New Social Justice Index Places U.S. Near Bottom

[dajoki]

New Social Justice Index Places U.S. Near Bottom
First Posted: 10/27/11 01:43 PM ET Updated: 10/27/11 02:54 PM ET
Dan Froomkin
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/27/social-justice_n_1035363.html

WASHINGTON--A central concern for those in the Occupy movement -- that the economic system in the U.S. is rigged in favor of the well-off -- has been corroborated by a major new survey of developed nations.

When it comes to social justice -- defined here as the ability each individual has to participate in the market society, regardless of their social status -- the United States ranks near the bottom of 31 developed countries, the Thursday report from Bertelsmann Foundation found.

It's one thing if you live in a market economy where everyone has the same shot at success. It's quite another if fortune favors the fortunate. And the new survey found that when it comes to "equal opportunities for self-realization," the U.S. ranks 27 out of 31 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development member states, well behind not just Northern European countries like Norway and Denmark, but even countries like Hungary, Poland, Italy and France. The only countries whose citizens fare even worse are Greece, Chile, Mexico and Turkey.

The new report comes just a day after the Congressional Budget Office validated another key precept of Occupy protesters: The income gap between the rich and poor in the U.S. grew precipitously from 1979 to 2007, the report found, with the top 1 percent of earners seeing their incomes spike by 275 percent.

The new survey on the developed countries also echoes the findings of OECD's own 2010 report on social mobility, which found that, contrary to America's reputation as the "land of opportunity," it is now much harder to climb the socioeconomic ladder between generations in the U.S. than in many other developed countries.

LOOK to see where the U.S. ranks on social justice, and read more about the report below:


The social justice index measured six indicators of "socially responsible" capitalism. In all of them, the U.S. was ranked in the lower half of the countries examined. It fared particularly poorly in four.

[fascisthunter]

1. and yet the Right Wing whines.... they don't have a clue

and those that do are mental defects.

[truedelphi]

3. And remember that that "RW"includes people like Rahm Emanuel - who yesterday was all

"The person occupying the office of the mayor of the city of Chicago cannot meet with anyone but those who are valid people."

Yep, to him the protesters are not valid people at all - they are "retards."

And yet he is all about meeting with those who represent the "real valid people" that is, the Big Corporations and their Executives.

[sabrina 1]

2. Iceland's handling of the Financial Meltdown, is the way Europe

and the US should have handled it. Instead, Europe is still trying to bail out the banks and impose 'Austerity' programs on the people forcing them to pay for the corruption of the Financial Industry. And that is what is being pushed here also. Social programs did not cause the Meltdown. Why are they even being discussed in the same conversation?

Any politician who goes along with cuts to social programs, should start rethinking that position. It was the genesis of this movement which started in Europe and is now here. Not surprising to see Iceland at the top of the list. They refused the Global Capitalist 'Shock Doctrine' attempt to use the Financial disaster to privatize Social Programs, arrested the criminal bankers and their corrupt Government official, and elected a new government. Iow, they listened to the people. Their economy is now on the rebound, proving that bailing out corrupt institutions only leads to more disaster.