Paul Krugman: American Craziness and Class Warfare

Tuesday, 08 October 2013 10:52 

The economist Mark Thoma recently wrote an excellent column for the Fiscal Times linking the fight over the debt ceiling to the larger issue of extreme inequality. I'd like to suggest that the reality is even worse than Mr. Thoma suggests.

Here's how he put it: "Rising inequality and differential exposure to economic risk has caused one group to see themselves as the 'makers' in society who provide for the rest and pay most of the bills, and the other group as 'takers' who get all the benefits. The upper strata wonders, 'Why should we pay for social insurance when we get little or none of the benefits?' and this leads to an attack on these programs."