Bouncing off this list detailing what 160 Great Minds of Our Age are looking towards in the coming year, Puffin Foundation fellow* Chris Hayes professes optimism "that wealth and income inequality, both within the US and across the globe, will soon become the single most important economic issue for economists, policymakers and politicians." I find that somewhat unlikely, particularly in the global context. Even in the domestic context, inequality isn't yet so bad that I can see the electorate will raise up their pitchforks. Communities are too segregated by income, and culture is too relentlessly downscale, for their to be serious social unrest.
The inequality numbers will, however, keep discomfiting the Chattering Class, and they'll thus provide a slightly elliptical way for politicians and media types to talk about economic unfairness in terms which don't make them feel like hysterical populists. Meanwhile, unlike inequality, which is really a symptom that's rapidly becoming a disease, American's do experience economic unfairness, and lack of power in the workplace, and stagnant wages, and insecure health care, and all the rest on a daily and direct basis, and we could see some action there. So while I wouldn't expect much energy behind leveling policies or social equality, I'll be surprised if we don't hear quite a bit about the safety net, worker's rights, and all the other ways in which we can make the economy fairer, if not necessarily more equal.
*Sorry Chris, I just like the word "puffin." I also like the cereal.
