"
What are the proximate effects of the new inequality? The short answer is that we don't know, because the new inequality is so new."
Solving the New Inequality, by
Richard B. Freeman and
James Tobin's response/addition
A Liberal Agenda: "Let specific proposals stand on their substantive merits. There's no need to label them ideologically. Yet neither should we deceive ourselves. If "liberal' means anything in current politics it describes a willingness to use the public fisc to make economic well-being less unequal than market earnings. If "conservative" means anything today, it means that unequal market earnings should prevail, scarcely modified by taxes and transfers. Freeman's proposals for redistribution are liberal. " Great quote, despite the slight contradiction.
The
New Deal Network features a nice selection of
Franklin D. Roosevelt Memes: "Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men." And substantial ones as well.