There has been enough discussion especially in the 'West' about inequality - Piketty's book and the alarming surprise - it is an alarming surprise only if people have been blind all along. I read - Professor Janet Gornick (GC Political Science and Sociology), who serves as Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) Center Director and Director of LIS in Luxembourg, delivered a keynote address to the United Nations General Assembly, on Tuesday, October 7. Her keynote address was hosted by the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) of the UN General Assembly. I happen to see the video and was once again disappointed.
What is US/UN 'concerned' about, all of a sudden? Definitely it is not about the 'world'. Both Piketty and Gornick, disregard the 'state' of more than half the world's population.
Like Piketty, Janet's 'concern' is yet again about the 'high and upper middle income countries'. Her first slide itself is a give-away - and a big yawn for those who are in the red, in the image above (pun intended).
It is hard to ignore a racist 'neutrality' in even dealing with inequality. South Africa incidentally ranks the highest among income inequality among 'high and upper middle income countries'. Let us not go into Apartheid! If there is enough 'inequality' to cause a roar in countries, which only have a fraction of the population that China or India have, shouldnt all these 'inequality' experts be living in China or India to do live 'study', if not 'research'? Or is it that they consider China, with its 'communist' Government, and India, with its 'socialistic' principles enshrined in its constitution naturally 'devoid of inequality'?
Inequality needs a global perspective and we have to go beyond the you-are-richer-than-me or manager-is-richer-than-worker mindset, which often provoke immediate and instant chord with most people. This leads to a systemic and orchestrated diversion from the focus on the elephant in the room. Middle class itself is not a monolith
As population increases, through immigration or otherwise, there is an increased or frantic search among people to 'differentiate' from others. Inequality is the only way they can differentiate from others and there is a definite and systemic way to perpetuate inequality. Whether it is high costs for education, lack of funding of primary education, schools etc grabbing from poor the 'Right to Education' and 'Right to Information'. Strive towards perpetuating inequality is reinforced, not by the rich themselves, but more often by the noveau-riche or wannabe-rich. Nepotism is the starting point of corruption and inefficiency - because one way to get a 'favorable' treatment is to act like masters, be servile to their thoughts and deeds and more importantly, turn a blind eye to their 'errors' of judgement (who knows, we may have to run back to them for a favor tomorrow?). Inequality pushes people into the zone of asking for favors, not on merit but on everything except merit. Inequality is thus the fountainhead of corruption.
What is US/UN 'concerned' about, all of a sudden? Definitely it is not about the 'world'. Both Piketty and Gornick, disregard the 'state' of more than half the world's population.
Like Piketty, Janet's 'concern' is yet again about the 'high and upper middle income countries'. Her first slide itself is a give-away - and a big yawn for those who are in the red, in the image above (pun intended).
It is hard to ignore a racist 'neutrality' in even dealing with inequality. South Africa incidentally ranks the highest among income inequality among 'high and upper middle income countries'. Let us not go into Apartheid! If there is enough 'inequality' to cause a roar in countries, which only have a fraction of the population that China or India have, shouldnt all these 'inequality' experts be living in China or India to do live 'study', if not 'research'? Or is it that they consider China, with its 'communist' Government, and India, with its 'socialistic' principles enshrined in its constitution naturally 'devoid of inequality'?
Inequality needs a global perspective and we have to go beyond the you-are-richer-than-me or manager-is-richer-than-worker mindset, which often provoke immediate and instant chord with most people. This leads to a systemic and orchestrated diversion from the focus on the elephant in the room. Middle class itself is not a monolith
Asia’s middle classes, poor by US or EU standards, are globalization’s winnersUS is definitely in the focus, because population in US is increasing mainly because of immigration. Immigration statistics clearly show that the population growth is not simply because of increased fertility in Americans. For example, China has a 'one child' policy and Chinese immigrants into US obviously can reap the benefits of 'escaping' from their country. Unlike say India, where immigrants into US can claim lack of 'colleges' or 'opportunities' in their home land, reasons given by Chinese to migrate into US cannot be the lack of 'facilities' or 'infrastructure'. In semiconductors, for instance, most of the fabrication happens in the Chinese mainland. Walmart and the likes procure most of their wares from China, which has become more of a production warehouse.
As population increases, through immigration or otherwise, there is an increased or frantic search among people to 'differentiate' from others. Inequality is the only way they can differentiate from others and there is a definite and systemic way to perpetuate inequality. Whether it is high costs for education, lack of funding of primary education, schools etc grabbing from poor the 'Right to Education' and 'Right to Information'. Strive towards perpetuating inequality is reinforced, not by the rich themselves, but more often by the noveau-riche or wannabe-rich. Nepotism is the starting point of corruption and inefficiency - because one way to get a 'favorable' treatment is to act like masters, be servile to their thoughts and deeds and more importantly, turn a blind eye to their 'errors' of judgement (who knows, we may have to run back to them for a favor tomorrow?). Inequality pushes people into the zone of asking for favors, not on merit but on everything except merit. Inequality is thus the fountainhead of corruption.
