnerable, again and again and again.
Measured on that scale, we don’t really have much of a civil
society at all. Measured on that scale, we have feudalism dressed up to look like freedom. Slavery with freedom's makeup on it.
p.s. Have you seen this?
Logging you in...
giulietta nardone · 701 weeks ago
Glad you addressed this topic of grotesque inequality. Good talk.
I keep hearing folks say, "why do they want other folks stuff?" They've never said that. Because they are young and less jaded and less shackled, they are willing to admit the inequality exists. Why didn't the folks who brought the economy down serve jail time when folks who steals $500 from a 7-11 goes to prison? We've even got punishment inequality.
The young always seem to rebel one last time before marching into the adult world of mortgages, debt, lost dreams, stepford lives, unkept promises. The rebellion has been missing for about 25 years because enough money flowed to all. Now, it's doing a reverse flow - from the bottom up. It's like the presence of money shut them up and they missed the rebellion stage. This generation has no extortion money, so they're making noise.
If you look through history, we're returning to a feudal society and the only way for such gross inequality to exist is if the government colludes with business to throw ordinary folks under the bus. I also feel that ordinary folks allowed the government to throw them under the bus by not speaking up sooner.
Unless we put people before profits, we'll have the same issue.
G.
My recent post Do You Trust Your Own Creative Process?
tolthinkfree 66p · 701 weeks ago
jseew 37p · 700 weeks ago
I had this infuriating discussion with someone who does believe that the Occupy movement is driven by "freeloaders." When I brought up the ways in which the rich have gamed the system and the politicians in their pockets have helped them do it, he had nothing convincing to say... only that no one he knows has time to occupy Wall Street.
It's infuriating. I know people who did everything they were supposed to - went to college, got their degree, bought a house (because you know... real estate was the safe investment) and now they're out of work and can't find new jobs and live in houses they simply can't afford to sell. One friend is a lawyer. Another is a management consultant. Another is a programmer. I could go on and on. It makes me crazy, the misrepresentation of Occupy's supporters.
I'm glad you're making noise.
My recent post Where the love is…
tolthinkfree 66p · 700 weeks ago
And I think I'd have argued back that there's never time to do anything when all a person's energy goes into running in place on a gerbil wheel.
By the way, your Oakland folk are awfully damned inspirational.