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Title: What Latin America Can Teach Us
Source:
New York Times
URL Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/11/o ... erica.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
Published: Dec 11, 2011
Author: JORGE G. CASTAÑEDA
Post Date: 2012-04-26 09:40:09 by lucysmom
Keywords: None
Views: 2288
Comments: 6
IN a Bertelsmann Foundation study on social justice released this fall, the United States came in dead last among the rich countries, with only Greece, Chile, Mexico and Turkey faring worse. Whether in poverty prevention, child poverty, income inequality or health ratings, the United States ranked below countries like Spain and South Korea, not to mention Japan, Germany or France. It was another sign of how badly Americans are hurting their middle class. Wars, famine and violence have devastated middle classes before, in Germany and Japan, Russia and Eastern Europe. But when the smoke cleared and the dust settled, a social structure roughly similar to what existed before would always resurface. No nation has ever lost an existing middle class, and the United States is not in danger of that yet. But the percentage of national income held by the top 1 percent of Americans went from about 10 percent in 1980 to 24 percent in 2007, and that is a worrisome signal. So before the United States continues on its current road of dismantling its version of the welfare state, of shredding its social safety net, of expanding the gap between rich and poor, Americans might do well to glance south. The lesson is that even after a large middle class emerges, yawning inequities between rich and poor severely strain any society’s cohesion and harmony. If ever a geographical stereotype had some truth to it, it would be that in Latin America, where a handful of immensely wealthy magnates wielded power over a sea of the poor. If there has ever been a social cliché with roots in reality, it would be that a vast middle class was always the backbone of the United States’ strength. The United States has never had the type of robust welfare state that Europeans built after World War II. It didn’t need that. Through private initiative and efforts to equalize opportunity, Americans long ago ensured that a huge middle class would provide the social glue to hold their society together. If that middle class withers, what might America look like? Well, what Latin America used to be, and in some ways still struggles to stop being. So here are two questions: Does the United States really want to look like what Latin America was? And is there a lesson to be learned from its neighbors to the south — that once inequality becomes entrenched, reversing it becomes incredibly difficult?
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#1. To: A K A Stone, Anti-ping to CE, Fred Mertz, Godwinson, go65, war, no gnu taxes, Skip Intro, ferret mike, jwpegler, brian s, mininggold, mcgowanjm (#0)
Anyone claiming to be an expert is selling something. I brandish my ignorance like a crucifix at vampires. Aaron Bady
See cheney for details....;} We're all the Working class now. May Day....invented in the USA....the Oligarchs were so afraid that they moved it to September 1....8D
Good one!
Anyone claiming to be an expert is selling something. I brandish my ignorance like a crucifix at vampires. Aaron Bady
And after all these years, you Lefties are still acting all butt-raped over your little commie festival.
There you are again, engaged in meaningless Ad hominems and an obsession with anal sex. these are just too strong a couple of compulsions for you to ignore, yes?
Not to mention they are infatuated with the Pledge of Allegiance which was penned by a socialist named Francis Bellamy yet have cognitive dissonance concerning that fact.
Alexis de Tocqueville made the point nearly two centuries ago. Something in the American character had produced a far more egalitarian society than any in Europe, and something in that society was producing a different, more modern and exciting national character, with room for experimentation, cooperation and acceptance of differences. Americans cannot retain the tolerant, forward-looking and innovative national character they cherish if they give up the egalitarian middle-class configuration that comes with it.
#2. To: lucysmom (#1)
Americans cannot retain the tolerant, forward-looking and innovative national character they cherish if they give up the egalitarian middle-class configuration that comes with it.
#3. To: mcgowanjm (#2)
May Day....invented in the USA....the Oligarchs were so afraid that they moved it to September 1....8D
#4. To: mcgowanjm (#2)
May Day....invented in the USA....the Oligarchs were so afraid that they moved it to September 1....8D
#5. To: TooConservative (#4)
#6. To: mcgowanjm (#2)
"May Day....invented in the USA....the Oligarchs were so afraid that they moved it to September 1...."
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