Interesting article by Paul Rosenberg this monring at Salon talking about Thomas Piketty and Elizabeth Warren. The question that's in the back of my head as I read this, though, is what difference does it make if even a three quarters of the country understands what's happening if there isn't the will to overcome the resistance of the other entrenched 25%--the top 1% and their delusional wannabes--that likes things just the way they are.
We seem long ago to have passed the point of having honest arguments about what's in the best interest of the country. We have devolved into a society in which it's everyone out for himself and his short-term interests, and if that means that the earth becomes a huge crock pot fifty to a hundred years from now or if the world's population becomes increasingly immiserated, who cares so long as I'm ok now? So thinks the entrenched top 25%.
As the article points out, the two central issues that face our country and the world are growing inequality and climate change. All other issues, particularly the tribal ones, pale in comparison. Will a tipping point ever come? Will a point come when a sane consensus about the hugely negative consequences of not confronting these problems coalesce with the will to do something about them? Although it's very difficult for me to imagine how, I must believe that it will.