Joseph Stiglitz: The Great Divide

In The Great Divide, Joseph E. Stiglitz expands on the diagnosis he offered in his best-selling book The Price of Inequality and suggests ways to counter America’s growing problem. With his signature blend of clarity and passion, Stiglitz argues that inequality is a choice-the cumulative result of unjust policies and misguided priorities.
Ultimately, Stiglitz believes our choice is not between growth and fairness; with the right policies, we can choose both. His complaint is not so much about capitalism as such, but how twenty-first-century capitalism has been perverted. His is a call to confront America's economic inequality as the political and moral issue that it is. If we reinvest in people and pursue the other policies that he describes, America can live up to the shared dream of a more prosperous, more equal society.

[@richardtaylor3331]

It seems like the only people who want to even talk about this problem is a serious way are independent news channels and intellectuals.

[@realrealestateforUs]

Are there any debates between Stiglitz and any of the 1% or corporations? A head to head with Paulson or Geithner?

[@rayw9656]

I can't help but think his criticisms of monopolistic corporations serving industries that require high paid-in capital to operate (i.e. Time Warner, United Airlines) marginalize the fact that they are taxable, which cannot be said of consumer good MNCs... Unlike Apple or Gap, these companies are embedded in the U.S. It seems Stiglitz supports the idea of penalizing tax-abiding firms by adding more taxes without acknowledging the fact that these firms represent a core portion of American infrastructure and contribute a significant share to the U.S. GDP and tax revenue (roughly 17.4% of GDP in 2014 estimates).

[@rayw9656]

In either case, higher taxes enables deficit spending. Tax on big firms will impact investors (i.e. middle-class retirement funds), and the tax revenue NOT refunded to tax subjects is going to be realized by the bottom earners of society - who put nothing into retirement... Offering a blanket statement, like, "taxing big corporations" or "taxing the rich" sounds like a good idea when you don't look too far into it. But once you've scratched the surface, you realize it's still the upper-middle class that carries the burden...

[@rayw9656]

I am not impervious to misinterpretation, but I believe that posits like those offered by Stiglitz may inadvertently undercut the American dream; which, in short, is that a person can go from pauper to premier in one to two generations... Instead of folding the upper-middle back into the working class, and killing the "go-getter" optimism that epitomizes American culture.