1. Extreme inequality is a product of
left-right politics
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A recent article in the New York Times about the ‘sinking middle class’ of the USA was heavily
tweeted and generated much comment. Its central point was that the elite, now including many
super-rich individuals, has been the only group to have benefited from economic growth in recent
decades. Income for the middle class had stagnated while their costs – especially for health,
housing and higher education – had soared.
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It made for sobering reading, but unfortunately tended to repeat some of the ‘zero sum’ thinking
that entrenches deep inequalities. One section reads: ‘The real wages of workers on the factory
floor are lower than they were in the early ’70s. And the richest 10 percent of Americans get over
half of the income America produces.’
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What this disguises is the extent to which many enlightened firms with low inequality have actually
been among the stellar performers – in pure economic terms; also, how the extreme inequalities
result in part due to an oligarchical nature of the USA and other western countries, in which
financial services have gotten themselves underwritten by the state.
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In this arrangement, they get to keep the profits and dump their risks onto the taxpayer. So they’re
not really getting a share of ‘the income America produces’ – rather they are allowed to keep their
state-subsidized casino winnings. Simon Johnson is an excellent writer who, among others, has
exposed this.
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It suits both left and right to pretend that extreme inequalities result from ‘market forces’, but the
truth is more complicated. Our binary political way of thinking is no longer fit for purpose.

2. Neela Bettridge
07771 726 971
neela@neelabettridge.com