Is increasing economic inequality inevitable without catastrophe?

momsquad
Wed, 10 May 2017 18:24:34 +0000

I disagree with the author’s assurance that we needn’t worry about ‘The four leveling forces’:

The four levelling forces will not return any time soon: Technology has made mass warfare obsolete; violent, redistributive revolution has lost its appeal; most states are more resilient than they used to be; and advances in genetics will help humanity ward off novel germs.

Technology has not made mass warfare obsolete when irrational regimes control the technology. And it is naïve to suggest that advances in genetics have done anything to reduce our vulnerability to pandemic disease. In fact, emergence of incurable infectious disease, especially multi- drug resistant bacteria, is probably one of the biggest threats to humanity in the next century. Gutting the NIH will only amplify this threat.

I am not nearly as pessimistic with respect to the future of the USA. Education is still the most effective tool against income inequality and we have the world’s best educational system. Those who don’t want a college degree will see minimum wage rise to $15/hour, which approaches a living wage for a two income family. Birth control is freely available and the Age of the Old White Male oligarchy is having its final hurrah. The next generation of movers and shakers are smart, equipped with social conscience and very diverse.