NP Worthy look at contemporary capitalism

[Markekohut]

C'mon, Alice. A Reuters' journalist as economist now? 
Even under the modern world system of capitalism since the end of the Middle Ages,
Things could have always been different. 

That is what we talk about economically, policy wise. 


Sent from my iPad

On Feb 28, 2013, at 6:48 AM, alice wellintown <alicewellintown at gmail.com> wrote:

> "Inequality is indeed increasing almost everywhere in the
> postindustrial capitalist world."
> 
> This is utter nonsense. It's a game of numbers, numberrs that have
> become a meaningless mantra if old-Left rhetoric, numbers that don't
> reall add up, and can't figure in the same equation that sums up the
> reality that real people are experiencing under late capitalism.
> 
> Sure, we can use the numbers, the big data, the stats to support this
> claim that the rich are getting richer, grabbing more power and
> wealth, undermining democracy, electing billionaires to
> government...so on. Sure, we can confirm this obvious and very
> troubling development. We should not ignore or deminish in any way the
> suffering this inequality is causing to people, to the planet.  But
> this argument fails to account for the fact that billions of people
> eat better, sleep better, work better, play better, live better than
> they did before capitalism spread its global tenticles. When we look
> at the world we see something else entirely. Capital with a conscience
> is agreat success story. Look to Brazil.
> 
> Brazil's internationally praised monthly stipend program has pulled 36
> million people from extreme poverty since it was first expanded in
> 2003 by Rousseff's predecessor and political mentor, Luiz Inacio Lula
> da Silva. In eight years in office, Lula oversaw an economic boom that
> helped create a vast middle class in a country long known as a society
> of haves and have-nots.
> 
> http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/19/us-brazil-poverty-idUSBRE91I14F20130219
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, Feb 21, 2013 at 1:40 PM, Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com> wrote:
>> From this month's Foreign Affairs magazine:
>> http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138844/jerry-z-muller/capitalism-and-inequality?cid=emc-mar13promoa-content-02192013