Inequality Matters
Presentation by James Lardner

January 8, 2006
Summary by Phoebe Hoss

On Sunday, January 8, 2006, at 1 p.m. in Reidy Friendship Hall, James Lardner, a journalist and the founder of Inequality.org, discussed the subject of Inequality Matters: The Growing Economic Divide in America and Its Poisonous Consequences , which was edited by him and David Smith and published in collaboration with Demos, a think and action tank in New York City.
(To obtain a copy, you can go to: http://www.thenewpress.com/books/inequality.htm).

In the first three quarters of the twentieth century, America was famed for its egalitarianism and for the opportunity the poor had to prosper and rise to the middle class. Then in the 1970s this situation began to change. Today ours is the "most unequal of developed nations," with the pay corporate leaders rake in amounting to many hundreds of that of the working poor. Today the only group of people growing faster than millionaires is that of the uninsured. Although we are told that this growing inequality and impoverishment of the poor and middle class is owing to Adam Smith's famed "invisible hand," or the operation of an unregulated market, that is not -- as Bill Moyers says in the introduction to this book – true. It is, indeed, "a lie." Moreover, this trend "has changed the texture of American life in ways that threaten our deepest values."

Drawing on the best and latest research, the following observers of the economy present the reality behind this radical change in American expectations: Barbara Ehrenreich, Robert Franklin, Stanley B. Greenberg, William Greider, Lawrence R. Jacobs, Christopher Jencks, David Cay Johnston, Robert Kuttner, Betsy Leondar-Wright, Judith L. Lichtman, Meizhu Lui, Miles Rapoport, Jonathan Rowe, Theda Skocpol, Eric Wanner, and David Williams.

These authors discuss such issues as how this proliferating inequality shows up in education, health, and opportunity; the role of technology, trade, and immigration; and why racial disparities have not disappeared, as expected. Of prime importance is the malign effect this inequality has had on democracy and community, eroding both; and the authors consider inequality as a moral and religious problem.

The book ends by presenting a policy, both practical and hopeful whereby we may achieve a "more just and humane economy .” We must recognize that we cannot continue to wage large and small wars. Also, that Europe, where capitalism coexists with socialist programs, does not have the same problems we do. We Americans need to educate ourselves about the reasons for this inequality and then summon the courage and hope to make this country more like the one we carry in our hearts.