Abdicating to the Right: The Ascendant American Aristocracy

Income inequality is about to get worse, according to David Segal's article in Sunday's New York Times. Those of us not in the beneficiary column, the article suggests, had better start thinking of which "artisanal services" we can provide. In short, we need to identify what the rich need and start making those widgets tout de suite.

Paraphrasing Professor Caplin of NYU, Segal wrote:

"While it's noble to focus on how to spread wealth around, it might be wiser to think of ways the poor and middle class could cater to the economy's biggest winners."

The Republican Party has staked out a position where anything to the left of extreme selfishness is on the slippery slope to socialism. But it hasn't occurred to Democrats to counter with the more real scenario of creeping aristocracy.

And what do we hear from the White House? Talk about compromise, common ground and caution.

The administration keeps saying that the American people want a meeting of the minds -- they want the parties to work together. Do they really think that means at any cost?

Americans want Social Security to be there when they need it. They want their homes and their jobs back. They don't want their kids fighting on foreign soil so they can cater to the "biggest winners" when they get home. And, yes, they don't want more money going to fat cats in gigantic financial swindles while their own and their children's opportunities are taken away.

If we don't keep sending that message to Washington, then we will become a country of winners and losers, aristocrats and serfs.

Kathleen also blogs at comebacksatwork.com and bardscove and is on Twitter: @comebackskid.