Durbin on Democracy and Inequality
I got a chance to talk to Senator Dick Durbin around midday and asked him if the current mess prompts any reflections on the broader issues of inequality in the American landscape. He offered a pretty strong thematic answer:
I would say something a bit more literal: The growth in consumption inequality has been much smaller than the growth in income inequality. In general, increasing access to credit has done a lot to help compensate for sluggish or nonexistent income growth for the middle class. And make no mistake — access to credit is a real benefit. But insofar as that increased access to credit was built on something of a house of cards, as now seems to be the case, we won’t be able to rely on that in the future to provide people with a decent standard of living. We need to do something to boost the real fundamentals of our economy — the wages available to ordinary Americans (more on this from Durbin in a later video clip).
21 Responses to “Durbin on Democracy and Inequality”
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September 26th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Man, what’s wrong with your site today? I have Flash 10 and it keeps asking me to download Flash.
September 26th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
I’m guessing by Anon1’s comment that there’s a video there. I don’t see it at all (just a small strip of blank space). Got a YouTube or a transcript? I’m actually interested in hearing what Durbin has to say. Too bad I can’t.
September 26th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Durbin’s concern about inequality are touching.
But it’s just another example of how Democrats are phony, mouthing populist rhetoric while whoring for Wall Street in D.C.
Has Durbin or ANY other Democrat proprosed a surtax on the wealthy to pay for the bailout? The old New Dealers would have dismissed this bailout crap in 2 seconds, lined up their voters behind it, and absolutely crucified the GOPers for trying to get away with this shit.
But now, the party is nothing but feeble hacks like Reid & Pelosi, and their band of Wall Street whores led by trained poodles Dodd, Schumer, and Frank.
September 26th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Okay, it seems to be up. Kind of a let down, actually. But it is refreshing to hear someone speak with sanity. You don’t get that from the McCain campaign.
September 26th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Regarding Durbin being a fake, he supports something that he admits causes problems.
I’m sure MattY’ (the intellectually honest, but non-existent version of MattY) will ask him about this.
September 26th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Matt,
Thanks for repeating what I’ve been saying.
http://isteve.blogspot.com/2008/09/inequality-of-spending.html
September 26th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Sen Durbin just torpedoed a shot at the Libertarian vote.
His stand on the illegal immigrant issue doesn’t invalidate his point here: a democracy with the goal of equality of opportunity and meritocracy is a odds with the way we currently practice capitalism.
September 26th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
But insofar as that increased access to credit was built on something of a house of cards, as now seems to be the case, we won’t be able to rely on that in the future to provide people with a decent standard of living. We need to do something to boost the real fundamentals of our economy — the wages available to ordinary Americans (more on this from Durbin in a later video clip).
It wasn’t built on a house of cards. It was built on real increases in wealth. Household net worth is now below its 2007 peak, but it has increased dramatically over the past 8 years.
September 26th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
As I’ve said before, it’s was thanks to this high level of debt, much of it funded from overseas, which allowed our industrial base to be removed to foreign shore while avoiding riots in the streets here.
September 26th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Don’t forget about plain old dumb luck. Don’t let anyone tell you that the CEO is the ubermensch leading his firm to greatness. If that guy earning $20m/year had got his MBA in a bad year he never would have got on the ladder at all, and would have wound selling paper in Scranton.
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