Jobs or Inequality? That’s No Choice At All
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/01/03-5
Whats the economic issue we should focus on jobs, or inequality? An increasing number of people, including the President and New Yorks new mayor, have suggested that inequality of wealth and opportunity is the defining issue of our time.
But some of the folks at the Washington Posts WonkBlog are having none of it. First editor Ezra Klein declared that unemployment, not inequality, should be the lefts defining issue. That drew responses from the likes of Paul Krugman and Jared Bernstein (and yours truly, here).
Bright Future
Then Dylan Matthews, a staff reporter on the team (and creator of the highly addictive Knowmore site) used a hypothetical scenario to challenge the importance of inequality. Matthews took to a platform called TwitLonger (which, parenthetically, looks a lot like something we used to call a blog) to argue that people who consider inequality our societys defining issue really think the gap between the rich and poor, separate from the actual positions of the rich and poor on their own, is the problem.
Matthews imagines a future America where poverty, hunger, and homelessness are eliminated; unemployments below 4 percent; and GDP and median wages keep growing. If you think inequalitys the problem, says Matthews, you wont be satisfied.