Occupy the Agenda

Nicholas Kristof goes beyond the violence that has come to characterize the Occupy Wall Street movement and delves into the root of the problem—economic inequality. He cites the statistic that 1% of Americans possess a greater net worth than the bottom 90%. In class, we discussed income mobility as a possible factor for the degree of welfare and redistribution in a country. Kristoff suggests that upward mobility in the United States is in fact more constrained that mobility in other industrialized nations; he instead suggests that varying educational opportunities and money used for political purposes are key drivers of inequality. His emphasis on money used in politics leads us to question the median voter model, as he claims that the rich have the most political influence.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/opinion/sunday/kristof-occupy-the-agenda.html?_r=1&hpw