Today's report in the The York Times, The American Middle Class Is No Longer the World’s Richest, only confirms what many have been feeling for an increasingly long time. While our economic growth remains competitive with other nations, “trickle-down”, if that is what we are to call laissez-faire approaches to income inequality and social and educational [...]
The New York Times published an editorial today, detailing a new report released by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, examining the disciplinary practices of our country’s 97,000 public schools. Giving up on 4-Year Olds is the ultimate indictment of a so-called civilized society. In truth, critical analysis of public policy suggests we are already giving up [...]
Today's New York Times features a hopeful article, Trying to Close a Knowledge Gap, Word by Word, about the impact of exposing children, especially those of poverty, to greater quantity and quality of vocabulary. This current trend, greatly espoused by Hillary Clinton's Too Small To Fail initiative is absolutely laudable. But while words are undoubtedly [...]
Days ago yet another billionaire, Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone, made personal references to the super-wealthy and the Nazis, this time suggesting that those who express concerns about income inequality could learn a thing or two from Hitler himself. This episode follows Max Perkins, California venture capitalist, likening the experience of today’s super-wealthy to that of [...]
Where income is higher, life spans are longer. As incomes have diverged between this country’s richest and poorest counties, so have the life expectancies of their residents. Annie Lowry in the New York Times has authored "Income Gap, Meet the Longevity Gap,” in which she details stark differences in lifespan in otherwise matched locales, differentiated [...]
Perceptive, strategic discourse of income inequality in NY Times by Harvard University's Sendhil Mullainathan cautions we not lose focus on ameliorating conditions of bottom 20% with inappropriate focus on top 1%. However, my recent letter in NY Times reminds us to engage the wealthiest in conversation for the most constructive solutions. There is work to be done [...]
Equal Pay for Monkeys: inequality impact on other primates. Pure charm, if not "pure" science. Very difficult not to extrapolate to humans. This YouTube clip is part of a longer TED presentation by Frans de Waal on Moral Behavior in Animals, a stunning piece on apparent empathy, cooperation, fairness, reciprocity, and caring about the well-being of [...]
In an interesting article promising a scientific explanation as to "why the rich are calling everyone Nazis" published in today's Huffington Post, author Jillian Berman reviews Dacher Keltner's work at Berkeley. Dr. Keltner has written about the lack of empathy in the super wealthy, recognizing contributors of social isolation, disconnection, impact of power, and the [...]
To the Editor of the New York Times: Re “A Family Office for the Superrich, and Lessons for the Less Wealthy,” by Paul Sullivan (Wealth Matters column, Feb. 15): It is not an easy time to be wealthy. On some level, a laughable problem. But in this era when everyone from the pope, to our [...]
“Yes, the Wealthy Can Be Deserving” according to Gregory Mankiw in the New York Times of 16 February, 2016. No doubt, many can and many are. Mr. Mankiw identifies himself as an economics professor at Harvard University. Yet, Professor Mankiw was also a loyal economic advisor to Mitt Romney. Despite the former Presidential candidate’s publicly [...]
