Inequality Is Killing Us [View All]

[Scruffy1]

Having just spent some time pondering the "The Spirit Level" by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett I felt that it may be one of the most important books of the twenty first century. I am not a trained sociologist or a statistician and I didn't need to be one to understand the the information contained in this very concise volume, as it is laid out for the layman and the information is well presented.

This book demolishes the whole objectivist myth. The very first eye opener to me was that average income only affects life span in the early stages of a countries development. It actually starts leveling off after an average income of about $10,000 US. What does affect lifespan is income inequality. For example, the age adjusted death rate in the USA is 70% higher for the poor than for the rich. This is not surprising to me, but the numbers also show the more equal societies do better right across the board with better results in health and social problems, infant mortality , child well being and happiness. That those at the middle and upper stratum also do better in more equal societies will come as a surprise to many goes without saying.

Internationally the developed countries with the least inequality score the highest in categories such as homicide rates , age adjusted death rate for workers and infant mortality. The same is also true in state by state comparisons. The most unequal states have the worst results, the most equal states the best, but there is little correlation between results and average income.

Originally I was going to come up with a number as to the true cost of inequality in the USA and put it into life and dollars, but I don't have the time and ability to do a good job on it so I can only hope that
at least some read this book and maybe some of our voters and politicians will finally understand what
Paul Wellstone meant when he said "We all do better when we all do better".

The countries with the healthiest and happiest population are countries that are the most equal in income, but this is not necessarily achieved through tax policy. In Japan its mainly a cultural value that no one is paid an exorbitant amount. Unions are an important factor in providing income equality, and may be the only way forward in a tax averse America. Increasing the minimum wage would also be a huge step forward. Most economist view minimum wage increases as having a multiplier like unemployment of about 170% so it would not only benefit the working poor, but nearly all of us. This is why I think that the best course of action for all of us is to push for minimum wage increases at the state level since it isn't going to get through the current Congress. In states that have initiative voting raising the minimum wage has carried by large majorities even in Republican states like Missouri. It seems that Americans have a basic decency and fairness that only needs to be appealed to.