The take.

Editor,

Equality of wealth versus equality of opportunity is a choice that does not even touch the problem that descended on American society when Ronald Reagan, Friedrich Hayek, and Milton Friedman rose to power in 1980.

The real problem is, among other things: the commoditization of everything, the privatization of the commons, and the substitution of predation for at least lip service to the proposition "ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country."

The problem with the American economy is the problem of American society: where there had been a shared sense of cohesion after WWII -- during which sacrifice had been shared and almost universally widespread -- there is now a pervasive attitude, especially among those that manage one way or another to acquire enough financial power not to be under the heel of a stronger jackal, that the commons exists to be looted by the strong.

Thieves go to great lengths to convince suckers they are not stealing but are instead contributing something valuable to society -- "jobs," for example.

Criminality, not equality of wealth or equality of opportunity, is the problem with America. And the cops are on the take.

Re: "Inequality for Dummies" (12/23/2013)