T h e O n e Pe rc e nt
THE 1 PERCENT’S PROBLEM
Why won’t America’s 1 percent—such as the six Walmart heirs, whose wealth equals that of
the entire bottom 30 percent—be a bit more . . . selfish? As the widening financial divide
cripples the U.S. economy, even those at the top will pay a steep price.
B Y J O S E P H E . S T I G L I T Z A N D L I N D A J . B I L M E S
I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y S T E P H E N D O Y L E
MAY 31, 2012 12:00 AM
! " #
mailto:?subject=From%20The%20Price%20of%20Inequality%3A%20Joseph%20Stiglitz%20on%20the%201%20Percent%20Problem&body=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vanityfair.com%2Fnews%2F2012%2F05%2Fjoseph-stiglitz-the-price-on-inequality
https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vanityfair.com%2Fnews%2F2012%2F05%2Fjoseph-stiglitz-the-price-on-inequality&t=From%20The%20Price%20of%20Inequality%3A%20Joseph%20Stiglitz%20on%20the%201%20Percent%20Problem
https://twitter.com/share?text=From%20The%20Price%20of%20Inequality%3A%20Joseph%20Stiglitz%20on%20the%201%20Percent%20Problem&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vanityfair.com%2Fnews%2F2012%2F05%2Fjoseph-stiglitz-the-price-on-inequality
http://www.vanityfair.com/contributor/joseph-e-stiglitz-and-linda-j-bilmes
http://www.vanityfair.com/contributor/stephen-doyle
http://www.vanityfair.com/
http://www.vanityfair.com/news
L et’s start by laying down the baseline premise: inequality in America has been wideningfor dec ades. We’re all aware of the fact. Yes, there are some on the right who deny thisreality, but serious analysts across the political spectrum take it for granted. I won’t run
through all the evidence here, except to say that the gap between the 1 percent and the 99 percent
is vast when looked at in terms of annual income, and even vaster when looked at in terms of
wealth—that is, in terms of accumulated capital and other assets. Consider the Walton family: the
six heirs to the Walmart empire possess a combined wealth of some $90 billion, which is
equivalent to the wealth of the entire bottom 30 percent of U.S. society. (Many at the bottom have
zero or negative net worth, especially after the housing debacle.) Warren Buffett put the matter
correctly when he said, “There’s been class warfare going on for the last 20 years and my class has
won.”
So, no: there’s little debate over the basic fact of widening inequality. The debate is over its
meaning. From the right, you sometimes hear the argument made that inequality is basically a
good thing: as the rich increasingly benefit, so does everyone else. This argument is false: while the
rich have been growing richer, most Americans (and not just those at the bottom) have been
unable to maintain their standard of living, let alone to keep pace. A typical full-time male worker
receives the same income today he did a third of a century ago.
From the left, meanwhile, the widening inequality often elicits an appeal for simple justice: why
should so few have so much when so many have so little? It’s not hard to .
Byline BY JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ ILLUSTRATION BY STEPHEN DOYLEOF TH.docxRAHUL126667
Byline: BY JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ ILLUSTRATION BY STEPHEN DOYLE
OF THE 1%, BY THE 1%, FOR THE 1%
Americans have been watching protests against oppressive regimes that concentrate massive wealth in the hands of an elite few. Yet in our own democracy, 1 percent of the people take nearly a quarter of the nation's income-an inequality even the wealthy will come to regret
It's no use pretending that what has obviously happened has not in fact happened. The upper 1 percent of Americans are now taking in nearly a quarter of the nation's income every year. In terms of wealth rather than income, the top 1 percent control 40 percent. Their lot in life has improved considerably. Twenty-five years ago, the corresponding figures were 12 percent and 33 percent. One response might be to celebrate the ingenuity and drive that brought good fortune to these people, and to contend that a rising tide lifts all boats. That response would be misguided. While the top 1 percent have seen their incomes rise 18 percent over the past decade, those in the middle have actually seen their incomes fall. For men with only high-school degrees, the decline has been precipitous12 percent in the last quarter-century alone. All the growth in recent decadesand morehas gone to those at the top. In terms of income equality, America lags behind any country in the old, ossified Europe that President George W. Bush used to deride. Among our closest counterparts are Russia with its oligarchs and Iran. While many of the old centers of inequality in Latin America, such as Brazil, have been striving in recent years, rather successfully, to improve the plight of the poor and reduce gaps in income, America has allowed inequality to grow.
Economists long ago tried to justify the vast inequalities that seemed so troubling in the mid-19th centuryinequalities that are but a pale shadow of what we are seeing in America today. The justification they came up with was called "marginal-productivity theory." In a nutshell, this theory associated higher incomes with higher productivity and a greater contribution to society. It is a theory that has always been cherished by the rich. Evidence for its validity, however, remains thin. The corporate executives who helped bring on the recession of the past three yearswhose contribution to our society, and to their own companies, has been massively negativewent on to receive large bonuses. In some cases, companies were so embarrassed about calling such rewards "performance bonuses" that they felt compelled to change the name to "retention bonuses" (even if the only thing being retained was bad performance). Those who have contributed great positive innovations to our society, from the pioneers of genetic understanding to the pioneers of the Information Age, have received a pittance compared with those responsible for the financial innovations that brought our global economy to the brink of ruin.
Some people look at income inequality and shrug their shoulders. So ...
The use of the words “citizen” and “consumer” to many would appear to be synonymous when in actual fact, there are often conflicts between their desires and aspirations that could lead one to believe that these are two different groups of individuals.
Is the Fed blowing bubbles to cover up growing inequality.... again?Yannick Naud
1) The document discusses rising income inequality in the US and how the Fed has responded by creating housing bubbles to disguise the fact that the middle class is not benefiting from economic growth and to boost consumption.
2) It analyzes recent data showing that the top 1% captured 95% of income gains in the US recovery while the bottom 99% saw little growth. Inequality is surging to new highs not seen since before the Great Depression.
3) High and rising inequality has negative economic and social consequences like reduced economic growth and mobility if it passes a certain point, according to studies and economists cited in the document.
Instructions1. On the top of the page, provide the article citat.docxnormanibarber20063
Instructions
1. On the top of the page, provide the article citation in current APA format.
On the next line down, type the topic of your articles: (Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
in all caps and bold format.
2. In a double-spaced document, briefly explain the author’s purpose for writing the article. One way to understand the author’s purpose is to ask yourself why he or she wrote it. (For example, consider current and future events, politics, or anything else that may have inspired the article.)
3. Summarize the article(The criminality of Wall Street), focusing on the discussion of the topic the article addresses. Incorporate relevant economic theory that is present so that discussion of the article content is clear.
Article: The Criminality of Wall Street
Tabb, William K. Monthly Review66.4 (Sep 2014): 13-22.
The current stage of capitalism is characterized by the increased power of finance capital. How to understand the economics of this shift and its political implications is now central for both the left and the larger society. There can be little doubt that a signature development of our time is the growth of finance and monopoly power.1
In 1980 the nominal value of global financial assets almost equaled global GDP. In 2005 they were more than three times global GDP.2 The nominal value of foreign exchange trading increased from eleven times the value of global trade in 1980 to seventy-three times in 2009.3 Of course it is not certain what this increase means, since such nominal values can fluctuate widely, as we saw in the Great Financial Crisis. They cannot be compared directly and without all sorts of qualifications to the value added in the real economy. But they do give an impressionistic sense of the enormous magnitude by which finance grew and came to dominate the economy. Between 1980 and 2007, derivative contracts of all kinds expanded from $1 trillion globally to $600 trillion.4 Hedge funds and private equity groups, special investment vehicles, and mega-bank holding companies changed the face of Western capitalism. They also brought on the collapse from which we still suffer. Ordinary people may not be acquainted with the numbers (and even those best informed are not sure of their significance), but people generally understand in different and often deep ways what has been happening: namely, an ongoing process of financialization that has come to dwarf production.
What is particularly important is that despite the huge bubble created by this metastasizing growth of finance, the economy did not expand as rapidly as it had in the postwar years, before the goods producing industries lost ground in terms of employment to other sectors of the economy, and when government spending was used actively to promote growth. While the nature of much of the growth that occurred then is certainly open to criticism from all sorts of standpoints, at the time there was widespread understanding in policy circles that government spending was.
The document discusses trends in the global economy including currency devaluation, inflation, and rising commodity prices. It recommends investment strategies focused on US dollars, energy and metal companies, municipal bonds, and mutual funds invested in dividend-paying international companies. Inflation will redistribute wealth from lenders and those with cash to debtors and those with hard assets. Developing countries' economies and commodity demand will grow as wealth shifts globally.
Blackwall partners 2 qtr 2016- transient volatility part iiiMichael Durante
This document discusses the state of the US economy under President Obama and the policies of the Obama administration. It argues that the economy has stagnated, with 95 million Americans not working, wages stagnant, and declining upward mobility. It attributes this to failed "socialistic" policies and excessive government intervention. The author argues the economy needs inspiration to return to growth and policies that worked previously to boost jobs, wages, home and family formation.
The best data we have on the
upper tail of the income distribution come from Piketty and Saez’s (2003, with
updates) tabulations of individual tax returns. (Even these numbers, though, are
subject to some controversy: the tax code changes over time, altering the incentives
to receive and report compensation in alternative forms.) According to their
numbers, the share of income, excluding capital gains, earned by the top 1 percent
rose from 7.7 percent in 1973 to 17.4 percent in 2010. Even more striking is the
share earned by the top 0.01 percent—an elite group that, in 2010, had a membership
requirement of annual income exceeding $5.9 million. This group’s share of
total income rose from 0.5 percent in 1973 to 3.3 percent in 2010. These numbers
are not easily ignored. Indeed, they in no small part motivated the Occupy movement,
and they have led to calls from policymakers on the left to make the tax code
more progressive.
“THE END OF THE AGE OF ENTITLEMENT”
ADDRESS TO THE INSTITUTE OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS LONDON 17 APRIL 2012
JOE HOCKEY MP
THE END OF THE AGE OF ENTITLEMENT
INSTITUTE of ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
LONDON
Byline BY JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ ILLUSTRATION BY STEPHEN DOYLEOF TH.docxRAHUL126667
Byline: BY JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ ILLUSTRATION BY STEPHEN DOYLE
OF THE 1%, BY THE 1%, FOR THE 1%
Americans have been watching protests against oppressive regimes that concentrate massive wealth in the hands of an elite few. Yet in our own democracy, 1 percent of the people take nearly a quarter of the nation's income-an inequality even the wealthy will come to regret
It's no use pretending that what has obviously happened has not in fact happened. The upper 1 percent of Americans are now taking in nearly a quarter of the nation's income every year. In terms of wealth rather than income, the top 1 percent control 40 percent. Their lot in life has improved considerably. Twenty-five years ago, the corresponding figures were 12 percent and 33 percent. One response might be to celebrate the ingenuity and drive that brought good fortune to these people, and to contend that a rising tide lifts all boats. That response would be misguided. While the top 1 percent have seen their incomes rise 18 percent over the past decade, those in the middle have actually seen their incomes fall. For men with only high-school degrees, the decline has been precipitous12 percent in the last quarter-century alone. All the growth in recent decadesand morehas gone to those at the top. In terms of income equality, America lags behind any country in the old, ossified Europe that President George W. Bush used to deride. Among our closest counterparts are Russia with its oligarchs and Iran. While many of the old centers of inequality in Latin America, such as Brazil, have been striving in recent years, rather successfully, to improve the plight of the poor and reduce gaps in income, America has allowed inequality to grow.
Economists long ago tried to justify the vast inequalities that seemed so troubling in the mid-19th centuryinequalities that are but a pale shadow of what we are seeing in America today. The justification they came up with was called "marginal-productivity theory." In a nutshell, this theory associated higher incomes with higher productivity and a greater contribution to society. It is a theory that has always been cherished by the rich. Evidence for its validity, however, remains thin. The corporate executives who helped bring on the recession of the past three yearswhose contribution to our society, and to their own companies, has been massively negativewent on to receive large bonuses. In some cases, companies were so embarrassed about calling such rewards "performance bonuses" that they felt compelled to change the name to "retention bonuses" (even if the only thing being retained was bad performance). Those who have contributed great positive innovations to our society, from the pioneers of genetic understanding to the pioneers of the Information Age, have received a pittance compared with those responsible for the financial innovations that brought our global economy to the brink of ruin.
Some people look at income inequality and shrug their shoulders. So ...
The use of the words “citizen” and “consumer” to many would appear to be synonymous when in actual fact, there are often conflicts between their desires and aspirations that could lead one to believe that these are two different groups of individuals.
Is the Fed blowing bubbles to cover up growing inequality.... again?Yannick Naud
1) The document discusses rising income inequality in the US and how the Fed has responded by creating housing bubbles to disguise the fact that the middle class is not benefiting from economic growth and to boost consumption.
2) It analyzes recent data showing that the top 1% captured 95% of income gains in the US recovery while the bottom 99% saw little growth. Inequality is surging to new highs not seen since before the Great Depression.
3) High and rising inequality has negative economic and social consequences like reduced economic growth and mobility if it passes a certain point, according to studies and economists cited in the document.
Instructions1. On the top of the page, provide the article citat.docxnormanibarber20063
Instructions
1. On the top of the page, provide the article citation in current APA format.
On the next line down, type the topic of your articles: (Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
in all caps and bold format.
2. In a double-spaced document, briefly explain the author’s purpose for writing the article. One way to understand the author’s purpose is to ask yourself why he or she wrote it. (For example, consider current and future events, politics, or anything else that may have inspired the article.)
3. Summarize the article(The criminality of Wall Street), focusing on the discussion of the topic the article addresses. Incorporate relevant economic theory that is present so that discussion of the article content is clear.
Article: The Criminality of Wall Street
Tabb, William K. Monthly Review66.4 (Sep 2014): 13-22.
The current stage of capitalism is characterized by the increased power of finance capital. How to understand the economics of this shift and its political implications is now central for both the left and the larger society. There can be little doubt that a signature development of our time is the growth of finance and monopoly power.1
In 1980 the nominal value of global financial assets almost equaled global GDP. In 2005 they were more than three times global GDP.2 The nominal value of foreign exchange trading increased from eleven times the value of global trade in 1980 to seventy-three times in 2009.3 Of course it is not certain what this increase means, since such nominal values can fluctuate widely, as we saw in the Great Financial Crisis. They cannot be compared directly and without all sorts of qualifications to the value added in the real economy. But they do give an impressionistic sense of the enormous magnitude by which finance grew and came to dominate the economy. Between 1980 and 2007, derivative contracts of all kinds expanded from $1 trillion globally to $600 trillion.4 Hedge funds and private equity groups, special investment vehicles, and mega-bank holding companies changed the face of Western capitalism. They also brought on the collapse from which we still suffer. Ordinary people may not be acquainted with the numbers (and even those best informed are not sure of their significance), but people generally understand in different and often deep ways what has been happening: namely, an ongoing process of financialization that has come to dwarf production.
What is particularly important is that despite the huge bubble created by this metastasizing growth of finance, the economy did not expand as rapidly as it had in the postwar years, before the goods producing industries lost ground in terms of employment to other sectors of the economy, and when government spending was used actively to promote growth. While the nature of much of the growth that occurred then is certainly open to criticism from all sorts of standpoints, at the time there was widespread understanding in policy circles that government spending was.
The document discusses trends in the global economy including currency devaluation, inflation, and rising commodity prices. It recommends investment strategies focused on US dollars, energy and metal companies, municipal bonds, and mutual funds invested in dividend-paying international companies. Inflation will redistribute wealth from lenders and those with cash to debtors and those with hard assets. Developing countries' economies and commodity demand will grow as wealth shifts globally.
Blackwall partners 2 qtr 2016- transient volatility part iiiMichael Durante
This document discusses the state of the US economy under President Obama and the policies of the Obama administration. It argues that the economy has stagnated, with 95 million Americans not working, wages stagnant, and declining upward mobility. It attributes this to failed "socialistic" policies and excessive government intervention. The author argues the economy needs inspiration to return to growth and policies that worked previously to boost jobs, wages, home and family formation.
The best data we have on the
upper tail of the income distribution come from Piketty and Saez’s (2003, with
updates) tabulations of individual tax returns. (Even these numbers, though, are
subject to some controversy: the tax code changes over time, altering the incentives
to receive and report compensation in alternative forms.) According to their
numbers, the share of income, excluding capital gains, earned by the top 1 percent
rose from 7.7 percent in 1973 to 17.4 percent in 2010. Even more striking is the
share earned by the top 0.01 percent—an elite group that, in 2010, had a membership
requirement of annual income exceeding $5.9 million. This group’s share of
total income rose from 0.5 percent in 1973 to 3.3 percent in 2010. These numbers
are not easily ignored. Indeed, they in no small part motivated the Occupy movement,
and they have led to calls from policymakers on the left to make the tax code
more progressive.
“THE END OF THE AGE OF ENTITLEMENT”
ADDRESS TO THE INSTITUTE OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS LONDON 17 APRIL 2012
JOE HOCKEY MP
THE END OF THE AGE OF ENTITLEMENT
INSTITUTE of ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
LONDON
The document discusses several topics:
1. Potential investment strategies in light of currency devaluations and quantitative easing, including holding some cash, investing in MLPs, metals, municipal bonds, and mutual funds focused on dividend growers and emerging markets.
2. The impact of currency devaluations, including a transfer of wealth from lenders to debtors and those with cash to those with commodities.
3. Political and economic trends, such as declining standards of living in northern countries and growing wealth in southern countries.
The document proposes four multi-trillion dollar paths to a thriving America: 1) Sovereign money or debt-free money, 2) Land value taxation (Georgism), 3) Public banking, and 4) Ending government financial asset hoarding. Each path is estimated to be worth over $1 trillion per year. The document then provides more details on sovereign money, land value taxation, and public banking. It argues that sovereign money could fund infrastructure and social programs without inflation. It explains how land value, not buildings, determines home values and proposes taxing land values instead of wages and sales. It also outlines the benefits of public banking compared to private banks, using the Bank of North Dakota as an example
Week 6 Discussion 1: Presidential Advisor
Required Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
Textbook: Review Chapter 2, 3 (pp. 56-59), 13
Lesson
Additional scholarly sources you identify through your own research
TEXTBOOK:
Magstadt, T. (2017). Understanding Politics: Ideas, institutions, and issues (12th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage.
Post Instructions:
You are an advisor to the President tasked with cutting at least $300 billion from the budget. The president wants your recommendations to cut lines, not large categories. Explain why you chose those cuts.
Note: THESE ARE NOT TRUE US BUDGET NUMBERS!
.
DOMESTIC PROGRAMS AND FOREIGN AID
Cut some foreign aid to African countries
$17 billion
Eliminate farm subsidies
$14 billion
Cut pay of civilian federal workers by 5 percent
$14 billion
Reduce the overall federal workforce by 10%
$12 billion
Cut aid to states by 5%
$29 billion
MILITARY
Cut the number of nuclear warheads, and end the "Star Wars" missile defense program
$19 billion
Reduce military to pre-Iraq War size and further reduce troops in Asia and Europe
$25 billion
Cancel or delay some weapons programs
$19 billion
HEALTHCARE
Enact medical malpractice reform by reducing the chances of large malpractice verdicts
$ 8 billion
Increase the Medicare eligibility age to 68
$ 8 billion
Raise the Social Security retirement age to 68.
$ 13 billion
EXISTING TAXES
Return the estate tax to Clinton-era levels, passing on an estate worth more than $1 million to their heirs would have portions of those estates taxed.
$ 50 billion
End tax cuts for income above $250,000 a year
$ 54 billion
End tax cuts for income below $250,000 a year
$ 172 billion
Payroll tax increase for people making over $106,000 annually contributing more to Social Security and Medicare.
$ 50 billion
NEW TAXES
Institute a Millionaire's tax on income above $1 million
$ 50 billion
Add a national 5% sales tax
$ 41 billion
Add a tax on carbon emissions
$ 40 billion
Tax banks based on their sizes and the amount of risk they take.
$ 73 billion
Total gap covered by your budget plan
$_________________
Use evidence (cite sources) to support your response from assigned readings or online lessons, and at
TWO
outside scholarly source.
Summary for discussion post:
Imagine that you’re a high-ranking advisor to the President of the United States (If it helps think of a generic president, not the actual person in the White House), and you’re tasked with cutting at least $300 billion from the budget.
The president wants your recommendations to cut lines, not large categories. Explain why you chose those cuts.
Be sure to list the options you chose with their totals and your overall total as well. Reaching $300 Billion is tough, so I want you to get your total somewhere between $290 - 310 Billion.
-----------------------------------
As you start, this hypothetical budget has a shortfall (or gap ...
Week 6 Discussion 1: Presidential Advisor
Required Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
Textbook: Review Chapter 2, 3 (pp. 56-59), 13
Lesson
Additional scholarly sources you identify through your own research
TEXTBOOK:
Magstadt, T. (2017). Understanding Politics: Ideas, institutions, and issues (12th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage.
Post Instructions:
You are an advisor to the President tasked with cutting at least $300 billion from the budget. The president wants your recommendations to cut lines, not large categories. Explain why you chose those cuts.
Note: THESE ARE NOT TRUE US BUDGET NUMBERS!
.
DOMESTIC PROGRAMS AND FOREIGN AID
Cut some foreign aid to African countries
$17 billion
Eliminate farm subsidies
$14 billion
Cut pay of civilian federal workers by 5 percent
$14 billion
Reduce the overall federal workforce by 10%
$12 billion
Cut aid to states by 5%
$29 billion
MILITARY
Cut the number of nuclear warheads, and end the "Star Wars" missile defense program
$19 billion
Reduce military to pre-Iraq War size and further reduce troops in Asia and Europe
$25 billion
Cancel or delay some weapons programs
$19 billion
HEALTHCARE
Enact medical malpractice reform by reducing the chances of large malpractice verdicts
$ 8 billion
Increase the Medicare eligibility age to 68
$ 8 billion
Raise the Social Security retirement age to 68.
$ 13 billion
EXISTING TAXES
Return the estate tax to Clinton-era levels, passing on an estate worth more than $1 million to their heirs would have portions of those estates taxed.
$ 50 billion
End tax cuts for income above $250,000 a year
$ 54 billion
End tax cuts for income below $250,000 a year
$ 172 billion
Payroll tax increase for people making over $106,000 annually contributing more to Social Security and Medicare.
$ 50 billion
NEW TAXES
Institute a Millionaire's tax on income above $1 million
$ 50 billion
Add a national 5% sales tax
$ 41 billion
Add a tax on carbon emissions
$ 40 billion
Tax banks based on their sizes and the amount of risk they take.
$ 73 billion
Total gap covered by your budget plan
$_________________
Use evidence (cite sources) to support your response from assigned readings or online lessons, and at
TWO
outside scholarly source.
Summary for discussion post:
Imagine that you’re a high-ranking advisor to the President of the United States (If it helps think of a generic president, not the actual person in the White House), and you’re tasked with cutting at least $300 billion from the budget.
The president wants your recommendations to cut lines, not large categories. Explain why you chose those cuts.
Be sure to list the options you chose with their totals and your overall total as well. Reaching $300 Billion is tough, so I want you to get your total somewhere between $290 - 310 Billion.
-----------------------------------
As you start, this hypothetical budget has a shortfall (or ...
This document discusses reasons for slower economic growth in the US as the "new normal" compared to previous decades. It notes factors such as high household, business, and government debt levels; a more competitive global economy; demographic changes like retiring Baby Boomers; stagnant wage growth; cautious corporate behavior focused on financial engineering over hiring and investment; industry consolidation; the impact of technology in eliminating jobs; and income volatility among many workers. The document examines these trends in depth through data and examples to argue the US faces structural economic challenges compared to the post-WWII era.
This document discusses reasons for slower economic growth in the US, referred to as the "new normal". It summarizes views from economists like Mohamed El-Eraian and Ray Dalio that high household, business, and government debt following the 2008 financial crisis has led to balance sheet repair and slower growth. Additional factors cited include an aging population reducing spending, younger Americans delaying life milestones, high corporate taxes and regulations, rising costs of living and education, and increased global economic competition reducing US jobs and wages. The document provides examples of how revenue growth has slowed for large mature companies due to their size and analyzes economic trends among Baby Boomers and Millennials that have contributed to weaker consumer demand.
The document discusses the causes and lessons of the global economic recession. It argues that the recession was not simply due to inadequate demand but also distorted supply, as economies lost the ability to grow through making useful things. Governments and households borrowed excessively to prop up growth. Rather than trying to return to unsustainable pre-crisis GDP levels through more borrowing and spending, governments need to address underlying economic flaws through policies like retraining workers, encouraging innovation, and making labor markets more competitive. Easy credit masked deeper problems, and debt-fueled growth proved unsustainable.
The document summarizes and responds to arguments made in a Florida state budget debate. It argues that the state Senate and media are wrongly advocating for tax increases to fund additional government spending, while the House and Governor correctly want to keep taxes low and "live within the state's means." The document asserts that Florida's economic growth is best encouraged by cutting taxes, not raising them, and that spending on education and Medicaid is unsustainable without reforms to introduce competition and efficiencies.
The document is a newsletter discussing the state of the US economy from the perspective of an economic analyst, Mike Lathigee. It summarizes that while official reports claim the economy is recovering, the reality is that inequality is growing as the rich get richer and the middle class and poor get poorer. Unemployment and other key economic indicators show most Americans are worse off than during the 2008 recession. It recommends investors increase their holdings of physical gold and silver to 10% of their portfolio as a hedge against potential economic troubles in the future.
Running head THE AMERICAN DREAM 1The American Dream Dead.docxtoltonkendal
Running head: THE AMERICAN DREAM 1
The American Dream: Dead, Alive, or on Hold?
Brandon King
University of Cincinnati
King.indd 1 1/16/14 12:00 PM
THE AMERICAN DREAM 2
The American Dream: Dead, Alive, or on Hold?
What is the true state of the so- called “American Dream”
today? Is it still around, waiting to be achieved by those who work
hard enough, or is it effectively dead, killed off by the Great
Recession and the economic hardships that many Americans have
come to face? Statistics reveal alarming facts, including trillions of
dollars lost in the stock market (Paradis, 2009). While these losses,
combined with admittedly high unemployment in the past few
years, have contributed to seemingly dismal prospects for
prosperity in the United States, I believe that the ideals and values
of the American Dream are still very much alive. In fact, the
original term “American Dream” was coined during the Great
Depression by James Truslow Adams, who wrote that the American
dream “is that dream of a land in which life should be better and
richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according
to ability and achievement, regardless of social class or
circumstances of birth” (1931). I would redefine the American
Dream today as the potential to work for an honest, secure way of
life and save for the future. Many liberal economists and activists
say that the American Dream is dead, but I say that it’s more alive
and important than ever— and that it is the key to climbing out of
the Great Recession, overcoming inequality, and achieving true
prosperity.
Despite the harshness of the Great Recession, a 2009 New
York Times survey found that 72 percent of Americans still believed
it was possible to start poor, work hard, and become rich in
America (Seelye, 2009). In the same survey, Americans were also
King.indd 2 1/16/14 12:00 PM
THE AMERICAN DREAM 3
asked questions about what they believed constituted being
“successful,” with the majority naming things such as a steady job,
financial security for the future, being able to retire without
struggling, and having a secure place of residence. Less common
were responses about owning a home or car and being able to buy
other expensive goods, implying a subtle shift from the American
Dream of the past to a more modest one today. In many ways, the
American Dream of today is a trimmed down version of its former
self. The real sign of success in our society used to be owning
expensive items, namely cars and homes, and acquiring more
material wealth. Living the American Dream meant going from
dirt poor to filthy rich and becoming more than you could have
ever imagined. Today, most people do not strive for a rags- to-
riches transition, and instead prefer a stable, middle- class lifestyle,
one in which they can focus on saving money for the future and
having secure employment. For example, more ...
The document argues that the current federal budget deficit and debt levels are unfairly blamed on ordinary Americans, who did not cause the issues. It claims the true causes were decades of bad economic policies, including unjustified wars, outsourcing of jobs, tax cuts for the wealthy, financial deregulation, and stagnating middle-class incomes. Resolving the debt crisis requires addressing the underlying economic crisis first through solutions that help, not penalize, average Americans, rather than continuing policies advocated by those responsible for the problems. Fair debt policy should not scapegoat citizens for issues they did not create.
Should You Care About the Billionaire Tax?InvestingTips
There is a sense today that the richest among us are not paying their fair share of taxes as a proportion of their wealth. Thus the idea of a billionaire tax that would only apply to about 400 people has come to pass. Since the odds are pretty good, dear reader, that you are not one of the 400, should you care about the billionaire tax?
https://youtu.be/l9b4bQl5oVY
This is a big picture overview of the social and economic transformation of the USA in the last 20 years. Great wealth and prestige has been lost, the manufacturing and agriculture sectors have declined. The middle class has been decimated and great wealth inequality has been created. Government is under control of big corporations, especially in finance, and effective government agency has been lost.
The Great Rightward Shift: How Conservatism Shifted the Money to the 1%David Doney
The document discusses how conservative economic policies since 1980 have contributed to increasing income and wealth inequality in the United States. It notes that the top 1% now receive over 20% of income, versus 10% pre-1980, and own 42% of wealth compared to 24% in the mid-1970s. Conservative policies such as tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the wealthy 1% and weakening of unions have shifted more of the economic gains to the top earners over the past several decades. The rise of conservative media has also encouraged working-class voters to support policies that are not in their own economic interests.
The document discusses several topics including:
1. Investment strategies that favor cash, midstream energy MLPs, metals, municipal bonds, and mutual funds focused on dividend growth companies.
2. The causes and impacts of the 2008 financial crisis, including widespread wealth destruction and the need for government intervention to stabilize financial systems.
3. Political dysfunctions that stem from dualistic thinking and an overemphasis on differences rather than a nondual approach that celebrates unity and interconnection.
The document discusses the financial crisis and responses to it. It argues that government policy mistakes led to the crisis and that bailouts will not solve it. Keynesian economic policies like increased spending and stimulus plans will not work and instead will lead to higher long-term government spending and taxation that hinders growth. The ideal approach is to limit government's role to core functions, lower taxes broadly, and let markets correct problems without intervention.
The document discusses the ongoing financial crisis and recession, and argues that government intervention through bailouts and stimulus spending will make the situation worse and lead to higher taxes and a larger government. It advocates for smaller government, lower taxes, and allowing markets to correct themselves without intervention as the best path forward.
The document discusses various investment strategies in light of global economic trends, including currency devaluation, rising commodity prices, and growing developing markets. It recommends investing in US dollars, midstream energy MLPs, metals like steel and copper, municipal bonds, and mutual funds that focus on dividend-paying companies in emerging markets.
Do you support higher minimum wages Briefly discuss.SolutionI.pdfaksamobilecare
Do you support higher minimum wages? Briefly discuss.
Solution
In recent months, a number of states have again taken the lead on measures to raise the minimum
wage. Massachusetts is moving toward a minimum of $10 per hour. Other measures are on the
table in New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Connecticut and Missouri. Meanwhile Sen. Tom
Harkin, D-Iowa, is pressing for the federal minimum wage to rise to $9.80 per hour by 2014.
This is far more sensible policy than symbolic nods to the left through gimmicks such as the so-
called Buffett Rule, which might raise new revenues from the mega-wealthy through taxes, but
will likely amount to very little because gazillionaires can hire clever accountants to help them
get around it. No, we need policies that clearly do something for hard-working people who have
been clobbered by a financial crisis they didn\'t create.
Here are five reasons why we should cheer for working America getting a raise.
1. Good for Families: According to economist James Galbraith, raising the minimum wage
would raise the incomes of 28 million Americans. Women would particularly benefit because
they tend to work for lower wages than men. As Galbraith sees it, raising the minimum wage is
family friendly policy:
“With more family income, some people would choose to retire, go back to school, or have
children, making it easier for others who need jobs to find them. Working families would have
more time for community life, including politics; Americans would start to reclaim the middle-
class political organization that they once had. Because payroll- and income-tax revenues would
rise, the federal deficit would come down. Social Security worries would fade.”
2. Good for Economic Recovery: To get the economy back on track, spending power has to be in
the hands of those who actually spend in the real economy. That means regular people, not the
super-wealthy who tend to hoard wealth or invest in financial products. The minimum wage
story is not just a story about income inequality, but rather it’s about an elite that has hijacked the
economic system and made it work less productively than before while redistributing more of
what is working to themselves.
The problem with our economy today is that the growing gap between the real wages and
productivity has violated the traditional relationship between real wages and consumption. So if
the productivity of each worker is rising strongly, yet that worker’s capacity to purchase (the real
wage) is lagging badly behind – how does economic recovery which relies on growth in
spending sustain itself?
Which is why policy should be more directed toward programs that increase the minimum wage
and less of discredited neoliberal “trickle-down” economics. Trickle-down economics is largely
counterproductive because it shifts more resources into the hands of those who have less
propensity to spend and keep the economy moving.
3. Helps People Get Out of Debt: During the early part of the post-war period, .
Take a few moments to research the contextual elements surrounding P.docxperryk1
Take a few moments to research the contextual elements surrounding President Kennedy’s inauguration in 1961 and then critically examine this speech:
“Inaugural Address,” by John F. KennedyLinks to an external site.<
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://nam01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https*3A*2F*2Furldefense.com*2Fv3*2F__https*3A*2F*2Fwww.jfklibrary.org*2FAsset-Viewer*2FBqXIEM9F4024ntFl7SVAjA.aspx__*3B!!ACPuPu0!nRyVaN_vHAO7VokwK2jIluLRE3Rbgg_zTzlKs2LU0jy7JJDLOQzoLng5O9kq8Ar2xqOxu6ASoTCCAw*24&data=02*7C01*7Cs3521396*40students.fscj.edu*7C3dbff0e6302e40df260508d83ebef2dd*7C4258f8b94f8d44abb87f21ab35a63470*7C0*7C0*7C637328337145689500&sdata=rjSnrpQbmBtBYheBjJTh*2B57JapV8a8uLTbS*2BwaXQFps*3D&reserved=0__;JSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSU!!ACPuPu0!lzlmNESbzfxzfV0D2RFZGvC0P4JM5SVIIXnoztdLO3J83rBb44XpTJOZcRrT89Wp_du_$
> is made available by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. It is in the public domain.
In a short rhetorical analysis (minimum of four paragraphs in length), please answer all of the questions below. Your work should include an introduction, a body of supporting evidence, and a conclusion. Please take some time to edit your writing for punctuation, usage, and clarity prior to submission.
Questions for Analysis
1. Which important historical and social realities had an impact on this speech in 1961, and how do these contextual elements figure in President Kennedy’s organization of this speech?
2. What is President Kennedy saying about the nature of human progress (science and technology) and the challenges that we must navigate as a global community? Are these challenges unique to 1961, or relative throughout human history?
3. What are the goals of this speech? Isolate at least three aims of President Kennedy’s address, identify his strategy for supporting these goals, and critique their efficacy. Is this an effective speech? Where applicable, please include a quotation or two from the speech.
In a rhetorical analysis (minimum of eight paragraphs in length), please answer all of the questions below. Your work should include an introduction, a body of supporting evidence, and a conclusion. Please take some time to edit your writing for punctuation, usage, and clarity prior to submission.
Questions for Analysis
1. How does Jefferson organize this important document? How many subdivisions does it have, how do they operate, and how does his approach to organization impact the document’s efficacy?
2. Using at least one citation from the text, analyze Jefferson’s approach to style, voice, and tone. How does he create a sense of urgency in moving toward the conclusion of the work?
3. The complexities of this document’s reach are immense. How many different audiences was Jefferson writing to, and what were the needs of those different groups?
4. In terms of the approaches to formal rhetoric that we studied in the first learning module, which does The Declaration of Independence most closely resemble? .
Table of Contents Section 2 Improving Healthcare Quality from.docxperryk1
Table of Contents Section 2: Improving Healthcare Quality from Within Week 4
Week 4 - Assignment: Interpret Performance Measures
Week 4 - Assignment: Interpret
Performance Measures
Instructions
Course Home Content Dropbox Grades Bookshelf ePortfolio Library The Commons Calendar
You have just been appointed as the administrator of a large managed healthcare organization
with multiple facilities in your state, including facilities in city X and Y (table below). A task your
office is charged with is to reimburse facilities based on how they perform on a set of healthcare
quality measures.
Based on the information provided below, what considerations will you make in your decision-
making process? To complete this assignment, prepare a PowerPoint presentation that
highlights whether or not these two facilities (A and B) should be treated equally when
conducting your assessment. If any, what are the implications of treating these facilities as
equals for the purpose of comparison? Also, address the techniques you will use to ensure these
facilities are assessed fairly.
Measures Facility A Facility B
1
Population
characteristics
City X: Mostly people
with high economic
status and those with
more than high school
education
City Y: Mostly people
with low economic
status, minorities,
high school or less
education
2 Population served All ages
Mostly older adults
and people with
disabilities and
chronic conditions
3
Staff to patient
ratio
1:4 1:8
4
Physician and
nurses continuing
education
Required Required
5 Average number of
hours staff work
per week
50 hours 60 hours
Reflect in ePortfolio
Submissions
No submissions yet. Drag and drop to upload your assignment below.
Drop files here, or click below!
Upload Choose Existing
You can upload files up to a maximum of 1 GB.
Length: 8-10 slides (excluding title slide and references slide)
References: Include a minimum of 3-5 peer-reviewed, scholarly resources referenced on a
separate slide at the end of your presentation.
Your assignment should reflect scholarly academic writing, current APA standards,
Record
Week 4
Course Home Content Dropbox Grades Bookshelf More
Interpreting Performance Improvement Measures
and Benchmarking
As a healthcare administrator/manager, it is in your best
interest to help the facility you serve to move in the
direction charted in the National Quality Strategy (Joshi et
al., 2014). Organizations that fail to meet set standards are
known to face sanctions and sometimes required to close
shop. In consideration of this, you will want to ensure that
the facility you manage is adopting a culture of quality that
puts its patients at the center of healthcare delivery. You will
want to do this by making sure that your facility provides
quality patient care, while also keeping the facility’s
bottom-line healthy.
To ensure you are moving in the right direction, you must
measure and monitor key qual.
Take a company and build a unique solution not currently offered. Bu.docxperryk1
This document outlines 5 frameworks to use when presenting a new business idea: 1) Start with Why by Simon Sinek to explain the purpose or belief behind the idea, 2) Blue Ocean Strategy by Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne to create uncontested market space, 3) Being re'Markable' to stand out, 4) The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell to explain how the idea can gain widespread adoption, and 5) Story Brand by Donald Miller to frame the idea as a compelling narrative.
More Related Content
Similar to T h e O n e Pe rc e ntTHE 1 PERCENT’S PROBLEMWhy won’t.docx
The document discusses several topics:
1. Potential investment strategies in light of currency devaluations and quantitative easing, including holding some cash, investing in MLPs, metals, municipal bonds, and mutual funds focused on dividend growers and emerging markets.
2. The impact of currency devaluations, including a transfer of wealth from lenders to debtors and those with cash to those with commodities.
3. Political and economic trends, such as declining standards of living in northern countries and growing wealth in southern countries.
The document proposes four multi-trillion dollar paths to a thriving America: 1) Sovereign money or debt-free money, 2) Land value taxation (Georgism), 3) Public banking, and 4) Ending government financial asset hoarding. Each path is estimated to be worth over $1 trillion per year. The document then provides more details on sovereign money, land value taxation, and public banking. It argues that sovereign money could fund infrastructure and social programs without inflation. It explains how land value, not buildings, determines home values and proposes taxing land values instead of wages and sales. It also outlines the benefits of public banking compared to private banks, using the Bank of North Dakota as an example
Week 6 Discussion 1: Presidential Advisor
Required Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
Textbook: Review Chapter 2, 3 (pp. 56-59), 13
Lesson
Additional scholarly sources you identify through your own research
TEXTBOOK:
Magstadt, T. (2017). Understanding Politics: Ideas, institutions, and issues (12th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage.
Post Instructions:
You are an advisor to the President tasked with cutting at least $300 billion from the budget. The president wants your recommendations to cut lines, not large categories. Explain why you chose those cuts.
Note: THESE ARE NOT TRUE US BUDGET NUMBERS!
.
DOMESTIC PROGRAMS AND FOREIGN AID
Cut some foreign aid to African countries
$17 billion
Eliminate farm subsidies
$14 billion
Cut pay of civilian federal workers by 5 percent
$14 billion
Reduce the overall federal workforce by 10%
$12 billion
Cut aid to states by 5%
$29 billion
MILITARY
Cut the number of nuclear warheads, and end the "Star Wars" missile defense program
$19 billion
Reduce military to pre-Iraq War size and further reduce troops in Asia and Europe
$25 billion
Cancel or delay some weapons programs
$19 billion
HEALTHCARE
Enact medical malpractice reform by reducing the chances of large malpractice verdicts
$ 8 billion
Increase the Medicare eligibility age to 68
$ 8 billion
Raise the Social Security retirement age to 68.
$ 13 billion
EXISTING TAXES
Return the estate tax to Clinton-era levels, passing on an estate worth more than $1 million to their heirs would have portions of those estates taxed.
$ 50 billion
End tax cuts for income above $250,000 a year
$ 54 billion
End tax cuts for income below $250,000 a year
$ 172 billion
Payroll tax increase for people making over $106,000 annually contributing more to Social Security and Medicare.
$ 50 billion
NEW TAXES
Institute a Millionaire's tax on income above $1 million
$ 50 billion
Add a national 5% sales tax
$ 41 billion
Add a tax on carbon emissions
$ 40 billion
Tax banks based on their sizes and the amount of risk they take.
$ 73 billion
Total gap covered by your budget plan
$_________________
Use evidence (cite sources) to support your response from assigned readings or online lessons, and at
TWO
outside scholarly source.
Summary for discussion post:
Imagine that you’re a high-ranking advisor to the President of the United States (If it helps think of a generic president, not the actual person in the White House), and you’re tasked with cutting at least $300 billion from the budget.
The president wants your recommendations to cut lines, not large categories. Explain why you chose those cuts.
Be sure to list the options you chose with their totals and your overall total as well. Reaching $300 Billion is tough, so I want you to get your total somewhere between $290 - 310 Billion.
-----------------------------------
As you start, this hypothetical budget has a shortfall (or gap ...
Week 6 Discussion 1: Presidential Advisor
Required Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
Textbook: Review Chapter 2, 3 (pp. 56-59), 13
Lesson
Additional scholarly sources you identify through your own research
TEXTBOOK:
Magstadt, T. (2017). Understanding Politics: Ideas, institutions, and issues (12th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage.
Post Instructions:
You are an advisor to the President tasked with cutting at least $300 billion from the budget. The president wants your recommendations to cut lines, not large categories. Explain why you chose those cuts.
Note: THESE ARE NOT TRUE US BUDGET NUMBERS!
.
DOMESTIC PROGRAMS AND FOREIGN AID
Cut some foreign aid to African countries
$17 billion
Eliminate farm subsidies
$14 billion
Cut pay of civilian federal workers by 5 percent
$14 billion
Reduce the overall federal workforce by 10%
$12 billion
Cut aid to states by 5%
$29 billion
MILITARY
Cut the number of nuclear warheads, and end the "Star Wars" missile defense program
$19 billion
Reduce military to pre-Iraq War size and further reduce troops in Asia and Europe
$25 billion
Cancel or delay some weapons programs
$19 billion
HEALTHCARE
Enact medical malpractice reform by reducing the chances of large malpractice verdicts
$ 8 billion
Increase the Medicare eligibility age to 68
$ 8 billion
Raise the Social Security retirement age to 68.
$ 13 billion
EXISTING TAXES
Return the estate tax to Clinton-era levels, passing on an estate worth more than $1 million to their heirs would have portions of those estates taxed.
$ 50 billion
End tax cuts for income above $250,000 a year
$ 54 billion
End tax cuts for income below $250,000 a year
$ 172 billion
Payroll tax increase for people making over $106,000 annually contributing more to Social Security and Medicare.
$ 50 billion
NEW TAXES
Institute a Millionaire's tax on income above $1 million
$ 50 billion
Add a national 5% sales tax
$ 41 billion
Add a tax on carbon emissions
$ 40 billion
Tax banks based on their sizes and the amount of risk they take.
$ 73 billion
Total gap covered by your budget plan
$_________________
Use evidence (cite sources) to support your response from assigned readings or online lessons, and at
TWO
outside scholarly source.
Summary for discussion post:
Imagine that you’re a high-ranking advisor to the President of the United States (If it helps think of a generic president, not the actual person in the White House), and you’re tasked with cutting at least $300 billion from the budget.
The president wants your recommendations to cut lines, not large categories. Explain why you chose those cuts.
Be sure to list the options you chose with their totals and your overall total as well. Reaching $300 Billion is tough, so I want you to get your total somewhere between $290 - 310 Billion.
-----------------------------------
As you start, this hypothetical budget has a shortfall (or ...
This document discusses reasons for slower economic growth in the US as the "new normal" compared to previous decades. It notes factors such as high household, business, and government debt levels; a more competitive global economy; demographic changes like retiring Baby Boomers; stagnant wage growth; cautious corporate behavior focused on financial engineering over hiring and investment; industry consolidation; the impact of technology in eliminating jobs; and income volatility among many workers. The document examines these trends in depth through data and examples to argue the US faces structural economic challenges compared to the post-WWII era.
This document discusses reasons for slower economic growth in the US, referred to as the "new normal". It summarizes views from economists like Mohamed El-Eraian and Ray Dalio that high household, business, and government debt following the 2008 financial crisis has led to balance sheet repair and slower growth. Additional factors cited include an aging population reducing spending, younger Americans delaying life milestones, high corporate taxes and regulations, rising costs of living and education, and increased global economic competition reducing US jobs and wages. The document provides examples of how revenue growth has slowed for large mature companies due to their size and analyzes economic trends among Baby Boomers and Millennials that have contributed to weaker consumer demand.
The document discusses the causes and lessons of the global economic recession. It argues that the recession was not simply due to inadequate demand but also distorted supply, as economies lost the ability to grow through making useful things. Governments and households borrowed excessively to prop up growth. Rather than trying to return to unsustainable pre-crisis GDP levels through more borrowing and spending, governments need to address underlying economic flaws through policies like retraining workers, encouraging innovation, and making labor markets more competitive. Easy credit masked deeper problems, and debt-fueled growth proved unsustainable.
The document summarizes and responds to arguments made in a Florida state budget debate. It argues that the state Senate and media are wrongly advocating for tax increases to fund additional government spending, while the House and Governor correctly want to keep taxes low and "live within the state's means." The document asserts that Florida's economic growth is best encouraged by cutting taxes, not raising them, and that spending on education and Medicaid is unsustainable without reforms to introduce competition and efficiencies.
The document is a newsletter discussing the state of the US economy from the perspective of an economic analyst, Mike Lathigee. It summarizes that while official reports claim the economy is recovering, the reality is that inequality is growing as the rich get richer and the middle class and poor get poorer. Unemployment and other key economic indicators show most Americans are worse off than during the 2008 recession. It recommends investors increase their holdings of physical gold and silver to 10% of their portfolio as a hedge against potential economic troubles in the future.
Running head THE AMERICAN DREAM 1The American Dream Dead.docxtoltonkendal
Running head: THE AMERICAN DREAM 1
The American Dream: Dead, Alive, or on Hold?
Brandon King
University of Cincinnati
King.indd 1 1/16/14 12:00 PM
THE AMERICAN DREAM 2
The American Dream: Dead, Alive, or on Hold?
What is the true state of the so- called “American Dream”
today? Is it still around, waiting to be achieved by those who work
hard enough, or is it effectively dead, killed off by the Great
Recession and the economic hardships that many Americans have
come to face? Statistics reveal alarming facts, including trillions of
dollars lost in the stock market (Paradis, 2009). While these losses,
combined with admittedly high unemployment in the past few
years, have contributed to seemingly dismal prospects for
prosperity in the United States, I believe that the ideals and values
of the American Dream are still very much alive. In fact, the
original term “American Dream” was coined during the Great
Depression by James Truslow Adams, who wrote that the American
dream “is that dream of a land in which life should be better and
richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according
to ability and achievement, regardless of social class or
circumstances of birth” (1931). I would redefine the American
Dream today as the potential to work for an honest, secure way of
life and save for the future. Many liberal economists and activists
say that the American Dream is dead, but I say that it’s more alive
and important than ever— and that it is the key to climbing out of
the Great Recession, overcoming inequality, and achieving true
prosperity.
Despite the harshness of the Great Recession, a 2009 New
York Times survey found that 72 percent of Americans still believed
it was possible to start poor, work hard, and become rich in
America (Seelye, 2009). In the same survey, Americans were also
King.indd 2 1/16/14 12:00 PM
THE AMERICAN DREAM 3
asked questions about what they believed constituted being
“successful,” with the majority naming things such as a steady job,
financial security for the future, being able to retire without
struggling, and having a secure place of residence. Less common
were responses about owning a home or car and being able to buy
other expensive goods, implying a subtle shift from the American
Dream of the past to a more modest one today. In many ways, the
American Dream of today is a trimmed down version of its former
self. The real sign of success in our society used to be owning
expensive items, namely cars and homes, and acquiring more
material wealth. Living the American Dream meant going from
dirt poor to filthy rich and becoming more than you could have
ever imagined. Today, most people do not strive for a rags- to-
riches transition, and instead prefer a stable, middle- class lifestyle,
one in which they can focus on saving money for the future and
having secure employment. For example, more ...
The document argues that the current federal budget deficit and debt levels are unfairly blamed on ordinary Americans, who did not cause the issues. It claims the true causes were decades of bad economic policies, including unjustified wars, outsourcing of jobs, tax cuts for the wealthy, financial deregulation, and stagnating middle-class incomes. Resolving the debt crisis requires addressing the underlying economic crisis first through solutions that help, not penalize, average Americans, rather than continuing policies advocated by those responsible for the problems. Fair debt policy should not scapegoat citizens for issues they did not create.
Should You Care About the Billionaire Tax?InvestingTips
There is a sense today that the richest among us are not paying their fair share of taxes as a proportion of their wealth. Thus the idea of a billionaire tax that would only apply to about 400 people has come to pass. Since the odds are pretty good, dear reader, that you are not one of the 400, should you care about the billionaire tax?
https://youtu.be/l9b4bQl5oVY
This is a big picture overview of the social and economic transformation of the USA in the last 20 years. Great wealth and prestige has been lost, the manufacturing and agriculture sectors have declined. The middle class has been decimated and great wealth inequality has been created. Government is under control of big corporations, especially in finance, and effective government agency has been lost.
The Great Rightward Shift: How Conservatism Shifted the Money to the 1%David Doney
The document discusses how conservative economic policies since 1980 have contributed to increasing income and wealth inequality in the United States. It notes that the top 1% now receive over 20% of income, versus 10% pre-1980, and own 42% of wealth compared to 24% in the mid-1970s. Conservative policies such as tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the wealthy 1% and weakening of unions have shifted more of the economic gains to the top earners over the past several decades. The rise of conservative media has also encouraged working-class voters to support policies that are not in their own economic interests.
The document discusses several topics including:
1. Investment strategies that favor cash, midstream energy MLPs, metals, municipal bonds, and mutual funds focused on dividend growth companies.
2. The causes and impacts of the 2008 financial crisis, including widespread wealth destruction and the need for government intervention to stabilize financial systems.
3. Political dysfunctions that stem from dualistic thinking and an overemphasis on differences rather than a nondual approach that celebrates unity and interconnection.
The document discusses the financial crisis and responses to it. It argues that government policy mistakes led to the crisis and that bailouts will not solve it. Keynesian economic policies like increased spending and stimulus plans will not work and instead will lead to higher long-term government spending and taxation that hinders growth. The ideal approach is to limit government's role to core functions, lower taxes broadly, and let markets correct problems without intervention.
The document discusses the ongoing financial crisis and recession, and argues that government intervention through bailouts and stimulus spending will make the situation worse and lead to higher taxes and a larger government. It advocates for smaller government, lower taxes, and allowing markets to correct themselves without intervention as the best path forward.
The document discusses various investment strategies in light of global economic trends, including currency devaluation, rising commodity prices, and growing developing markets. It recommends investing in US dollars, midstream energy MLPs, metals like steel and copper, municipal bonds, and mutual funds that focus on dividend-paying companies in emerging markets.
Do you support higher minimum wages Briefly discuss.SolutionI.pdfaksamobilecare
Do you support higher minimum wages? Briefly discuss.
Solution
In recent months, a number of states have again taken the lead on measures to raise the minimum
wage. Massachusetts is moving toward a minimum of $10 per hour. Other measures are on the
table in New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Connecticut and Missouri. Meanwhile Sen. Tom
Harkin, D-Iowa, is pressing for the federal minimum wage to rise to $9.80 per hour by 2014.
This is far more sensible policy than symbolic nods to the left through gimmicks such as the so-
called Buffett Rule, which might raise new revenues from the mega-wealthy through taxes, but
will likely amount to very little because gazillionaires can hire clever accountants to help them
get around it. No, we need policies that clearly do something for hard-working people who have
been clobbered by a financial crisis they didn\'t create.
Here are five reasons why we should cheer for working America getting a raise.
1. Good for Families: According to economist James Galbraith, raising the minimum wage
would raise the incomes of 28 million Americans. Women would particularly benefit because
they tend to work for lower wages than men. As Galbraith sees it, raising the minimum wage is
family friendly policy:
“With more family income, some people would choose to retire, go back to school, or have
children, making it easier for others who need jobs to find them. Working families would have
more time for community life, including politics; Americans would start to reclaim the middle-
class political organization that they once had. Because payroll- and income-tax revenues would
rise, the federal deficit would come down. Social Security worries would fade.”
2. Good for Economic Recovery: To get the economy back on track, spending power has to be in
the hands of those who actually spend in the real economy. That means regular people, not the
super-wealthy who tend to hoard wealth or invest in financial products. The minimum wage
story is not just a story about income inequality, but rather it’s about an elite that has hijacked the
economic system and made it work less productively than before while redistributing more of
what is working to themselves.
The problem with our economy today is that the growing gap between the real wages and
productivity has violated the traditional relationship between real wages and consumption. So if
the productivity of each worker is rising strongly, yet that worker’s capacity to purchase (the real
wage) is lagging badly behind – how does economic recovery which relies on growth in
spending sustain itself?
Which is why policy should be more directed toward programs that increase the minimum wage
and less of discredited neoliberal “trickle-down” economics. Trickle-down economics is largely
counterproductive because it shifts more resources into the hands of those who have less
propensity to spend and keep the economy moving.
3. Helps People Get Out of Debt: During the early part of the post-war period, .
Similar to T h e O n e Pe rc e ntTHE 1 PERCENT’S PROBLEMWhy won’t.docx (19)
Take a few moments to research the contextual elements surrounding P.docxperryk1
Take a few moments to research the contextual elements surrounding President Kennedy’s inauguration in 1961 and then critically examine this speech:
“Inaugural Address,” by John F. KennedyLinks to an external site.<
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://nam01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https*3A*2F*2Furldefense.com*2Fv3*2F__https*3A*2F*2Fwww.jfklibrary.org*2FAsset-Viewer*2FBqXIEM9F4024ntFl7SVAjA.aspx__*3B!!ACPuPu0!nRyVaN_vHAO7VokwK2jIluLRE3Rbgg_zTzlKs2LU0jy7JJDLOQzoLng5O9kq8Ar2xqOxu6ASoTCCAw*24&data=02*7C01*7Cs3521396*40students.fscj.edu*7C3dbff0e6302e40df260508d83ebef2dd*7C4258f8b94f8d44abb87f21ab35a63470*7C0*7C0*7C637328337145689500&sdata=rjSnrpQbmBtBYheBjJTh*2B57JapV8a8uLTbS*2BwaXQFps*3D&reserved=0__;JSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSU!!ACPuPu0!lzlmNESbzfxzfV0D2RFZGvC0P4JM5SVIIXnoztdLO3J83rBb44XpTJOZcRrT89Wp_du_$
> is made available by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. It is in the public domain.
In a short rhetorical analysis (minimum of four paragraphs in length), please answer all of the questions below. Your work should include an introduction, a body of supporting evidence, and a conclusion. Please take some time to edit your writing for punctuation, usage, and clarity prior to submission.
Questions for Analysis
1. Which important historical and social realities had an impact on this speech in 1961, and how do these contextual elements figure in President Kennedy’s organization of this speech?
2. What is President Kennedy saying about the nature of human progress (science and technology) and the challenges that we must navigate as a global community? Are these challenges unique to 1961, or relative throughout human history?
3. What are the goals of this speech? Isolate at least three aims of President Kennedy’s address, identify his strategy for supporting these goals, and critique their efficacy. Is this an effective speech? Where applicable, please include a quotation or two from the speech.
In a rhetorical analysis (minimum of eight paragraphs in length), please answer all of the questions below. Your work should include an introduction, a body of supporting evidence, and a conclusion. Please take some time to edit your writing for punctuation, usage, and clarity prior to submission.
Questions for Analysis
1. How does Jefferson organize this important document? How many subdivisions does it have, how do they operate, and how does his approach to organization impact the document’s efficacy?
2. Using at least one citation from the text, analyze Jefferson’s approach to style, voice, and tone. How does he create a sense of urgency in moving toward the conclusion of the work?
3. The complexities of this document’s reach are immense. How many different audiences was Jefferson writing to, and what were the needs of those different groups?
4. In terms of the approaches to formal rhetoric that we studied in the first learning module, which does The Declaration of Independence most closely resemble? .
Table of Contents Section 2 Improving Healthcare Quality from.docxperryk1
Table of Contents Section 2: Improving Healthcare Quality from Within Week 4
Week 4 - Assignment: Interpret Performance Measures
Week 4 - Assignment: Interpret
Performance Measures
Instructions
Course Home Content Dropbox Grades Bookshelf ePortfolio Library The Commons Calendar
You have just been appointed as the administrator of a large managed healthcare organization
with multiple facilities in your state, including facilities in city X and Y (table below). A task your
office is charged with is to reimburse facilities based on how they perform on a set of healthcare
quality measures.
Based on the information provided below, what considerations will you make in your decision-
making process? To complete this assignment, prepare a PowerPoint presentation that
highlights whether or not these two facilities (A and B) should be treated equally when
conducting your assessment. If any, what are the implications of treating these facilities as
equals for the purpose of comparison? Also, address the techniques you will use to ensure these
facilities are assessed fairly.
Measures Facility A Facility B
1
Population
characteristics
City X: Mostly people
with high economic
status and those with
more than high school
education
City Y: Mostly people
with low economic
status, minorities,
high school or less
education
2 Population served All ages
Mostly older adults
and people with
disabilities and
chronic conditions
3
Staff to patient
ratio
1:4 1:8
4
Physician and
nurses continuing
education
Required Required
5 Average number of
hours staff work
per week
50 hours 60 hours
Reflect in ePortfolio
Submissions
No submissions yet. Drag and drop to upload your assignment below.
Drop files here, or click below!
Upload Choose Existing
You can upload files up to a maximum of 1 GB.
Length: 8-10 slides (excluding title slide and references slide)
References: Include a minimum of 3-5 peer-reviewed, scholarly resources referenced on a
separate slide at the end of your presentation.
Your assignment should reflect scholarly academic writing, current APA standards,
Record
Week 4
Course Home Content Dropbox Grades Bookshelf More
Interpreting Performance Improvement Measures
and Benchmarking
As a healthcare administrator/manager, it is in your best
interest to help the facility you serve to move in the
direction charted in the National Quality Strategy (Joshi et
al., 2014). Organizations that fail to meet set standards are
known to face sanctions and sometimes required to close
shop. In consideration of this, you will want to ensure that
the facility you manage is adopting a culture of quality that
puts its patients at the center of healthcare delivery. You will
want to do this by making sure that your facility provides
quality patient care, while also keeping the facility’s
bottom-line healthy.
To ensure you are moving in the right direction, you must
measure and monitor key qual.
Take a company and build a unique solution not currently offered. Bu.docxperryk1
This document outlines 5 frameworks to use when presenting a new business idea: 1) Start with Why by Simon Sinek to explain the purpose or belief behind the idea, 2) Blue Ocean Strategy by Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne to create uncontested market space, 3) Being re'Markable' to stand out, 4) The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell to explain how the idea can gain widespread adoption, and 5) Story Brand by Donald Miller to frame the idea as a compelling narrative.
Tackling a Crisis Head-onThis week, we will be starting our .docxperryk1
Tackling a Crisis Head-on
This week, we will be starting our work on Assignment 2. Go to
The Wall Street Journal
menu item and find an article about a crisis that occurred at a specific organization in the last year.
Considering the course materials for this week, answer the following:
Describe the crisis faced by the organization.
What communication tactics did the organization use to address its crisis? Refer to Jack and Warren's guidance for dealing with crises.
To what extent, if any, was the organization's crisis communication plan effective?
If you were a senior leader in the organization, would you have responded differently? Why or why not?
This week and next, continue to research this specific crisis so that you can better prepare for Assignment 2.
Post your initial response by Wednesday, midnight of your time zone, and reply to at least 2 of your classmates' initial posts by Sunday, midnight of your time zone.
1st response
The Bank of America Earnings Crisis
In 2020, many businesses experienced notable challenges due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. The Bank of America was no exception based on its reports of firm earnings in 2020. According to Eisen (2021), many large financial organizations in the United States withstood the recession due to COVID-19. However, the author explains that the banks have not been fully protected against the minimal rates brought about by the pandemic. For Bank of America, the outcomes of the COVID-19 outbreak have been felt in many ways, particularly the reduction of earnings by 22%. Additionally, lenders have also experienced significant challenges based on low-interest rates, and Bank of America is among them. Since the financial institution gains earnings on the difference between their lending payments and what they pay to depositors, the bank's interest rates downfall. The earnings crisis also affected the firm's operations in the last quarter of 2020 even though it made considerable profits.
Communication Tactics and Addressing the Crisis
Handling a crisis in organizations presents notable problems for managers and leaders that do not understand the proper ways of solving a crisis. Warren Buffet explains that there are four significant steps a leader can take to address a crisis. First, getting the crisis right and understanding why it happens and what can stop it will help address the crisis. The Bank of America leaders understood that the company needs to introduce measures that will increase the earnings. Secondly, according to Buffet, responding to the crisis fast is also a core step in managing a crisis. The Bank of America did not wait until the last quarter of 2020 to react to the earnings crisis. Rather, they resorted to ensuring the loan demands are stabilized by business consumers and focused more on investment activities (Eisen, 2021). The third and fourth steps based on Warren's advice involve getting the crisis out by dealing with it and getting over with. Th.
take a look at the latest Presidential Order that relates to str.docxperryk1
take a look at the latest Presidential Order that relates to strengthening cybersecurity that relates to critical infrastructure:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/presidential-executive-order-strengthening-cybersecurity-federal-networks-critical-infrastructure/
Let’s look at a real-world scenario and how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plays into it. In the scenario, the United States will be hit by a large-scale, coordinated cyber attack organized by China. These attacks debilitate the functioning of government agencies, parts of the critical infrastructure, and commercial ventures. The IT infrastructure of several agencies are paralyzed, the electric grid in most of the country is shut down, telephone traffic is seriously limited and satellite communications are down (limiting the Department of Defense’s [DOD’s] ability to communicate with commands overseas). International commerce and financial institutions are also severely hit. Please explain how DHS should handle this situation.
please explain how DHS should handle the situation described in the preceding paragraph.
.
Take a look at the sculptures by Giacometti and Moore in your te.docxperryk1
Take a look at the sculptures by Giacometti and Moore in your text. Both pieces are good examples of the relationship between form, content, and subject matter. How do you feel the form of each sculpture expresses the content? What specific characteristics give us clues and communicate meaning?
Select a third work of art from the text and discuss how the form and content relate. Identify at least five visual elements and/or principles of design in your analysis of the third piece.
.
Table of ContentsLOCAL PEOPLE PERCEPTION TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE TOU.docxperryk1
Table of Contents
LOCAL PEOPLE PERCEPTION TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IN DENMARK1
Declaration:2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT2
CHAPTER:15
Introduction5
1.1 Background of the study6
1.2 Problem Statement:7
1.3 Research Questions:8
1.4 Research Objectives:8
1.5 Thesis Structure8
CHAPTER:29
Literature review9
2.1 Attitudes of local people towards Sustainable tourism9
2.2 Practices of Sustainable tourism10
2.3 Sustainable tourism development.12
2.4 Involvement of people in Sustainability.14
2.5 Theoretical Framework.15
3.1 Introduction17
3.2 Research Design17
3.3 Sampling method18
3.4 Data collection18
3.5 Measurements and Variables18
3.6 Data analysis19
CHAPTER:1Introduction
Sustainable tourism is a form of tourism, which requires a tourist to respect the local culture, environment, preserving cultural heritage, and supporting local economies by purchasing local products which also benefits the people of that country. Sustainable tourism is a form of development, which is Social development, Economic development and Nature protection. According to the World Tourism Organization, Sustainable tourism is “Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment, and host communities” UNWTO (2013). Denmark is more concerned about sustainable environment, for instance the Government is aiming at Copenhagen becoming the world’s first carbon-neutral capital by 2025. Government have put high taxation on vehicles, cars so Danes have to think twice before buying or using them. This could be the strategy of the nation. As they are on the way to gain something remarkable, they also have some challenges. The tourism industry has a million of turnover in Danish economy and Danish government puts a high effort in order to make it more sustainable. The big topic could be how the tourist react on it? All the government efforts could be result less if the customer and the business does not act smart. To the Danes, sustainability is a holistic approach that includes renewable energy, water management, waste recycling and green transportation including bicycle culture. Most of the local restaurants use re-usable things during their service also, practices waste deposable for take away.
Tourism is the best way to experience the culture however, damage and waste can occur due to inappropriate behavior of tourists. According to the Denmark statics (2019), every year tourist spends around 128 billion DKK in Denmark. Denmark is very responsible towards environment and most of the hotels are practicing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). For example, Scandic Kødbyen is one of the hotels practicing sustainability, first to implement CSR. It plays a significant support in sustainable tourism business, which includes hotel, restaurant and the service provided sectors. Visit Copenhagen states that 70% of hotels hold an official eco-certification and also known as the hap.
Table of Contents Title PageWELCOMETHE VAJRA.docxperryk1
Table of Contents
Title Page
WELCOME
THE VAJRACCHEDIKA PRAJÑAPARAMITA SUTRA
COMMENTARIES
PART ONE - THE DIALECTICS OF
PRAJÑAPARAMITA
Chapter 1 - THE SETTING
Chapter 2 - SUBHUTI’S QUESTION
Chapter 3 - THE FIRST FLASH OF LIGHTNING
Chapter 4 - THE GREATEST GIFT
Chapter 5 - SIGNLESSNESS
PART TWO - THE LANGUAGE OF
NONATTACHMENT
Chapter 6 - A ROSE IS NOT A ROSE
Chapter 7 - ENTERING THE OCEAN OF REALITY
Chapter 8 - NONATTACHMENT
PART THREE - THE ANSWER IS IN
THE QUESTION
Chapter 9 - DWELLING IN PEACE
Chapter 10 - CREATING A FORMLESS PURE
LAND
Chapter 11 - THE SAND IN THE GANGES
Chapter 12 - EVERY LAND IS A HOLY LAND
Chapter 13 - THE DIAMOND THAT CUTS
THROUGH ILLUSION
Chapter 14 - ABIDING IN NON-ABIDING
Chapter 15 - GREAT DETERMINATION
Chapter 16 - THE LAST EPOCH
Chapter 17 - THE ANSWER IS IN THE QUESTION
PART FOUR - MOUNTAINS AND
RIVERS ARE OUR OWN BODY
Chapter 18 - REALITY IS A STEADILY FLOWING
STREAM
Chapter 19 - GREAT HAPPINESS
Chapter 20 - THIRTY-TWO MARKS
Chapter 21 - INSIGHT-LIFE
Chapter 22 - THE SUNFLOWER
Chapter 23 - THE MOON IS JUST THE MOON
Chapter 24 - THE MOST VIRTUOUS ACT
Chapter 25 - ORGANIC LOVE
Chapter 26 - A BASKET FILLED WITH WORDS
Chapter 27 - NOT CUT OFF FROM LIFE
Chapter 28 - VIRTUE AND HAPPINESS
Chapter 29 - NEITHER COMING NOR GOING
Chapter 30 - THE INDESCRIBABLE NATURE OF
ALL THINGS
Chapter 31 - TORTOISE HAIR AND RABBIT
HORNS
Chapter 32 - TEACHING THE DHARMA
CONCLUSION
Copyright Page
WELCOME
WELCOME
BROTHERS AND SISTERS, please read The Diamond
That Cuts through Illusion with a serene mind, a mind
free from views. It’s the basic sutra for the practice of
meditation. Late at night, it’s a pleasure to recite the
Diamond Sutra alone, in complete silence. The sutra is
so deep and wonderful. It has its own language. The
first Western scholars who obtained the text thought it
was talking nonsense. Its language seems mysterious,
but when you look deeply, you can understand.
Don’t rush into the commentaries or you may be
unduly influenced by them. Please read the sutra first.
You may see things that no commentator has seen. You
can read as if you were chanting, using your clear body
and mind to be in touch with the words. Try to
understand the sutra from your own experiences and
your own suffering. It is helpful to ask, “Do these
teachings of the Buddha have anything to do with my
daily life?” Abstract ideas can be beautiful, but if they
have nothing to do with our life, of what use are they?
So please ask, “Do the words have anything to do with
eating a meal, drinking tea, cutting wood, or carrying
water?”
The sutra’s full name is The Diamond That Cuts
through Illusion, Vajracchedika Prajñaparamita in
Sanskrit. Vajracchedika means “the diamond that cuts
through afflictions, ignorance, delusion, or illusion.” In
China and Vietnam, people generally call it the Diamond
Sutra, emphasizing the word “diamond,” but, in fact,
the phrase “cutting through” is the most important.
Prajñaparamita means “per.
Take a few minutes to reflect on this course. How has your think.docxperryk1
Take a few minutes to reflect on this course. How has your thinking (e.g., worldview, knowledge, etc.) been challenged from what you thought prior to taking this course? What are your thoughts now on the significance of correctly diagnosing mental health disorders? What are your thoughts on the treatment of psychopathology? In general, what thoughts do you have about psychopathology and its impact on an individual and the family?
.
Taiwan The Tail That Wags DogsMichael McDevittAsia Po.docxperryk1
This document summarizes and analyzes a journal article about Taiwan's strategic importance and influence in its relationships with China, Japan, and the United States. The summary identifies four key factors that have allowed Taiwan to seize diplomatic initiative: 1) Taiwan's geographic position which leads China to seek reunification but Japan and US to prefer status quo, 2) Shared democratic values with Japan and US, 3) China's threats of force which empower Taiwan, and 4) Taiwan being a test of US credibility which Taiwan relies on. The document then analyzes each factor in turn and discusses policy implications, including the need to reduce tensions to prevent miscalculation leading to conflict.
TABLE 1-1 Milestones of Medicine and Medical Education 1700–2015 ■.docxperryk1
The document provides a summary of milestones in medicine, medical education, hospitals/healthcare systems, public health, and the U.S. health insurance system from 1700-2015. It describes key developments such as the establishment of the first medical school in 1765, the Flexner Report in 1910 which led to standardization of medical education, the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965, and the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. The document also summarizes milestones related to the development of hospitals and healthcare delivery systems over time as well as milestones in public health initiatives and the evolution of the U.S. health insurance system.
Tackling wicked problems A public policy perspective Ple.docxperryk1
Tackling wicked problems : A
public policy perspective
Please note - this is an archived publication.
Commissioner’s foreword
The Australian Public Service (APS) is increasingly being tasked with solving very
complex policy problems. Some of these policy issues are so complex they have
been called ‘wicked’ problems. The term ‘wicked’ in this context is used, not in the
sense of evil, but rather as an issue highly resistant to resolution.
Successfully solving or at least managing these wicked policy problems requires
a reassessment of some of the traditional ways of working and solving problems
in the APS. They challenge our governance structures, our skills base and our
organisational capacity.
It is important, as a first step, that wicked problems be recognised as such.
Successfully tackling wicked problems requires a broad recognition and
understanding, including from governments and Ministers, that there are no quick
fixes and simple solutions.
Tackling wicked problems is an evolving art. They require thinking that is capable
of grasping the big picture, including the interrelationships among the full range of
causal factors underlying them. They often require broader, more collaborative
and innovative approaches. This may result in the occasional failure or need for
policy change or adjustment.
Wicked problems highlight the fundamental importance of the APS building on the
progress that has been made with working across organisational boundaries both
within and outside the APS. The APS needs to continue to focus on effectively
engaging stakeholders and citizens in understanding the relevant issues and in
involving them in identifying possible solutions.
The purpose of this publication is more to stimulate debate around what is
needed for the successful tackling of wicked problems than to provide all the
answers. Such a debate is a necessary precursor to reassessing our current
systems, frameworks and ways of working to ensure they are capable of
responding to the complex issues facing the APS.
I hope that this publication will encourage public service managers to reflect on
these issues, and to look for ways to improve the capacity of the APS to deal
effectively with the complex policy problems confronting us.
Lynelle Briggs
Australian Public Service Commissioner
1. Introduction
Many of the most pressing policy challenges for the APS involve dealing with very
complex problems. These problems share a range of characteristics—they go
beyond the capacity of any one organisation to understand and respond to, and
there is often disagreement about the causes of the problems and the best way to
tackle them. These complex policy problems are sometimes called ‘wicked’
problems.
Usually, part of the solution to wicked problems involves changing the behaviour
of groups of citizens or all citizens. Other key ingredients in solving or at least
managing complex policy problems include successfu.
Tahira Longus Week 2 Discussion PostThe Public Administration.docxperryk1
Tahira Longus Week 2 Discussion Post:
The Public Administrations may entrust the development of collective bargaining activities to bodies created by them, of a strictly technical nature, which will hold their representation in collective bargaining before the corresponding political instructions and without prejudice to the ratification of the agreements reached by the bodies. Government or administrative with competence for it. In addition, public bargaining involves the process of resolving labor-management conflicts. It alsoensuresboth the employee and the employer fair treatment during the negotiation process. The Tables will be validly constituted when, in addition to the representation of the corresponding Administration, and without prejudice to the right of all legitimate trade union organizations to participate in them in proportion to their representatives, such union organizations represent, at least, the absolute majority of the members of the unitary representative bodies in the area in question.
www.ilo.org ›
The Public Administrations may entrust the development of collective bargaining activities to bodies created by them, of a strictly technical nature, which will hold their representation in collective bargaining before the corresponding political instructions and without prejudice to the ratification of the agreements reached by the bodies. Government or administrative with competence for it. In addition, public bargaining involves the process of resolving labor-management conflicts. It also assures both the employee and the employer fair treatment during the negotiation process. The Tables will be validly constituted when, in addition to the representation of the corresponding Administration, and without prejudice to the right of all legitimate trade union organizations to participate in them in proportion to their representatives, such union organizations represent, at least, the absolute majority of the members of the unitary representative bodies in the area in question.
Tara St Laurent Post
.
Tabular and Graphical PresentationsStatistics (exercises).docxperryk1
Tabular and Graphical Presentations
Statistics (exercises)
Aleksandra Pawłowska
April 7, 2020
Glossary (part 1)
Categorical data Labels or names used to identify categories of like items.
Quantitative data Numerical values that indicate how much or how many.
Frequency distribution A tabular summary of data showing the number (fre-
quency) of data values in each of several nonoverlapping classes.
Relative frequency distribution A tabular summary of data showing the fraction
or proportion of data values in each of several nonoverlapping classes.
Percent frequency distribution A tabular summary of data showing the percent-
age of data values in each of several nonoverlapping classes.
Bar chart A graphical device for depicting qualitative data that have been sum-
marized in a frequency, relative frequency, or percent frequency distribution.
Pie chart A graphical device for presenting data summaries based on subdivision
of a circle into sectors that correspond to the relative frequency for each class.
Dot plot A graphical device that summarizes data by the number of dots above
each data value on the horizontal axis.
Aleksandra Pawłowska Tabular and Graphical Presentations
Glossary (part 2)
Histogram A graphical presentation of a frequency distribution, relative frequency
distribution, or percent frequency distribution of quantitative data constructed
by placing the class intervals on the horizontal axis and the frequencies, relative
frequencies, or percent frequencies on the vertical axis.
Cumulative frequency distribution A tabular summary of quantitative data show-
ing the number of data values that are less than or equal to the upper class limit
of each class.
Cumulative relative frequency distribution A tabular summary of quantitative
data showing the fraction or proportion of data values that are less than or equal
to the upper class limit of each class.
Cumulative percent frequency distribution A tabular summary of quantitative
data showing the percentage of data values that are less than or equal to the
upper class limit of each class.
Ogive A graph of a cumulative distribution.
Scatter diagram A graphical presentation of the relationship between two quan-
titative variables. One variable is shown on the horizontal axis and the other
variable is shown on the vertical axis.
Trendline A line that provides an approximation of the relationship between two
variables.
Aleksandra Pawłowska Tabular and Graphical Presentations
Useful tips (part 1)
1 Often the number of classes in a frequency distribution is the same as the
number of categories found in the data. Most statisticians recommend
that classes with smaller frequencies be grouped into an aggregate class
called „other”. Classes with frequencies of 5% or less would most often be
treated in this fashion.
2 The sum of the frequencies in any frequency distribution always equals
the number of observations. The sum of the relative frequencies in any
relative frequency distribution.
Table 4-5 CSFs for ERP ImplementationCritical Success Fact.docxperryk1
Table 4-5 CSFs for ERP Implementation
Critical Success Factors
Description
Management Support
Top management advocacy, provision of adequate resources, and commitment to project
Release of Full-Time Subject Matter Experts (SME)
Release full time on to the project of relevant business experts who provide assistance to the project
Empowered Decision Makers
The members of the project team(s) must be empowered to make quick decisions
Deliverable Dates
At planning stage, set realistic milestones and end date
Champion
Advocate for system who is unswerving in promoting the benefits of the new system
Vanilla ERP
Minimal customization and uncomplicated option selection
Smaller Scope
Fewer modules and less functionality implemented, smaller user group, and fewer site(s)
Definition of Scope and Goals
The steering committee determines the scope and objectives of the project in advance and then adheres to it
Balanced Team
Right mix of business analysts, technical experts, and users from within the implementation company and consultants from external companies
Commitment to Change
Perseverance and determination in the face of inevitable problems with implementation
Question 11 pts
The melody of a piece of music is
the harmony
the rhythm
the tune
the chords
Flag this Question
Question 21 pts
Chords are an element of
melody
rhythm
all of the above
harmony
Flag this Question
Question 31 pts
The distance between pitches is called
a space
an interval
a beat
all of the above
Flag this Question
Question 41 pts
Rhythmic organization in pre-Conquest Native American music was
divisive
in duple meter
in triple meter
additive
Flag this Question
Question 51 pts
Pan-Indian music often uses:
all of the above
the Navajo language
vocables
English
Flag this Question
Question 61 pts
Pre-conquest Native American musicians were primarily valued for their expertise in spiritual matters.
True
False
Flag this Question
Question 71 pts
Traditional Native American melodies have a wide melodic range
True
False
Flag this Question
Question 81 pts
Early Native American music features intervals that are:
rhythmically longer
rhythmically shorter
farther apart than what we have in the western system
closer together than what we have in the western system
Flag this Question
Question 91 pts
In the early New England colonies folk songs were:
derived from Irish melodies
derived from English melodies
all of the above
usually sung without accompaniment
Flag this Question
Question 101 pts
Early Anglo - American folks songs were:
often in polymeters
often in triple meter
often in duple meter
often in free meter
Flag this Question
Question 111 pts
Of the following, which is not a form of early Anglo-American folk songs?
ballads
lyric songs
work songs
jubilees
Flag this Question
Question 121 pts
Of the following which instrument was not brought to the Americas by European colonists?
clavichord
recorder
viol
banjo
Flag this Question
Quest.
TableOfContentsTable of contents with hyperlinks for this document.docxperryk1
TableOfContentsTable of contents with hyperlinks for this documentExcluding standard worksheets that come with the original dataSheet namePurposeNotesOnDataPrep!A1Tips and tricks for students in doing data analysis in ExcelSalaryPivotTable!A1Using a histogram of salary to compare other variables in terms of chunks of salaryDescriptiveStatsForFrequency!A1Example of producing descriptive stats for chunks of a numeric variable (grouping, frequency table as 'categories')VariableDescriptiveStatsPHStat!A1Example of descriptive stats produced by PHStat and then edited, items removed that are not neededCorrelations!A1Instructor reference for how all variables are inter-relatedRegressionAge!A1Example of regression output highighting output to pay attention toSPSSRegressionAllEnter!A1Instructor reference - regressing salary on all independent variables to discern stongest, independent predictorsPivotTableCreatePercentPolygon!A1Example of comparing distributions between two categories with different number of cases or different scales, i.e., version of percent polygonAnalysis resultsGender univariate descriptive statisticsGenderAnalysis!A1Gender/Salary; Gender/Job Grade Classification analysis; Gender/other independent variables Salary histogram, distributionCompare gender/salary descriptive statisticsGenderCompareDescriptives!A1Comparison Table gender descriptive statistics in terms of all variables. This might be something worth doing.EthnicitySalaryAnalysis!A1Ethnicity/Salary analysisOptionalEthnicitySalaryAnalysis!A1Optional ethnicity/salary analysis - distribution of ethnicity over chunks of salary, percent polygonEthnicityJGClassAnalysis!A1Ethnicity/Job Grade Classification analysisAgeSalaryAnalysis!A1Age/Salary analysisAgeJobGradeClassAnalysis!A1Age/Job grade classification analysisYearsWorkedSalaryAnalysis!A1Years worked/Salary analysisYears worked/Job grade classification analysisRelationship between endogenous variablesJob grade classification/Salary analysisRelationship between independent variablesPercentPolygonGenderYearsWorked!A1Compare years worked distribution by gender; Example of comparing distributions between two categories with different number of cases or different scales, i.e., version of percent polygon Standard sheets that come with the dataVariable INFO'!A1Information on variablesHuman Resources DATA'!A1DataCross-Class-Table'!A1Summary Table'!A1Histogram!A1% Polygons 2 Groups'!A1Freq. & % Distribution'!A1
Variable INFOTableOfContents!A1The data are a random sample of 120 responses to a survey conducted by the VP of Human Resources at a large company.Source:INFO 501 class at Montclair State UniversityVariablesSalaryin thousands of dollars (K)Age in years YrsWorkin years JGClassjob-grade classification of 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 (lowest skill job to highest skill job)Ethnicity1=Minority0=Not MinorityGender(Male, Female)Named ranges created in this worksheet - use these names to address the data more quickly then manually selecting dat.
Tajfel and Turner (in chapter two of our reader) give us the followi.docxperryk1
Tajfel and Turner (in chapter two of our reader) give us the following definition of Social Identity Theory: "SIT proposes that individuals make sense of their social environment by categorizing themselves and others into groups that can be contrasted with others" (Oksanen et al., 2014). SIT brings order to chaos, you might say, in that individuals define themselves as being different from everyone else.
Considering what we have read about the perpetrators of group violence, how do you suppose that it is that people make the leap from their own social identity to group violence? What social and psychological mechanisms are at work that would go from simple categorization to overt violence?
.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
إضغ بين إيديكم من أقوى الملازم التي صممتها
ملزمة تشريح الجهاز الهيكلي (نظري 3)
💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀
تتميز هذهِ الملزمة بعِدة مُميزات :
1- مُترجمة ترجمة تُناسب جميع المستويات
2- تحتوي على 78 رسم توضيحي لكل كلمة موجودة بالملزمة (لكل كلمة !!!!)
#فهم_ماكو_درخ
3- دقة الكتابة والصور عالية جداً جداً جداً
4- هُنالك بعض المعلومات تم توضيحها بشكل تفصيلي جداً (تُعتبر لدى الطالب أو الطالبة بإنها معلومات مُبهمة ومع ذلك تم توضيح هذهِ المعلومات المُبهمة بشكل تفصيلي جداً
5- الملزمة تشرح نفسها ب نفسها بس تكلك تعال اقراني
6- تحتوي الملزمة في اول سلايد على خارطة تتضمن جميع تفرُعات معلومات الجهاز الهيكلي المذكورة في هذهِ الملزمة
واخيراً هذهِ الملزمة حلالٌ عليكم وإتمنى منكم إن تدعولي بالخير والصحة والعافية فقط
كل التوفيق زملائي وزميلاتي ، زميلكم محمد الذهبي 💊💊
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Andreas Schleicher presents PISA 2022 Volume III - Creative Thinking - 18 Jun...EduSkills OECD
Andreas Schleicher, Director of Education and Skills at the OECD presents at the launch of PISA 2022 Volume III - Creative Minds, Creative Schools on 18 June 2024.
A Visual Guide to 1 Samuel | A Tale of Two HeartsSteve Thomason
These slides walk through the story of 1 Samuel. Samuel is the last judge of Israel. The people reject God and want a king. Saul is anointed as the first king, but he is not a good king. David, the shepherd boy is anointed and Saul is envious of him. David shows honor while Saul continues to self destruct.
Gender and Mental Health - Counselling and Family Therapy Applications and In...PsychoTech Services
A proprietary approach developed by bringing together the best of learning theories from Psychology, design principles from the world of visualization, and pedagogical methods from over a decade of training experience, that enables you to: Learn better, faster!
A Free 200-Page eBook ~ Brain and Mind Exercise.pptxOH TEIK BIN
(A Free eBook comprising 3 Sets of Presentation of a selection of Puzzles, Brain Teasers and Thinking Problems to exercise both the mind and the Right and Left Brain. To help keep the mind and brain fit and healthy. Good for both the young and old alike.
Answers are given for all the puzzles and problems.)
With Metta,
Bro. Oh Teik Bin 🙏🤓🤔🥰
How to Download & Install Module From the Odoo App Store in Odoo 17Celine George
Custom modules offer the flexibility to extend Odoo's capabilities, address unique requirements, and optimize workflows to align seamlessly with your organization's processes. By leveraging custom modules, businesses can unlock greater efficiency, productivity, and innovation, empowering them to stay competitive in today's dynamic market landscape. In this tutorial, we'll guide you step by step on how to easily download and install modules from the Odoo App Store.
T h e O n e Pe rc e ntTHE 1 PERCENT’S PROBLEMWhy won’t.docx
1. T h e O n e Pe rc e nt
THE 1 PERCENT’S PROBLEM
Why won’t America’s 1 percent—such as the six Walmart heirs,
whose wealth equals that of
the entire bottom 30 percent—be a bit more . . . selfish? As the
widening financial divide
cripples the U.S. economy, even those at the top will pay a
steep price.
B Y J O S E P H E . S T I G L I T Z A N D L I N D A J . B
I L M E S
I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y S T E P H E N D O Y L E
MAY 31, 2012 12:00 AM
! " #
mailto:?subject=From%20The%20Price%20of%20Inequality%3
A%20Joseph%20Stiglitz%20on%20the%201%20Percent%20Pro
blem&body=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vanityfair.com%2Fnews%2
F2012%2F05%2Fjoseph-stiglitz-the-price-on-inequality
https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%
2Fwww.vanityfair.com%2Fnews%2F2012%2F05%2Fjoseph-
stiglitz-the-price-on-
inequality&t=From%20The%20Price%20of%20Inequality%3A%
20Joseph%20Stiglitz%20on%20the%201%20Percent%20Proble
m
https://twitter.com/share?text=From%20The%20Price%20of%20
Inequality%3A%20Joseph%20Stiglitz%20on%20the%201%20Pe
rcent%20Problem&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vanityfair.com%
2Fnews%2F2012%2F05%2Fjoseph-stiglitz-the-price-on-
2. inequality
http://www.vanityfair.com/contributor/joseph-e-stiglitz-and-
linda-j-bilmes
http://www.vanityfair.com/contributor/stephen-doyle
http://www.vanityfair.com/
http://www.vanityfair.com/news
L et’s start by laying down the baseline premise: inequality in
America has been wideningfor dec ades. We’re all aware of the
fact. Yes, there are some on the right who deny thisreality, but
serious analysts across the political spectrum take it for granted.
I won’t run
through all the evidence here, except to say that the gap
between the 1 percent and the 99 percent
is vast when looked at in terms of annual income, and even
vaster when looked at in terms of
wealth—that is, in terms of accumulated capital and other
assets. Consider the Walton family: the
six heirs to the Walmart empire possess a combined wealth of
some $90 billion, which is
equivalent to the wealth of the entire bottom 30 percent of U.S.
society. (Many at the bottom have
zero or negative net worth, especially after the housing
debacle.) Warren Buffett put the matter
correctly when he said, “There’s been class warfare going on
for the last 20 years and my class has
won.”
So, no: there’s little debate over the basic fact of widening
inequality. The debate is over its
meaning. From the right, you sometimes hear the argument
made that inequality is basically a
good thing: as the rich increasingly benefit, so does everyone
3. else. This argument is false: while the
rich have been growing richer, most Americans (and not just
those at the bottom) have been
unable to maintain their standard of living, let alone to keep
pace. A typical full-time male worker
receives the same income today he did a third of a century ago.
From the left, meanwhile, the widening inequality often elicits
an appeal for simple justice: why
should so few have so much when so many have so little? It’s
not hard to see why, in a market-
driven age where justice itself is a commodity to be bought and
sold, some would dismiss that
argument as the stuff of pious sentiment.
Put sentiment aside. There are good reasons why plutocrats
should care about inequality anyway—
even if they’re thinking only about themselves. The rich do not
exist in a vacuum. They need a
functioning society around them to sustain their position.
Widely unequal societies do not function
efficiently and their economies are neither stable nor
sustainable. The evidence from history and
from around the modern world is unequivocal: there comes a
point when inequality spirals into
http://www.vanityfair.com/people/warren-buffett#intcid=dt-hot-
link
W
economic dysfunction for the whole society, and when it does,
even the rich pay a steep price.
Let me run through a few reasons why.
4. The Consumption Problem
hen one interest group holds too much power, it succeeds in
getting policies that
help itself in the short term rather than help society as a whole
over the long term.
This is what has happened in America when it comes to tax
policy, regulatory policy,
and public investment. The consequence of channeling gains in
income and wealth in one direction
only is easy to see when it comes to ordinary household
spending, which is one of the engines of
the American economy.
It is no accident that the periods in which the broadest cross
sections of Americans have reported
higher net incomes—when inequality has been reduced, partly
as a result of progressive taxation—
have been the periods in which the U.S. economy has grown the
fastest. It is likewise no accident
that the current recession, like the Great Depression, was
preceded by large increases in inequality.
When too much money is concentrated at the top of society,
spending by the average American is
necessarily reduced—or at least it will be in the absence of
some artificial prop. Moving money
from the bottom to the top lowers consumption because higher-
income individuals consume, as a
fraction of their income, less than lower-income individuals do.
In our imaginations, it doesn’t always seem as if this is the
case, because spending by the wealthy is
so conspicuous. Just look at the color photographs in the back
pages of the weekend Wall Street
5. Journal of houses for sale. But the phenomenon makes sense
when you do the math. Consider
someone like Mitt Romney, whose income in 2010 was $21.7
million. Even if Romney chose to live
a much more indulgent lifestyle, he would spend only a fraction
of that sum in a typical year to
support himself and his wife in their several homes. But take
the same amount of money and divide
it among 500 people—say, in the form of jobs paying $43,400
apiece—and you’ll find that almost
all of the money gets spent.
The relationship is straightforward and ironclad: as more money
becomes concentrated at the top,
aggregate demand goes into a decline. Unless something else
happens by way of intervention, total
demand in the economy will be less than what the economy is
capable of supplying—and that
means that there will be growing unemployment, which will
dampen demand even further. In the
http://www.vanityfair.com/people/mitt-romney#intcid=dt-hot-
link
H
1990s that “something else” was the tech bubble. In the first dec
ade of the 21st century, it was the
housing bubble. Today, the only recourse, amid deep recession,
is government spending—which is
exactly what those at the top are now hoping to curb.
The “Rent Seeking” Problem
ere I need to resort to a bit of economic jargon. The word “rent”
6. was originally used, and
still is, to describe what someone received for the use of a piece
of his land—it’s the
return obtained by virtue of ownership, and not because of
anything one actually does
or produces. This stands in contrast to “wages,” for example,
which connotes compensation for the
labor that workers provide. The term “rent” was eventually
extended to include monopoly profits—
the income that one receives simply from the control of a
monopoly. In time, the meaning was
expanded still further to include the returns on other kinds of
ownership claims. If the government
gave a company the exclusive right to import a certain amount
of a certain good, such as sugar,
then the extra return was called a “quota rent.” The acquisition
of rights to mine or drill produces a
form of rent. So does preferential tax treatment for special
interests. In a broad sense, “rent
seeking” defines many of the ways by which our current
political process helps the rich at the
expense of everyone else, including transfers and subsidies from
the government, laws that make
the marketplace less competitive, laws that allow C.E.O.’s to
take a disproportionate share of
corporate revenue (though Dodd-Frank has made matters better
by requiring a non-binding
shareholder vote on compensation at least once every three
years), and laws that permit
corporations to make profits as they degrade the environment.
The magnitude of “rent seeking” in our economy, while hard to
quantify, is clearly enormous.
Individuals and corporations that excel at rent seeking are
handsomely rewarded. The financial
7. industry, which now largely functions as a market in
speculation rather than a tool for promoting
true economic productivity, is the rent-seeking sector par
excellence. Rent seeking goes beyond
speculation. The financial sector also gets rents out of its
domination of the means of payment—the
exorbitant credit- and debit-card fees and also the less well-
known fees charged to merchants and
passed on, eventually, to consumers. The money it siphons from
poor and middle-class Americans
through predatory lending practices can be thought of as rents.
In recent years, the financial sector
has accounted for some 40 percent of all corporate profits. This
does not mean that its social
contribution sneaks into the plus column, or comes even close.
The crisis showed how it could
wreak havoc on the economy. In a rent-seeking economy such as
ours has become, private returns
and social returns are badly out of whack.
P
In their simplest form, rents are nothing more than re-
distributions from one part of society to the
rent seekers. Much of the inequality in our economy has been
the result of rent seeking, because, to
a significant degree, rent seeking re-distributes money from
those at the bottom to those at the top.
But there is a broader economic consequence: the fight to
acquire rents is at best a zero-sum
activity. Rent seeking makes nothing grow. Efforts are directed
toward getting a larger share of the
pie rather than increasing the size of the pie. But it’s worse than
8. that: rent seeking distorts resource
allocations and makes the economy weaker. It is a centripetal
force: the rewards of rent seeking
become so outsize that more and more energy is directed toward
it, at the expense of everything
else. Countries rich in natural resources are infamous for rent-
seeking activities. It’s far easier to
get rich in these places by getting access to resources at
favorable terms than by producing goods
or services that benefit people and increase productivity. That’s
why these economies have done so
badly, in spite of their seeming wealth. It’s easy to scoff and
say: We’re not Nigeria, we’re not
Congo. But the rent-seeking dynamic is the same.
The Fairness Problem
eople are not machines. They have to be motivated to work
hard. If they feel that they are
being treated unfairly, it can be difficult to motivate them. This
is one of the central tenets
of modern labor economics, encapsulated in the so-called
efficiency-wage theory, which
argues that how firms treat their workers—including how much
they pay them—affects
productivity. It was, in fact, a theory elaborated nearly a
century ago by the great economist Alfred
Marshall, who observed that “highly paid labour is generally
efficient and therefore not dear
labour.” In truth, it’s wrong to think of this proposition as just a
theory: it has been borne out by
countless economic experiments.
While people will always disagree over the precise meaning of
what constitutes “fair,” there is a
9. growing sense in America that the current disparity in income,
and the way wealth is allocated in
general, is profoundly unfair. There’s no begrudging the wealth
accrued by those who have
transformed our economy—the inventors of the computer, the
pioneers of biotechnology. But, for
the most part, these are not the people at the top of our
economic pyramid. Rather, to a too large
extent, it’s people who have excelled at rent seeking in one
form or another. And, to most
Americans, that seems unfair.
People were surprised when the financial firm MF Global,
headed by Jon Corzine, suddenly
collapsed into bankruptcy last year, leaving victims by the
thousands as a result of actions that may
prove to have been criminal; but given Wall Street’s recent
history, I’m not sure people were all
that surprised to learn that several MF Global executives would
still be getting their bonuses. When
corporate C.E.O.’s argue that wages have to be reduced or that
there must be layoffs in order for
companies to compete—and simultaneously increase their own
compensation—workers rightly
consider what is happening to be unfair. This in turn affects
their efforts on the job, their loyalty to
the firm, and their willingness to invest in its future. The
widespread sense by workers in the Soviet
Union that they were being mistreated in exactly this way—
exploited by managers who lived high
on the hog—played a major role in the hollowing out of the
Soviet economy, and in its ultimate
collapse. As the old Soviet joke had it, “They pretend to pay us,
10. and we pretend to work.”
In a society in which inequality is widening, fairness is not just
about wages and income, or wealth.
It’s a far more generalized perception. Do I seem to have a
stake in the direction society is going, or
not? Do I share in the benefits of collective action, or not? If
the answer is a loud “no,” then brace
for a decline in motivation whose repercussions will be felt
economically and in all aspects of civic
life.
For Americans, one key aspect of fairness is opportunity:
everyone should have a fair shot at living
the American Dream. Horatio Alger stories remain the mythic
ideal, but the statistics paint a very
different picture: in America, the chances of someone’s making
it to the top, or even to the middle,
from a place near the bottom are lower than in the countries of
old Europe or in any other
advanced industrial country. Those at the top can take comfort
from knowing that their chances of
becoming downwardly mobile are lower in America than they
are elsewhere.
There are many costs to this lack of opportunity. A large
number of Americans are not living up to
their potential; we’re wasting our most valuable asset, our
talent. As we slowly grasp what’s been
happening, there will be an erosion of our sense of identity, in
which America is seen as a fair
country. This will have direct economic effects—but also
indirect ones, fraying the bonds that hold
us together as a nation.
The Mistrust Problem
11. O ne of the puzzles in modern political economy is why anyone
bothers to vote. Very fewelections actually turn on the ballot of
a single individual. There is a cost to voting—nostate has an
explicit penalty for staying home, but it takes time and effort to
get to the
polls—and there is seemingly almost never a benefit. Modern
political and economic theory
assumes the existence of rational, self-interested actors. On that
basis, why anyone would vote is a
mystery.
The answer is that we’ve been inculcated with notions of “civic
virtue.” It is our responsibility to
vote. But civic virtue is fragile. If the belief takes hold that the
political and economic systems are
stacked, individuals will feel released from their civic
obligations. When that social contract is
abrogated—when trust between a government and its citizens
fails—disillusionment,
disengagement, or worse is sure to follow. In the United States
today, and in many other
democracies around the world, mistrust is on the ascendant.
It’s even built in. The head of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein,
made it perfectly clear:
sophisticated investors don’t, or at least shouldn’t, rely on trust.
Those who bought the products his
bank sold were consenting adults who should have known
better. They should have known that
Goldman Sachs had the means, and the incentive, to design
products that would fail; that they had
the means and the incentive to create asymmetries of
information—where they knew more about
12. the products than the buyers did—and the means and the
incentive to take advantage of those
asymmetries. The people who fell victim to the investment
banks were, for the most part, well-off
investors. But deceptive credit-card practices and predatory
lending have left Americans more
broadly with a sense that banks are not to be trusted.
Economists often underestimate the role of trust in making our
economy work. If every contract
had to be enforced by one party taking the other to court, our
economy would be in gridlock.
Throughout history, the economies that have flourished are
those where a handshake is a deal.
Without trust, business arrangements based on an understanding
that complex details will be
worked out later are no longer feasible. Without trust, each
participant looks around to see how
and when those with whom he is dealing will betray him.
Widening inequality is corrosive of trust: in its economic
impact, think of it as the universal
http://www.vanityfair.com/people/lloyd-blankfein#intcid=dt-
hot-link
M
solvent. It creates an economic world in which even the winners
are wary. But the losers! In every
transaction—in every encounter with a boss or business or
bureaucrat—they see the hand of
someone out to take advantage of them.
Nowhere is trust more important than in politics and the public
13. sphere. There, we have to act
together. It’s easier to act together when most individuals are in
similar situations—when most of
us are, if not in the same boat, at least in boats within a range of
like sizes. But growing inequality
makes it clear that our fleet looks different—it’s a few mega-
yachts surrounded by masses of people
in dugout canoes, or clinging to flotsam—which helps explain
our vastly differing views of what the
government should do.
Today’s widening inequality extends to almost everything—
police protection, the condition of local
roads and utilities, access to decent health care, access to good
public schools. As higher education
becomes more important—not just for individuals but for the
future of the whole U.S. economy—
those at the top push for university budget cuts and tuition
hikes, on the one hand, and cutbacks in
guaranteed student loans, on the other. To the extent that they
advocate student loans at all, it’s as
another opportunity for rent seeking: loans to for-profit schools,
without standards; loans that are
non-dischargeable even in bankruptcy; loans designed as
another way for those at the top to
exploit those aspiring to get out of the bottom.
The “Be Selfish”
Solution
14. any, if not most, Americans possess a limited understanding of
the nature of the
inequality in our society. They know that something has gone
wrong, but they
underestimate the harm that inequality does even as they
overestimate the cost of
taking action. These mistaken beliefs, which have been
reinforced by ideological rhetoric, are
having a catastrophic effect on politics and economic policy.
There is no good reason why the 1 percent, with their good
educations, their ranks of advisers, and
their much-vaunted business acumen, should be so misinformed.
The 1 percent in generations past
often knew better. They knew that there would be no top of the
pyramid if there wasn’t a solid base
—that their own position was precarious if society itself was
unsound. Henry Ford, not
remembered as one of history’s softies, understood that the best
thing he could do for himself and
his company was to pay his workers a decent wage, because he
wanted them to work hard and he
wanted them to be able to buy his cars. Franklin D. Roosevelt, a
purebred patrician, understood
15. Michael Moore Makes a New Trump Prediction
Suri Cruise Looks So Grown Up on Set of Katie Holmes’ TV
Show
Mayim Bialik Gets Refreshingly Candid About Life After
Divorce
that the only way to save an essentially capitalist America was
not only to spread the wealth,
through taxation and social programs, but to put restraints on
capitalism itself, through regulation.
Roosevelt and the economist John Maynard Keynes, while
reviled by the capitalists, succeeded in
saving capitalism from the capitalists. Richard Nixon, known to
this day as a manipulative cynic,
concluded that social peace and economic stability could best be
secured by investment—and
invest he did, heavily, in Medicare, Head Start, Social Security,
and efforts to clean up the
environment. Nixon even floated the idea of a guaranteed
annual income.
16. So, the advice I’d give to the 1 percent today is: Harden your
hearts. When invited to consider
proposals to reduce inequality—by raising taxes and investing
in education, public works, health
care, and science—put any latent notions of altruism aside and
reduce the idea to one of
unadulterated self-interest. Don’t embrace it because it helps
other people. Just do it for yourself.
! " #
POWERED BY ZERGNET
AROUND THE WEB
http://www.zergnet.com/i/1335824/27113/0/0/0
http://www.zergnet.com/i/1335824/27113/0/0/0
http://www.zergnet.com/i/1082011/27113/0/0/0
http://www.zergnet.com/i/1082011/27113/0/0/0
http://www.zergnet.com/i/1172776/27113/0/0/0
http://www.zergnet.com/i/1172776/27113/0/0/0
mailto:?subject=From%20The%20Price%20of%20Inequality%3
A%20Joseph%20Stiglitz%20on%20the%201%20Percent%20Pro
blem&body=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vanityfair.com%2Fnews%2
19. Memo: From Nick Hanauer
To: My Fellow Zillionaires
McClaran
The Are Coming… For
NICK | 2014
To give the experience, c
If continue
accept our of You can review ou
r priv to find
out more the we
https://www.politico.com/magazine/tag/special-report
https://www.politico.com/magazine/magazine/table-of-
20. contents/vol-1-no-4
1/28/2019 The Pitchforks Are Coming… For Us Plutocrats -
POLITICO Magazine
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/the-
pitchforks-are-coming-for-us-plutocrats-108014?paginate=false
2/10
You probably don’t know me, but like you I am one of those
.01%ers, a proud and unapologetic capitalist. I have founded,
co-
founded and funded more than 30 companies across a range of
industries—from itsy-bitsy ones like the night club I started in
my
20s to giant ones like Amazon.com, for which I was the first
nonfamily investor. Then I founded aQuantive, an Internet
advertising company that was sold to Microsoft in 2007 for $6.4
billion. In cash. My friends
and I own a bank. I tell you all this to demonstrate that in many
ways I’m no different from
you. Like you, I have a broad perspective on business and
capitalism. And also like you, I
21. have been rewarded obscenely for my success, with a life that
the other 99.99 percent of
Americans can’t even imagine. Multiple homes, my own plane,
etc., etc. You know what I’m
talking about. In 1992, I was selling pillows made by my
family’s business, Pacific Coast
Feather Co., to retail stores across the country, and the Internet
was a clunky novelty to
which one hooked up with a loud squawk at 300 baud. But I saw
pretty quickly, even back
then, that many of my customers, the big department store
chains, were already doomed. I
knew that as soon as the Internet became fast and trustworthy
enough—and that time
wasn’t far off—people were going to shop online like crazy.
Goodbye, Caldor. And Filene’s.
And Borders. And on and on.
Realizing that, seeing over the horizon a little faster than the
next guy, was the strategic
part of my success. The lucky part was that I had two friends,
both immensely talented,
who also saw a lot of potential in the web. One was a guy
you’ve probably never heard of
named Jeff Tauber, and the other was a fellow named Jeff
22. Bezos. I was so excited by the
potential of the web that I told both Jeffs that I wanted to invest
in whatever they launched,
big time. It just happened that the second Jeff—Bezos—called
me back first to take up my
investment offer. So I helped underwrite his tiny start-up
bookseller. The other Jeff started
a web department store called Cybershop, but at a time when
trust in Internet sales was
still low, it was too early for his high-end online idea; people
just weren’t yet ready to buy
expensive goods without personally checking them out (unlike a
basic commodity like
books, which don’t vary in quality—Bezos’ great insight).
Cybershop didn’t make it, just
another dot-com bust. Amazon did somewhat better. Now I own
a very large yacht.
But let’s speak frankly to each other. I’m not the smartest guy
you’ve ever met, or the
hardest-working. I was a mediocre student. I’m not technical at
all—I can’t write a word of
code. What sets me apart, I think, is a tolerance for risk and an
intuition about what will
happen in the future. Seeing where things are headed is the
23. essence of entrepreneurship.
And what do I see in our future now?
To give the experience, c
If continue
accept our of You can review ou
r to find
out more the we
http://allthingsd.com/20120702/microsoft-writing-off-nearly-
all-of-the-6-3-billion-it-paid-for-aquantive/
1/28/2019 The Pitchforks Are Coming… For Us Plutocrats -
POLITICO Magazine
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/the-
pitchforks-are-coming-for-us-plutocrats-108014?paginate=false
3/10
I see pitchforks.
24. At the same time that people like you and me are thriving
beyond the dreams of any
plutocrats in history, the rest of the country—the 99.99
percent—is lagging far behind. The
divide between the haves and have-nots is getting worse really,
really fast. In 1980, the top
1 percent controlled about 8 percent of U.S. national income.
The bottom 50 percent shared
about 18 percent. Today the top 1 percent share about 20
percent; the bottom 50 percent,
just 12 percent.
But the problem isn’t that we have inequality. Some inequality
is intrinsic to any high-
functioning capitalist economy. The problem is that inequality
is at historically high levels
and getting worse every day. Our country is rapidly becoming
less a capitalist society and
more a feudal society. Unless our policies change dramatically,
the middle class will
disappear, and we will be back to late 18th-century France.
Before the revolution.
And so I have a message for my fellow filthy rich, for all of us
25. who live in our gated bubble
worlds: Wake up, people. It won’t last.
If we don’t do something to fix the glaring inequities in this
economy, the pitchforks are
going to come for us. No society can sustain this kind of rising
inequality. In fact, there is
no example in human history where wealth accumulated like
this and the pitchforks didn’t
eventually come out. You show me a highly unequal society,
and I will show you a police
state. Or an uprising. There are no counterexamples. None. It’s
not if, it’s when.
Many of us think we’re special because “this is America.” We
think we’re immune to the
same forces that started the Arab Spring—or the French and
Russian revolutions, for that
matter. I know you fellow .01%ers tend to dismiss this kind of
argument; I’ve had many of
you tell me to my face I’m completely bonkers. And yes, I know
there are many of you who
are convinced that because you saw a poor kid with an iPhone
that one time, inequality is a
fiction.
26. To give the experience, c
If continue
accept our of You can review ou
r to find
out more the we
http://taxfoundation.org/blog/irs-data-income-shifts-shows-
progressivity-federal-individual-income-tax
http://taxfoundation.org/article/summary-latest-federal-
individual-income-tax-data-0#table3
http://taxfoundation.org/article/summary-latest-federal-income-
tax-data
1/28/2019 The Pitchforks Are Coming… For Us Plutocrats -
POLITICO Magazine
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/the-
pitchforks-are-coming-for-us-plutocrats-108014?paginate=false
4/10
27. Special Report
The Myth of America’s Golden Age
By JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ
Here’s what I say to you: You’re living in a dream world. What
everyone wants to believe is
that when things reach a tipping point and go from being merely
crappy for the masses to
dangerous and socially destabilizing, that we’re somehow going
to know about that shift
ahead of time. Any student of history knows that’s not the way
it happens. Revolutions, like
bankruptcies, come gradually, and then suddenly. One day,
somebody sets himself on fire,
then thousands of people are in the streets, and before you know
it, the country is burning.
And then there’s no time for us to get to the airport and jump on
our Gulfstream Vs and fly
to New Zealand. That’s the way it always happens. If inequality
keeps rising as it has been,
eventually it will happen. We will not be able to predict when,
and it will be terrible—for
everybody. But especially for us.
***
28. The most ironic thing about rising inequality is how completely
unnecessary and self-
defeating it is. If we do something about it, if we adjust our
policies in the way that, say,
Franklin D. Roosevelt did during the Great Depression—so that
we help the 99 percent and
preempt the revolutionaries and crazies, the ones with the
pitchforks—that will be the best
thing possible for us rich folks, too. It’s not just that we’ll
escape with our lives; it’s that
we’ll most certainly get even richer.
To give the experience, c
If continue
ng, accept our of You can review ou
r to find
out more the we
http://www.politico.com/p/magazine/tag/special-report
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/the-myth-of-
29. americas-golden-age-108013.html?ml=m_ms
1/28/2019 The Pitchforks Are Coming… For Us Plutocrats -
POLITICO Magazine
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/the-
pitchforks-are-coming-for-us-plutocrats-108014?paginate=false
5/10
The model for us rich guys here should be Henry Ford, who
realized that all his
autoworkers in Michigan weren’t only cheap labor to be
exploited; they were consumers,
too. Ford figured that if he raised their wages, to a then-
exorbitant $5 a day, they’d be able
to afford his Model Ts.
What a great idea. My suggestion to you is: Let’s do it all over
again. We’ve got to try
something. These idiotic trickle-down policies are destroying
my customer base. And yours
too.
It’s when I realized this that I decided I had to leave my
30. insulated world of the super-rich
and get involved in politics. Not directly, by running for office
or becoming one of the big-
money billionaires who back candidates in an election. Instead,
I wanted to try to change
the conversation with ideas—by advancing what my co-author,
Eric Liu, and I call “middle-
out” economics. It’s the long-overdue rebuttal to the trickle-
down economics worldview
that has become economic orthodoxy across party lines—and
has so screwed the American
middle class and our economy generally. Middle-out economics
rejects the old
misconception that an economy is a perfectly efficient,
mechanistic system and embraces
the much more accurate idea of an economy as a complex
ecosystem made up of real people
who are dependent on one another.
Which is why the fundamental law of capitalism must be: If
workers have more money,
businesses have more customers. Which makes middle-class
consumers, not rich
businesspeople like us, the true job creators. Which means a
thriving middle class is the
31. source of American prosperity, not a consequence of it. The
middle class creates us rich
people, not the other way around.
On June 19, 2013, Bloomberg published an article I wrote called
“The Capitalist’s Case for a
$15 Minimum Wage.” Forbes labeled it “Nick Hanauer’s near
insane” proposal. And yet,
just weeks after it was published, my friend David Rolf, a
Service Employees International
Union organizer, roused fast-food workers to go on strike
around the country for a $15
living wage. Nearly a year later, the city of Seattle passed a $15
minimum wage. And just
350 days after my article was published, Seattle Mayor Ed
Murray signed that ordinance
into law. How could this happen, you ask?
It happened because we reminded the masses that they are the
source of growth and
prosperity, not us rich guys. We reminded them that when
workers have more money,
businesses have more customers—and need more employees.
We reminded them that if
businesses paid workers a living wage rather than poverty
32. wages, taxpayers wouldn’t have
To give the experience, c
If continue
accept our of You can review ou
r to find
out more the we
http://corporate.ford.com/news-center/press-releases-detail/677-
5-dollar-a-day
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2013-06-19/the-
capitalist-s-case-for-a-15-minimum-wage
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/06/21/nick-
hanauers-near-insane-15-an-hour-minimum-wage-proposal/
http://money.cnn.com/2014/06/03/smallbusiness/seattle-
business-minimum-wage/
1/28/2019 The Pitchforks Are Coming… For Us Plutocrats -
POLITICO Magazine
33. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/the-
pitchforks-are-coming-for-us-plutocrats-108014?paginate=false
6/10
to make up the difference. And when we got done, 74 percent of
likely Seattle voters in a
recent poll agreed that a $15 minimum wage was a swell idea.
The standard response in the minimum-wage debate, made by
Republicans and their
business backers and plenty of Democrats as well, is that raising
the minimum wage costs
jobs. Businesses will have to lay off workers. This argument
reflects the orthodox
economics that most people had in college. If you took Econ
101, then you literally were
taught that if wages go up, employment must go down. The law
of supply and demand and
all that. That’s why you’ve got John Boehner and other
Republicans in Congress insisting
that if you price employment higher, you get less of it. Really?
The thing that we love our
rich and our poor.
34. Because here’s an odd thing. During the past three decades,
compensation for CEOs grew
127 times faster than it did for workers. Since 1950, the CEO-
to-worker pay ratio has
increased 1,000 percent, and that is not a typo. CEOs used to
earn 30 times the median
wage; now they rake in 500 times. Yet no company I know of
has eliminated its senior
managers, or outsourced them to China or automated their jobs.
Instead, we now have
more CEOs and senior executives than ever before. So, too, for
financial services workers
and technology workers. These folks earn multiples of the
median wage, yet we somehow
have more and more of them.
The thing about us businesspeople is that we love our customers
rich and our employees
poor. So for as long as there has been capitalism, capitalists
have said the same thing about
any effort to raise wages. We’ve had 75 years of complaints
from big business—when the
minimum wage was instituted, when women had to be paid
equitable amounts, when child
35. labor laws were created. Every time the capitalists said exactly
the same thing in the same
way: We’re all going to go bankrupt. I’ll have to close. I’ll have
to lay everyone off. It hasn’t
happened. In fact, the data show that when workers are better
treated, business gets better.
The naysayers are just wrong.
Most of you probably think that the $15 minimum wage in
Seattle is an insane departure
from rational policy that puts our economy at great risk. But in
Seattle, our current
minimum wage of $9.32 is already nearly 30 percent higher than
the federal minimum
wage. And has it ruined our economy yet? Well, trickle-
downers, look at the data here: The
“
To give the experience, c
If continue
accept our of You can review ou
r to find
out more the we
37. kick your city’s ass.
It makes perfect sense if you think about it: If a worker earns
$7.25 an hour, which is now
the national minimum wage, what proportion of that person’s
income do you think ends up
in the cash registers of local small businesses? Hardly any. That
person is paying rent,
ideally going out to get subsistence groceries at Safeway, and,
if really lucky, has a bus pass.
But she’s not going out to eat at restaurants. Not browsing for
new clothes. Not buying
flowers on Mother’s Day.
Is this issue more complicated than I’m making out? Of course.
Are there many factors at
play determining the dynamics of employment? Yup. But
please, please stop insisting that
if we pay low-wage workers more, unemployment will
skyrocket and it will destroy the
economy. It’s utter nonsense. The most insidious thing about
trickle-down economics isn’t
believing that if the rich get richer, it’s good for the economy.
It’s believing that if the poor
get richer, it’s bad for the economy.
38. I know that virtually all of you feel that compelling our
businesses to pay workers more is
somehow unfair, or is too much government interference. Most
of you think that we should
just let good examples like Costco or Gap lead the way. Or let
the market set the price. But
here’s the thing. When those who set bad examples, like the
owners of Wal-Mart or
McDonald’s, pay their workers close to the minimum wage,
what they’re really saying is
that they’d pay even less if it weren’t illegal. (Thankfully both
companies have recently said
they would not oppose a hike in the minimum wage.) In any
large group, some people
absolutely will not do the right thing. That’s why our economy
can only be safe and effective
if it is governed by the same kinds of rules as, say, the
transportation system, with its speed
limits and stop signs.
Wal-Mart is our nation’s largest employer with some 1.4 million
employees in the United
States and more than $25 billion in pre-tax profit. So why are
Wal-Mart employees the
39. largest group of Medicaid recipients in many states? Wal-Mart
could, say, pay each of its 1
million lowest-paid workers an extra $10,000 per year, raise
them all out of poverty and
enable them to, of all things, afford to shop at Wal-Mart. Not
only would this also save us
all the expense of the food stamps, Medicaid and rent assistance
that they currently
require, but Wal-Mart would still earn more than $15 billion
pre-tax per year. Wal-Mart
won’t (and shouldn’t) volunteer to pay its workers more than
their competitors. In order for
To give the experience, c
If continue
accept our of You can review ou
r to find
out more the we
http://www.paychex.com/jobs-index/index.aspx
http://seattle.cbslocal.com/2014/05/22/seattle-is-nations-fastest-
40. growing-major-city/
http://www.dol.gov/elaws/faq/esa/flsa/001.htm
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/wmt/financials
1/28/2019 The Pitchforks Are Coming… For Us Plutocrats -
POLITICO Magazine
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/the-
pitchforks-are-coming-for-us-plutocrats-108014?paginate=false
8/10
us to have an economy that works for everyone, we should
compel all retailers to pay living
wages—not just ask politely.
We rich people have been falsely persuaded by our schooling
and the affirmation of society,
and have convinced ourselves, that we are the main job creators.
It’s simply not true. There
can never be enough super-rich Americans to power a great
economy. I earn about 1,000
times the median American annually, but I don’t buy thousands
of times more stuff. My
family purchased three cars over the past few years, not 3,000. I
41. buy a few pairs of pants
and a few shirts a year, just like most American men. I bought
two pairs of the fancy wool
pants I am wearing as I write, what my partner Mike calls my
“manager pants.” I guess I
could have bought 1,000 pairs. But why would I? Instead, I sock
my extra money away in
savings, where it doesn’t do the country much good.
So forget all that rhetoric about how America is great because
of people like you and me
and Steve Jobs. You know the truth even if you won’t admit it:
If any of us had been born in
Somalia or the Congo, all we’d be is some guy standing
barefoot next to a dirt road selling
fruit. It’s not that Somalia and Congo don’t have good
entrepreneurs. It’s just that the best
ones are selling their wares off crates by the side of the road
because that’s all their
customers can afford.
So why not talk about a different kind of New Deal for the
American people, one that could
appeal to the right as well as left—to libertarians as well as
liberals? First, I’d ask my
42. Republican friends to get real about reducing the size of
government. Yes, yes and yes, you
guys are all correct: The federal government is too big in some
ways. But no way can you
cut government substantially, not the way things are now.
Ronald Reagan and George W.
Bush each had eight years to do it, and they failed miserably.
Republicans and Democrats in Congress can’t shrink
government with wishful thinking.
The only way to slash government for real is to go back to basic
economic principles: You
have to reduce the demand for government. If people are getting
$15 an hour or more, they
don’t need food stamps. They don’t need rent assistance. They
don’t need you and me to
pay for their medical care. If the consumer middle class is back,
buying and shopping, then
it stands to reason you won’t need as large a welfare state. And
at the same time, revenues
from payroll and sales taxes would rise, reducing the deficit.
This is, in other words, an economic approach that can unite left
and right. Perhaps that’s
one reason the right is beginning, inexorably, to wake up to this
43. reality as well. Even
Republicans as diverse as Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum
recently came out in favor of
raising the minimum wage, in defiance of the Republicans in
Congress.
To give the experience, c
If continue
accept our of You can review ou
r to find
out more the we
1/28/2019 The Pitchforks Are Coming… For Us Plutocrats -
POLITICO Magazine
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/the-
pitchforks-are-coming-for-us-plutocrats-108014?paginate=false
9/10
44. ***
One thing we can agree on—I’m sure of this—is that the change
isn’t going to start in
Washington. Thinking is stale, arguments even more so. On
both sides.
But the way I see it, that’s all right. Most major social
movements have seen their earliest
victories at the state and municipal levels. The fight over the
eight-hour workday, which
ended in Washington, D.C., in 1938, began in places like
Illinois and Massachusetts in the
late 1800s. The movement for social security began in
California in the 1930s. Even the
Affordable Health Care Act—Obamacare—would have been
hard to imagine without Mitt
Romney’s model in Massachusetts to lead the way.
Sadly, no Republicans and few Democrats get this. President
Obama doesn’t seem to either,
though his heart is in the right place. In his State of the Union
speech this year, he
mentioned the need for a higher minimum wage but failed to
make the case that less
45. inequality and a renewed middle class would promote faster
economic growth. Instead, the
arguments we hear from most Democrats are the same old
social-justice claims. The only
reason to help workers is because we feel sorry for them. These
fairness arguments feed
right into every stereotype of Obama and the Democrats as
bleeding hearts. Republicans
say growth. Democrats say fairness—and lose every time.
But just because the two parties in Washington haven’t figured
it out yet doesn’t mean we
rich folks can just keep going. The conversation is already
changing, even if the billionaires
aren’t onto it. I know what you think: You think that Occupy
Wall Street and all the other
capitalism-is-the-problem protesters disappeared without a
trace. But that’s not true. Of
course, it’s hard to get people to sleep in a park in the cause of
social justice. But the
protests we had in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis really
did help to change the debate
in this country from death panels and debt ceilings to
inequality.
46. It’s just that so many of you plutocrats didn’t get the message.
Dear 1%ers, many of our fellow citizens are starting to believe
that capitalism itself is the
problem. I disagree, and I’m sure you do too. Capitalism, when
well managed, is the
greatest social technology ever invented to create prosperity in
human societies. But
capitalism left unchecked tends toward concentration and
collapse. It can be managed
either to benefit the few in the near term or the many in the long
term. The work of
democracies is to bend it to the latter. That is why investments
in the middle class work.
And tax breaks for rich people like us don’t. Balancing the
power of workers and
billionaires by raising the minimum wage isn’t bad for
capitalism. It’s an indispensable tool
To give the experience, c
If continue
accept our of You can review ou
r to find
47. out more the we
1/28/2019 The Pitchforks Are Coming… For Us Plutocrats -
POLITICO Magazine
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/the-
pitchforks-are-coming-for-us-plutocrats-108014?paginate=false
10/10
smart capitalists use to make capitalism stable and sustainable.
And no one has a bigger
stake in that than zillionaires like us.
The oldest and most important conflict in human societies is the
battle over the
concentration of wealth and power. The folks like us at the top
have always told those at the
bottom that our respective positions are righteous and good for
all. Historically, we called
that divine right. Today we have trickle-down economics.
48. What nonsense this is. Am I really such a superior person? Do I
belong at the center of the
moral as well as economic universe? Do you?
My family, the Hanauers, started in Germany selling feathers
and pillows. They got chased
out of Germany by Hitler and ended up in Seattle owning
another pillow company. Three
generations later, I benefited from that. Then I got as lucky as a
person could possibly get in
the Internet age by having a buddy in Seattle named Bezos. I
look at the average Joe on the
street, and I say, “There but for the grace of Jeff go I.” Even the
best of us, in the worst of
circumstances, are barefoot, standing by a dirt road, selling
fruit. We should never forget
that, or forget that the United States of America and its middle
class made us, rather than
the other way around.
Or we could sit back, do nothing, enjoy our yachts. And wait for
the pitchforks.
To give the experience, c
If continue
49. accept our of You can review ou
r to find
out more the we