Friday, February 16, 2007

More on Income Inequality

If there is inequality in America — and no one can accurately measure it — it is not the product of a dysfunctional inheritance system that preserves the oligarchy of one generation for the next. Rather, income and wealth inequality in America is almost entirely the result of an economic system that rewards skills and hard work, and rewards unusually savvy people extraordinarily well. This is not new to the 21st century; it has always been this way in America.

The American dream is not broken. Our economic system, however flawed with perceptions of inequality, attracts people of all abilities from around the world. People who aspire to be computer programmers, financiers, gardeners, and taxicab drivers all gravitate toward America. Parents who hope that their children may have a chance to do well and amass a small fortune come to America.

They come not because they worry about income inequality; they come precisely because they do not.

From economist Diana Furchtgott-Roth in
today's NY Sun.

2 Comments:

At 2/16/2007 5:31 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

If Allen Greenspan and Ben Bernake are concerned about widening gap between the wealthy and the poor, I think we all should be.

 
At 2/16/2007 9:37 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I now first hand of the widening gap. I am suppose to be middle class, give me a break...I am so much closer to the poor end and the wealthy line is a samll drawn shade on the horizon, barely visible yet apparently there.

 

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