Paul Krugman: 'Whole Nature Of Our Society At Stake' In Inequality Debate

The New York Times:

Inequality is back in the news, largely thanks to Occupy Wall Street, but with an assist from the Congressional Budget Office. And you know what that means: It’s time to roll out the obfuscators!

Read the whole story: The New York Times

Comments

[Rus Viking]

11:33 AM on 11/07/2011

"Paul Krugman: 'Whole Nature Of Our Society At Stake' In Inequality Debate "

Krugman....

Just another "Crisis Junkie" looking for something to angst over.

if there is no 'Crisis' .....Make one up!

[19th Amendment]

04:18 AM on 11/11/2011

"Make one up!"? How can you have possibly read this article and still have such a ridiculous thought-process?! Have fun being laidoff from the comicbook store/GWB Presidential Library. But don't angst. We've got your back. You're welcome.

[Rus Viking]

09:22 PM on 11/11/2011

"got my back?" I know...then you'll want me to bend over.

[19th Amendment]

04:29 AM on 11/11/2011

My apologeez, I meant to write "lieberry" instead of "library." Dagnabbit, my brain went all Ah-Raqki on me.

[spud3]

10:15 AM on 11/15/2011

I'm sure that happens often in your case.

[davearnold007]

10:57 AM on 11/07/2011

Under Bush, Wall Street profits were 77 BILLION between 2001-2008.

Under Obama, Wall Street profits were 85 BILLION between 2009 and June 2009.

Obama is NOT working for us, folks. This man is worse than Bush, and I voted for Obama.

[Davidlf]

10:42 PM on 11/07/2011

Do you think HermMit PerryBach won't be as much worse as humanly possible?

[spud3]

10:16 AM on 11/15/2011

I am furiously and fastly exiting Obamaland.

[3dtrix]

10:29 AM on 11/07/2011

How do I explain to my grandson that his chief purpose in life is to increase the wealth of people he'll never meet?

[spud3]

10:17 AM on 11/15/2011

First explain to your grandson that your not very smart.

[Wayne Caswell]

10:29 AM on 11/07/2011

2008 annual income stats: bottom 90% ($31K/yr), middle 9% ($127K), top 1% ($443K), top 0.01% ($27M). But incomes declined since then for most of us and increased significantly for the top 0.01%. There were >15,000 of "them" in 2008; more now.

[MiddleOfThe]

06:50 AM on 11/07/2011

Krugman ends with "the whole nature of our society is at stake". He is correct. More of us need to start paying more attention to what is happening.

[sanfran55]

09:13 PM on 11/10/2011

Yes, indeed.

[muck-raker]

03:53 AM on 11/11/2011

FF: as of late many Americans are busy trying to put food on the table with only two part time jobs...no time to think....just do or d.i.e.
American the great bubble machine

great short read: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-great-american-bubble-machine-20100405

[Artamentous]

10:43 PM on 11/06/2011

The PROBLEM IS CAPITALISM. It's run it's course in America. We need to look at radical ways to change this system which has obviously failed. It's only surviving now because the Government has essentially decided to print money to prop up Capitalism which quite literally exploded in 2007 and 08.

This problem will never fix itself without addressing them real problem, which is CAPITALISM. It will never address social issues, it will only magnify them.

[sanfran55]

09:14 PM on 11/10/2011

The problem is unregulated capitalism. With no enforced laws, you'll always have greedy, ruthless people getting caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

[Artamentous]

01:02 AM on 11/12/2011

Unregulated Captialism? How can regulate something, when the "leaders" or boards of these companies do everything in their power to work around those regulations? ITS IMPOSSIBLE!

[muck-raker]

03:56 AM on 11/11/2011

you are right and the cookie jar is very large and not many are looking. loopholes for the rich an powerful are looting our country right in front of our noses

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzLIz27GqWs

[Artamentous]

01:04 AM on 11/12/2011

MARXISM or some form of it is the answer. DEMCRACY IN THE WORKPLACE!!! Screw conspiracy theories.

[swift goat pet for truth]

09:34 PM on 11/06/2011

The median individual income is about $26,300. How can the US have a successful economy with half the people making less than $26,300? How do we maintain a modern society at that level?

[Artamentous]

10:40 PM on 11/06/2011

Credit.

[sanfran55]

09:18 PM on 11/10/2011

Lower prices of homes to affordable levels that actually have something to do with the purchaser's salary.

I had a subprime mortgage broker tell me, we're in a new age, people don't buy homes anymore to pay them off, you just buy them. Thank god I didn't listen to him and his bum advice, or I'd be in line for a foreclosure.

[freedomny]

07:59 PM on 11/06/2011

" Can anyone seriously deny that our political system is being warped by the influence of big money, and that the warping is getting worse as the wealth of a few grows ever larger? "

And why isn't the media talking about the influence of corporate and special interest donations on politics? Why aren't there any journalists speaking out that our Democracy...is not in reality a Democracy? Why is the outrage in the average American, who is finally "getting" it, not being addressed in MSM?

Banker supporting OWS and ethical capitalism.

[Sean 6399]

05:35 PM on 11/06/2011

Krugman is an overeducated babbling fool. He's never been right.

[scottymac11]

07:38 PM on 11/06/2011

It's hard to lend vision to those who refuse the light.

[swift goat pet for truth]

09:30 PM on 11/06/2011

Actually, the record shows he is rarely wrong... But one has to be able to recognize a fact to know that.

[Anne Mccormick]

03:05 PM on 11/06/2011

Paul Krugman again! Doesn't he ever get tired of giving sermons.

[TeraWatt60]

08:59 PM on 11/06/2011

don't you ever get tired of denial of reality?

[WaveRhydr]

02:54 PM on 11/06/2011

Whatever fo_ols are in charge at "Over Lord Central", had better wake up fast, and start implementing some minor change, lest they wake to their worst nightmares, and find it too late for them & their class.

[muck-raker]

04:44 PM on 11/06/2011

what is needed here is to quickly prosecute GREENSPAN, Rubin, Summers, Blankfein, Daimon for bringing this nightmare to the public.. It would show that our Government is NOT BOUGHT and paid for after all.....just do it...MR

[nothingchanges]

02:48 PM on 11/06/2011

"Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor."

Thomas Jefferson

[Peter Combs]

12:14 PM on 11/06/2011

Raising Taxes a bit is fine....no problem. However, it will change nothing. We, the American people have collectively elected those who have created the laws enabling corporations to do as they do. In return, money is sent to DC...

BLaming corporations and thinking for one second raising taxes will do anything other than make a few feel better is delusional. CHange the Banking Laws, Change the tax laws...or expect more of the same. Taxing the "Rich'...has become a mantra and a "misdirection"...and is no solution.

[Rodger leMonde]

02:54 PM on 11/06/2011

This is a function of response to the Don't tax the rich mantra from the GOP. They would rather vamp with this than do the job they were elected to do. This is the source of misdirection. The corporations are guilty of using great wealth to abuse the government of the people.

[Peter Combs]

05:08 PM on 11/06/2011

I disagree...what we are seing is the supidity of the American people who re-elect the same crooks election after election on BOTH sides of the aisle.

Its not about the GOP or the DEMS...its both in equal parts.

Dont forget who were Obama's biggest supporters...and they are doing fine...Blankfein (Goldman Sachs), Jamie Dimon (JP Morgan)..Immelt (Feneral Electric) Blackrok Investments...and many more. While Obama talk "the tune"...he sure hasn't done anything to hamper the wealth of his biggest supporters...

Americans are stupid sheep...they put in office the very people who rip them off..

[Artamentous]

10:47 PM on 11/06/2011

None of that willchange anything. CHANGE THE SYSTEM. Capitalism is a joke. It only creates inequality, and cares nothing for the suffering of those left in it's wake.

America is seeing it now, we had 150 years of a capitalist system that enriched us all, none its DEAD. It has been since the 70s. All the last 40 years has been is Corporations raping the America people with credit, and stagnated wages.

BUT THIS IS THE POINT OF CAPITALISM, MORE MORE MORE. LOOK IN THE MIRROR PEOPLE THE PROBLEM IS RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF YOU.

[sanfran55]

11:20 AM on 11/06/2011

The "Silent Majority" has gotten fed up - there is only so much people can endure. No job stability and meager to no pensions, no healthcare - sink or swim if you become seriously ill, outrageously priced higher education, no hope for many of ever owning their own home; it's too much.

While the "1%" could care less about these issues, they don't realize that it's gone too far for the rest of the people, and major social unrest is brewing.

[WaveRhydr]

02:41 PM on 11/06/2011

Fanned & Faved. Very well put. I agree.

[muck-raker]

04:49 PM on 11/06/2011

luv it As intense protests spawned by Occupy Wall Street continue to grow, it is worth asking: Why now? The answer is not obvious. After all, severe income and wealth inequality have long plagued the United States. In fact, it could reasonably be claimed that this form of inequality is part of the design of the American founding -- indeed, an integral part of it.

Income inequality has worsened over the past several years and is at its highest level since the Great Depression. This is not, however, a new trend. Income inequality has been growing at rapid rates for three decades. As journalist Tim Noah described the process:

“During the late 1980s and the late 1990s, the United States experienced two unprecedentedly long periods of sustained economic growth -- the ‘seven fat years’ and the ‘long boom.’ Yet from 1980 to 2005, more than 80% of total increase in Americans' income went to the top 1%. Economic growth was more sluggish in the aughts, but the decade saw productivity increase by about 20%. Yet virtually none of the increase translated into wage growth at middle and lower incomes, an outcome that left many economists scratching their heads.”

more: Greenwald: http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175458/tomgram%3A_glenn_greenwald%2C_how_the_rich_subverted_the_legal_system/

[Star2000dancer]

06:01 PM on 11/06/2011

Hi MR....I'm up near Buffalo & Niagara Falls. I just saw OWS down in the Southern tier in Fredonia. They're not allowing them to set up tents. You asked why now? I've been watching and observing this happening in countries like the Middle East. Like Britain 1995.
Or States like California. I've seen it predicted, not to the exact date, but enough to see if it came to pass.

I recall I had said I was in trouble on another thread, and to this date, you are still the only poster who said "I care." I just dropped by to say Thank you again.

I've ended up in a community for retirees, that's turned into the Twiight Zone/One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest/ Bugs, Drugs, Guns, Muggings,& Abuse. I am literally watching and involved in a snapshot of what's happening to the whole USA. in this village.

I wish I had someone here to record it, or a vehicle to at least get out and about to find help for here. I think it pretty well covers everything that's happening, in chronilogical order. I feel like it represents the whole globe in one small swoop.

How and why are they able to get away with this? I bet your link would explain it. This little village is the result of those subversions.

[sanfran55]

09:12 PM on 11/10/2011

I believe it. But before the crash of the subcrime mortgage fiasco, most people felt that they had a chance of actually owning their own home, and maybe being able to retire before 70. Now, forget it!

[First Blast]

06:58 AM on 11/06/2011

THE .1% NEED TO BE "DEALT" WITH.

[lipps]

04:52 PM on 11/06/2011

Is that a threat?

[Sean 6399]

05:38 PM on 11/06/2011

I think I'd rather see the commies and redistributors decorating the nation's lampposts.