Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett -- The spirit level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger
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Whether you agree with Wilkinson and Pickett or not, you really
should read this book.  This topic is topic is *the* one of the
important ones for our age.  We are headed into; actually, we
are already in a "gilded age".  You may not agree with Wilkinson and
Pickett's arguments about the cause or about the cure, but you, and
we, need to be thinking about this and related issues.

So I read this book and I think: yes this seems very important.
Then I go to my public library and I sit down with the Sunday N.Y.
Times (dated 9/20/2015) and I read (1) "A vote to give shareholders
due respect", by Gretchen Morgenson which describes how the board of
directors of Bank of America overrode a bylaw approved by
shareholders that required that the board of directors be overseen
by an independent chairman and (2) I read "A toxic work world", by
Anne Marie Slaughter which tells how workers are squeezed out of
employment by increasingly harsh demands on their time.  And, I
think: "Oh ..., I think I see." This really is significant.

It really is important that we see how extreme the disparity and
inequality of pay and wages has become.  And, just as important is
that we come to understand the significant effects of that disparity
and how negative its impact is.

It is definitely worth having these subjects on our plate and in our
minds.  But, it's also important to stay aware that what Wilkinson
and Pickett describe is a correlation, not a cause.  There are (at
least) two implications of such a claim. One, we do not know for
sure that one (inequality) causes the other (reduced economic
performance and wealth); and we need more study about this even as
we proceed to try to change it.  And, two, we do not know *how* the
first causes the second; and until we do, we really are driving
blindfolded while trying to fix things.

So, why is this an important book, given these qualifications?  We
know that there are serious, destructive problems.  We're pretty
sure that if we leave things to themselves, they are likely to get
worse.  And, that should motivate us to promote more study of this
issue and to try some tentative fixes so as to learn what works and
what does not and to read this book along with others on this
subject and to think and talk about it.

Chapter 13, "Dysfunctional societies", is especially worth reading,
because in it Wilkinson and Pickett attempt to show (1) that there
is a causal effect between economic inequality and social problems
such as health indicators, prison incarceration rates, literacy
rates, etc.; and (2) that the benefits of greater equality benefits
a broad proportion of a society and not just the disadvantaged and
poor, who, since they need help the most, we might guess would
benefit the most.  On the second point, the poorest do seem to
benefit the most, according to Wilkinson and Pickett's arguments and
charts, but the benefits and improvements, for example, in health
and life expectancy, do reach even up into the middle and upper
segments of a society, i.e., segments with higher incomes and higher
levels of education.

Independent of the effects of inequality on economic performance and
wealth, we should also consider the personal effects.  We can be
sure that severe inequality can have very negative effects on
individual attitudes, self-identify, feelings of self-worth, etc.,
and these will affect both quality of life and employee performance.
If we care at all about the welfare of members of our society, we
should not allow that to go unattended.

It's also worth considering the possibility, and this is the most
frightening of all, that liberal democracy, left to itself,
inevitably tends toward greater economic inequality.  Perhaps this
kind of inequality is a democracy's stable state or attractor, as
chaos theorists would say.  If so, we will be led to the idea that
our only hopeful course of action is to modify our form of
government.  Either that, or wait for some cataclysmic set of events
rearrange things for us, in ways that are more destructive and
painful than we'd like.  Or, could it be that influences such as
culture, personality profiles, religious attitudes, and even
attitudes on law enforcement, gun legislation, the minimum wage,
etc. determine which societies tend toward and become more unequal?
Whichever, whether inevitable attractor or national character and
culture, here in the U.S. these influences seem unlikely to change.
And, a dysfunctional federal government that seems blocked by
extreme positions and partisanship will not make it any easier to
enact the kinds of solutions that Wilkinson and Pickett suggest.

Those who write books that *diagnose* the ills of a society feel
obligated to provide a "prescription" that will *cure* those ills,
and Wilkinson and Pickett respond to that need.  Chapter 16,
"Building the future" discusses those prescriptions.  It's very
worth reading, even if you, like me, feel that those prescriptions
have almost no chance of success.  For example, it's worth
understanding that there are at least two routes to greater
equality: (1) Redistribution in the form of more taxes on the rich
and more services and benefits to the not so rich.  And, (2) a
leveling and more equal distribution of income and earnings.  The
section titled "Political will" (in chapter 16) contains a very
revealing admission: "Rather than greater equality waiting till
well-meaning governments think that can afford to make societies
more equal, governments have usually not pursued more egalitarian
policies until they thought their survival depended on it." (p.
238f)  And, from the examples that Wilkinson and Pickett give
following this statement, it appears that by a threat to survival of
the government, they mean not merely that the current majority of
parliament or congress will be replaced by a rival political faction
or party, but rather that the entire government will be defeated and
replaced by an external, foreign force or overthrown by an interval
rebel force.  So, where, I want to ask, does that leave us in a
country like the U.S., where no such threat exists?  What hope do
*we* have that our leaders will "find" the political will for that
needed reforms.

One prescriptions that Wilkinson and Pickett give is for more in the
way of employee ownership of companies.  That seems to me to be
desperation suggestion that is offered because nothing else seems to
offer much hope.  Yes, employee ownership may have benefits, and
Wilkinson and Pickett do a reasonable jog of describing them.  But,
what hope do we have that employee ownership of their companies will
become widespread?  And, it seems that the only thing that Wilkinson
and Pickett can offer to do to make it happen is to preach a sermon
about its benefits.  I don't think that is likely to change very
much.

Wilkinson and Pickett attempt to end with an upbeat and more
positive note.  The final section, "The future of equality" (chapter
16) makes the claim that there is a long term historical trend
toward greater equality.  However, it does seem that the *kinds* of
equality they mention in this trend are all forms of political
equality, whereas, what they have been critiquing throughout this
book are forms of *economic* inequality, i.e., inequality of income
and wealth.  And, it is economic inequality that seems to me to be
part of an inevitable positive, self-reinforcing system and trend.

Here are a few additional books in this same topic space:

- "Capital in the Twenty-First Century", by Thomas Piketty

- "Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty",
  by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson

- "The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America",
  by George Packer

10/30/2015

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