Mar 11 2014
‘Income Equality’ Vs. ‘Equal Opportunity’: Creating An Economy that Works For Us All
The idea of upward mobility in America has gone from being a dream to a myth. While the richest 400 Americans possess as much wealth as 80 million families, 40 percent of American children live at or near poverty levels.
‘Income inequality’ seems to have become the norm in a country where the minimum wage has failed to keep up with inflation since 1968 but minimally taxed gains in the stock market have helped create an obscenely affluent class completely removed from the reality of every day living.
Certainly President Obama has publicly made it a goal to address income inequality during the remainder of his tenure. To that end, he regularly brings up income inequality in his speeches and has proposed an expansion of the earned income tax credit and free pre-kindergarten education for all four year olds. But, in a speech to the Democratic National Committee in February, he changed his tune from worrying about “income inequality” to “opportunity for all.”
Indeed, an op-ed by a Harvard professor in the New York Times this week lamented the “Top-Heavy Focus on Income Inequality,” and promoting instead the idea that “everyone should have a fair opportunity to find a great life.”
GUEST: Chuck Colllins who is a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies where he directs the program on Inequality and the Common Good. He also co-founded the website, Wealth for Common Good
For more information on Chuck Collins’ work, visit www.inequality.org and www.wealthforcommongood.org.
Collins will be speaking alongside Sylvia Allegretto at the Hammer Forum on Tuesday March 11th at 7:30 pm, 10899 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles CA.
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