Notanotherrant

kateoplis:

America’s Exploding Pipe Dream

We sold ourselves a pipe dream that everyone could get rich and no one would get hurt — a pipe dream that exploded like a pipe bomb when the already-rich grabbed for all the gold; when they used their fortunes to influence government and gain favors and protection; when everyone else was left to scrounge around their ankles in hopes that a few coins would fall.

We have not taken care of the least among us. We have allowed a revolting level of income inequality to develop. We have watched as millions of our fellow countrymen have fallen into poverty. And we have done a poor job of educating our children and now threaten to leave them a country that is a shell of its former self. We should be ashamed.

Chart: Social Justice in the OECD — How Do the Member States Compare? US is in the bottom 5. 

It’s worth noting that most of the top 5 equal countries are Nordic countries with some of the highest rates of public ownership and taxation on the rich. They may not be truly socialist, just social democratic, but they’re an indication of  what a true  socialist (not communist) country would be like.