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White to move and mate in two #672 - The Measure Of A Nation [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-05-29
How To Regain America’s Competitive Edge and Boost Our Global Standing
INEQUALITY IN AMERICA
Unfortunately, inequality is a theme that runs through much of the data in this book. One whole chapter has been devoted to it, and it tells us that the United States has substantively higher levels of income and wealth inequality than our competition. In America, the rich rise higher and the poor sink lower with less social support than in other high-income countries. At the same time, the slice of the pie taken by the wealthiest Americans is far bigger than in other countries, and this slice has been growing rapidly over the decades. This trend in inequality has been observed not just by politicians and economists; all Americans sense it in their daily lives.
Americans are more generally accepting of these higher degrees of inequality because of their staunch faith that American society is more of a meritocracy than other countries. This faith is woefully undermined by the data, which show that in America, who your parents were is far more important to your success than it is in other countries. Americans acceptance of inequality is based on this misconception of meritocracy—on the false belief that America rewards those of sufficient ability and diligence more readily than other nations.
There’s a second false belief driving the acceptance of inequality in American society—the notion that the inequality is a function of market forces—like globalization or technology changes—that cannot be controlled. But the data expose this as another instance of American perception contradicted by real-world facts. The main factors associated with the rising American income inequality, as the data make clear, are institutional and political— changes in pay structure and tax policies. These are factors well within the control of citizens, shareholders, and the government, if they choose to exert their influence. The proof that inequality can be controlled comes from the competitive intelligence. Again, as the data make clear, a number of our competitors have seen declining rather than rising inequality, a direct consequence of direct action. Perhaps they have done so because they don’t have the same faith in meritocracy that we have; as a result, their governments provide greater social support mechanisms to enable those at the lower income levels to access the playing field. The bottom line is that there’s no question that we, as a society, can shape our inequality rather than passively blaming market forces and absolving ourselves of responsibility.
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