Bridging the Income Gap

The Eubie Blake Economy

The Tyee has published my article The Eubie Blake Economy. Excerpt:

In the 1980s and 1990s, I used to give talks to teachers on how seniors would demand government support at the cost of education and other social services. Yet, I said, those seniors would need a highly educated and very productive working population that could support it 

I was half right. Yes, workers in the next few decades will have to be highly skilled and intensely productive to support both seniors and their own children. 

But it won't be a cut-throat competition between a minority of kids and a majority of selfish seniors. Instead, it will be an alliance of youth and age, each caring for the other.

The ills inequality brings

Via The Seattle Times, a column by Jerry Large about The Spirit Level: The ills inequality brings. Excerpt:

The authors of a new book say the world's rich countries have benefited about as much as they can from economic growth. Improvement in the quality of life now hinges on increasing economic equality. 

We've long known that poor people have worse health problems, and more recent studies have demonstrated that in more unequal societies even wealthier people suffer health consequences, especially stress-related diseases. 

Two British researchers, Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, go beyond health and demonstrate links between inequality and many social problems that ultimately affect everyone. They used data from 30 years of studies, including some of their own to prove the connections. 

One of their collaborators, Dr. Stephen Bezruchka of the University of Washington School of Public Health, is trying to help get the word out. He introduced them to packed events in Seattle a few days ago when they spoke about their new book, "The Spirit Level." 

In Britain, what we call a carpenter's level is a spirit level, but by either name it would show the United States is off kilter. 

In chart after chart and graph after graph, the U.S. is stuck at the end of the line where great income inequality meets poor social outcomes. 

Murder, teen pregnancy, school dropouts — we have more than our share by a wide margin. We spend huge amounts on health care and yet have shorter life expectancies than those in many wealthy countries in which income is lower but more equally distributed.