For instance, David Brooks, in his column today, insists that the whole notion of contrasting the interests of the richest 1 percent against everybody else is simply irrelevant:
If there is a core theme to the Occupy Wall Street movement, it is that the virtuous 99 percent of society is being cheated by the richest and greediest 1 percent. This is a theme that allows the people in the 99 percent to think very highly of themselves. All their problems are caused by the nefarious elite.Really? Let’s take a look at the income gains of the richest 1 percent over the last three decades, compared to everybody else:
Unfortunately, almost no problem can be productively conceived in this way.
This is an economy that’s incredibly great for the very rich and pretty lousy for everybody else. If you consider this even mildly problematic, you have several responses. You can try to help workers unionize, or restructure the financial industry, or challenge the loopy way we pay CEOs more and more regardless of performance. You can look for even more radical solutions, which some of the protestors favor, though I would not...
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Jonathan Chait @'NY Mag'
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