Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Inequality of opportunity (3 graphs)

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Inequality of opportunity (3 graphs)

Click here to access article by David Ruccio from Real-World Economics Review Blog.

By posting these three graphs, Ruccio, and economist, illustrates how class advantage distorts economic opportunities for working people under capitalism.

It’s impossible to defend the grotesque—and growing—levels of inequality that characterize U.S. capitalism.

But, as they have throughout American history, some people still try. Their most common argument is that there’s nothing wrong with unequal outcomes as long as there is equal opportunity.

Hmmm, not so much.