On my mind...

Paul Krugman: Wages, wealth and politics - Editorials & Commentary - International Herald Tribune Recently, Henry Paulson, the U.S. Treasury secretary, acknowledged that economic inequality is rising in America. In a break with previous administration pronouncements, he also conceded that this might be cause for concern.

But he quickly reverted to form, falsely implying that rising inequality is mainly a story about rising wages for the highly educated. And he argued that nothing can be done about this trend, that “it is simply an economic reality, and it is neither fair nor useful to blame any political party.”

History suggests otherwise.

[…]Finally, since 1980 America has been dominated by a conservative movement firmly committed to the view that what’s good for the rich is good for America. Sure enough, the rich have seen their incomes soar, while working Americans have seen few if any gains.

[…] it matters a lot which party is in power - and more important, which ideology. […] if and when Americans get a government that tries to do something about rising inequality, rather than responding with a mixture of denial and fatalism, we may find that Paulson’s “economic reality” is a lot easier to change than he supposes.