Foreign Affairs LIVE: "Occupy Wall Street" & Economic Inequality
Article Summary and Author Biography
A conversation with George Packer, Robert C. Lieberman, and Gary Clyde Hufbauer.
Essay
Like an odorless gas, economic inequality pervades every corner of the United States and saps the strength of its democracy. Over the past three decades, Washington has consistently favored the rich -- and the more wealth accumulates in a few hands at the top, the more influence and favor the rich acquire, making it easier for them and their political allies to cast off restraint without paying a social price.
Review Essay
Increasing inequality in the United States has long been attributed to unstoppable market forces. In fact, as Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson show, it is the direct result of congressional policies that have consciously -- and sometimes inadvertently -- skewed the playing field toward the rich.
Snapshot
Rather than dousing large corporations with vinegar -- as the Occupy Wall Street protesters urge -- Washington should smother them with honey. Doing so would loosen their purse strings to fund new investment, bolster the economy, and create jobs.
Foreign Affairs Editor Gideon Rose moderated this panel discussion at the Council on Foreign Relations on November 15, 2011, only hours after the city of New York removed protestors living in Zucotti Park. What does the Occupy Wall Street movement say about the state of American politics and society? Has inequality really gotten worse?
Watch the conversation between George Packer (staff writer at The New Yorker), Robert C. Lieberman (Professor of Political Science and Public Affairs at Columbia University), and Gary Clyde Hufbauer (Reginald Jones Senior Fellow at The Peterson Institute for International Economics).
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