in his latest book "Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World"...
"In 1970, the top 1% of income earners captured less than 10% of all national income. In 2019, that number passed 20%. "
"The top 10% of America owns almost 70% of the total wealth of the country - from houses and cars to stocks and bonds - while the bottom 50% own just 1.5% of assets."
"In New York City, certain poor neighborhoods in the Bronx, Queens (my old stomping grounds), and Brooklyn have seen four to six times the fatality rates of the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side, even though the latter are far more densely populated.......If not infected yet, they are more likely to get infected because they have to work - and not from a distance in the comfort of their homes."
"Government policy has also supported the rich.....Congress passed trillions of dollars' worth of tax cuts in 2001, 2003 and 2017, the benefits of which have gone to the top 10% of the country. (The previous administration) elected in part on an economic populist who railed against Wall Street, still implemented these regressive policies. The political scientists Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson call this two-faced ideology "plutocratic populism"."
"Historically the lesson is clear: if growing inequalities are not addressed by reforms, revolution might follow."
"...we have moved from accepting a market economy to creating a market society, on in which everything is seen through the prism of price."
"When everything can be bought, every aspect of life becomes unequal. Take a simple example. Watching sports live in a stadium used to be one of the great communal events. It will not be communal anymore."
"But if we lead lives that are increasingly worlds apart, separated by partitions that are physical and invisible, we will think of ourselves sharing little. There is then no common ground."
------------------
These issues and problems are "organic"...i.e. they will only get worse if not addressed...overt action by our representatives - with our vocal input - are needed to effect change and a better outcome.
BTW, that (and Gals??) comment baits a real question...is this a 'Male Only' Forum?...Hopefully not.