Income inequality in the developed nations is almost exclusively an American phenomenon. As you can see from the graph, we are more equivalent to African nations with limited economic development in terms of income
Another interesting article is the graph on the origins of our budget problems. Please pay attention to the enormous role played by the Bush tax cuts in destroying revenue.
James Pilant
I was wondering about this myself. Targeting an opposition youth camp is a leadership decapitation strategy. However, this author got the idea out before I did and developed it beautifully. Please give it a read.
James Pilant
via Balneus
Jimmy Kimmel having a little fun at Murdoch’s expense. –
and then he has a little more fun –
Considering the enormity of the crimes being discussed, this is very mild stuff. But I promise you, the news of the last few weeks has left me wanting something different for at least a little while. I am tired of a President, I consider barely competent, and as ideologically free of any principle as any other politician one can name. I am tired of watching a rush toward default as if it were a good political maneuver and not a step into totally unknown consequences ranging from mild economic dislocation to global collapse. This is what our politics have come to. God help us all.
James Pilant
Joe Nocera writing in the New York Times creates an often satirical piece that segues from schadenfreude to celebrating justice. I relished every word and hope you enjoy the piece as much as I did.
These are my two favorite paragraphs, click on them to read the whole editorial.
James Pilant
We do need a new vocabulary to discuss what is happening economically today. Take for example, the middle class, once a vibrant part of our society, has now diminished in numbers so much that it has divided. The current definition is so loose that those earning 300,000 dollars a year consider themselves middle class. There are those with millions of dollar in property consider themselves struggling citizens. The comedic beliefs are possible when once defined terms have collapsed into gibberish.
The middle class should probably be defined into a band roughly from 30K to 60K. Below this are the lower class; above this the upper middle class which ends at around 200K. Above this are the upper class. At one million dollars and above are the wealthy.
Please read the thoughts from NCPrism’s Blog.
James Pilant
via NCPrism’s Blog
The job situation in America is a great moral and ethical question.
Over the past three decades, jobs have been exported, eliminated or converted downward into low pay service or part time jobs. This has enriched a small number of Americans – the top one percent of the population now controls 42.7 percent of the financial wealth of the nation – the top ten percent have 93 percent of the nation’s wealth.
The result – – the bottom 90 percent of the American people own 7% of the nation’s wealth.
If globalism and free trade are inevitable. If the free market is the best method of determining economic results, then a continuation of this is all that awaits us.
Americans are handicapped when it comes to having jobs in a world wide market. Americans have roads, bridges, police, fire departments, educational systems and an extensive military. These require taxes. Corporations have no desire to pay taxes and so they go to countries who have favorable tax laws or are willing to forego taxes for the jobs shipped there. Americans tend to be well educated and middle class. This means they will not work for 75 cents an hour and expect to be treated with some respect while having a high survivability on the job. This is inimical to the interests of corporations. It is easier to manipulate and use poorly educated people with no social standing. Safety costs money and killing Americans draws attention while dead foreigners are less of a problem. Americans live in a nation that has laws. Corporations do not want laws restricting their activities and they absolutely do not want to be prosecuted for their crimes.
So, if globalization and free trade are inevitable all we have to do to compete in a global economy is to give up way of life and gradually drift downward in our standard of living but only for the bottom 90%.
Is this a moral outcome?
Are the citizens of the United States similar to bacteria on a slide under a microscope? Do they deserve that level of analysis? .. the cold powerful corporate intellect realizing that a dash of penicillin could clear the way for new corporate profits?
Or do human beings have souls? Do Americans have a duty one to another? Do companies organized and financed in this nation bear a responsibility for their economic decisions?
There are things like justice, honor and duty. These are a joke in the world of the international corporation. I don’t believe these ideas draw laughter among the general population.
James Pilant
This is what I have been saying in many blog posts. We simply cannot keep doing the same economic things over and over again when they have failed over and over again. Some have said that is the very definition of insanity.
It is not ethical or moral to have corporations and the wealthy shed their tax burdens while leaving the average wage earners holding the bag. Those who control large sums of money in this country benefit like everyone else from educational systems, roads and bridges, and the work of police, firemen and our soldiers. Calling yourselves, “job creators” does not place a halo on your head or relieve you of your duty to your country, your state, your community and your fellow citizens.
We need to have a tax code that allocates the taxes paid in relation to the excess wealth accumulated and severely limits the amount paid on the base money necessary for basic needs, like food, shelter, education and medical needs.
I like this blogger’s thinking and I wish him well.
James Pilant
This blog post is an analysis of Dr. Aswany’s words and the state of the nation of Egypt. In the United States, there is an assumption that foreigners are always moving toward an American style democracy. I do not believe the current American government is a shining light on a hill to virtually any foreign nation or its people. The adoption of torture demonstrate to many that the United States has given up on moral absolutes and operates only along the lines of what action is most profitable at the time. The best we can hope for is the development of democratic reform. A nation with the kind of rich educational and philosophical history of Egypt is quite capable of developing its own democratic institutions.
James Pilant
This is my favorite paragraph –
Ultimately, I think Dr Aswany’s answer is that the revolution was the cry of wounded human dignity. Firstly, many of his stories involve Egyptians being sent to several different hospitals and being refused treatment at each, like a scene from The Death of Mr Lazerescu, or being asked for a bribe. Secondly, Egyptians regard Gulf States seeking domestic servants in their country as an affront, especially as the idea of Pan-Arabism is a deep political instinct. Thirdly, attitudes to women and sexuality play a highly significant part in Dr Aswany’s rejection of the cult of power and formulaic Islam. Despite, or rather, because of the introduction of the hijab and the niqab, sexual harassment has risen exponentially, leading us to conclude that societies which seek to place the blame on victims merely encourage the urges of the perpetrators.
via Out of the Black
Pilant's Business Ethics Blog 
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