The Tavis Smiley show of February 13 had journalist Thomas B. Edsall discussing his recent book The Age of Austerity: How Scarcity Will Remake American Politics. You can read the transcript of the whole discussion.
Smiley asked one question concerning the impact of the Occupy movement. Edsall responded that it had made many aware of the unfortunate combination of great economic and social inequality combined with social and economic immobility.
Think about that combination. In the not too distant past, people were willing to put up with inequality in the hope and often knowledge that if they worked and took advantage of available opportunity, they could build better lives for themselves and their families. The incredible concentration of most wealth and income in the hands of the very, very few who also are able to mold politicians to their wishes has made the old dream less and less probable. This combination of great inequality and at best currently modest mobility is a dangerous combination. This is becoming too much like a caste system. It is a threat to all classes directly or indirectly.
This combination of disparities is not the kind that will lead social activists to make love and not war..it will more likely be something like "screw me, screw you". This combination is a ticking time bomb.
Both Tavis Smiley and Thomnas B. Edsall wondered aloud how our population and groups like the Tea Party have been so passive in the way Wall Street screwed up and then screwed taxpayers to save their gready asses. (Smiley and Edsall were too polite to use those terms which you can check if you take time to read the transcript which is worth your time in any case.)
This program and the textbook should be a wakeup call to all who are not in that exclusive elite top 0.5 percent of us who own much of everything and reap the huge tax cuts pushed therough by the Bush Administration. The Smiley show making tanscripts available is a great service. It is possible to read that in a fraction of the time it takes to watch a video.
*** Stay tuned, Stay Awake....and listen for the ticking, ticking --- Doug Wiken
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