Profound Quotes

"Neither is it that US foreign policy is cruel because American leaders are cruel. It's that our leaders are cruel because only those willing to be inordinately cruel and remorseless can hold positions of leadership in the foreign policy establishment; it might as well be written into the job description. People capable of expressing a full human measure of compassion and empathy toward faraway powerless strangers - (let alone American soldiers - do not become president of the United States, or vice president, or secretary of state, or national security adviser or secretary of the treasury. Nor do they want to." From 'Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower' by William Blum

From "9-11, Six Years Later": "If one looks at the credentials of skeptics compared to the credentials of defenders of the official line, it is impossible to dismiss skeptics as kooks. There are many people with strong imaginations on the Internet, but serious skeptics stick to known facts, known violations of standard procedures and the laws of physics. The vast majority of the people who call skeptics "kooks" are themselves ignorant of physics and have little comprehension of the improbability that such an attack could succeed without either the complicity or complete failure of government agencies. " Paul Craig Roberts

"Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' Vanity asks the question, 'Is it popular? But, conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?' And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because one's conscience tells one that it is right." Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Conservatives and Liberals Agree: Unparalleled Levels of Inequality Is Killing Our Economy and Society

Conservatives Worry That Runaway Inequality Will Destroy The Economy and Society

Posted on September 24, 2011 by WashingtonsBlog

Conservatives and Liberals Agree: Unparalleled Levels of Inequality Is Killing Our Economy and Society

Leading economists agree that rampant inequality leads to unstable economies and depressions, and makes the middle and lower classes poorer.

While the stereotype is that liberals care more about inequality than conservatives, that is a myth.

As Canada’s conservative National Post – Canada’s 9th biggest newspaper – noted Wednesday:

According to the voice of Canada’s business establishment: “High inequality can diminish economic growth if it means that the country is not fully using the skills and capabilities of all its citizens or if it undermines social cohesion, leading to increased social tensions. .

***

A mounting body of research shows that, left unchecked, a growing income gap affects the rich, the poor and everyone in between.

***

No matter your political leanings, most people understand that endless concentration of income, wealth and power is bad for the economy. After all, businesses rely on rising purchasing power of the many, not the few, to deliver growth and profits.

***

No one knows the tipping point, but lock enough people out of the promise of gains and at some point, instead of stability and growth, you get social unrest.

***

History has shown us, time and again: When too much is controlled by too few, something has to give. Continuously rising inequality is unsustainable.

Everyone has a stake in fixing this. And the fix has no political colour.

(The Post is correct about the potential for social unrest.)

Moreover, IMF economists have demonstrated that inequality increases a nation’s debt. Because conservatives are passionate about reducing debt, reducing inequality is a conservative value.

And as I noted in February:

Renowned behavioral economist Dan Ariely (Duke University) and Michael I. Norton (Harvard Business School) recently demonstrated that everyone – including conservatives – thinks there should be more equality.

Their study found: ….

Conservatives and Liberals Agree: Unparalleled Levels of Inequality Is Killing Our Economy and Society.

September 23rd, 2011 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment |

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