Exclusive interview: Joseph Stiglitz sees bleak future for America if we don’t reverse inequality:
▻http://www.alternet.org/story/155918/exclusive_interview:_joseph_stiglitz_sees_terrifying_future_for_america_if
“What will life look like down the road if we don’t reverse economic inequality? We must see through the myths of capitalism and build a mass movement if we are to save ourselves”.
"One of the myths that I try to destroy is the myth that if we do anything about inequality it will weaken our economy. And that’s why the title of my book is The Price of Inequality. What I argue is that if we did attack these sources of inequality, we would actually have a stronger economy. We’re paying a high price for this inequality. Now, one of the mischaracterizations of those of us who want a more equal or fairer society, is that we’re in favor of total equality, and that would mean that there would be no incentives. That’s not the issue. The question is whether we could ameliorate some of the inequality — reduce some of the inequality by, for instance, curtailing monopoly power, curtailing predatory lending, curtailing abusive credit card practices, curtailing the abuses of CEO pay. All of those kinds of things, what I generically call “rent seeking,” are things that distort and destroy our economy"