I’ve mentioned before that sometimes I’ll read a sentence in an article or op-ed and I just can’t get past it. That happened when I read this sentence in Joseph Stiglitz’s recent op-ed on globalization at Project Syndicate:
Branko Milanovic’s new book Global Inequality: A New Approach for the Age of Globalization provides some vital insights, looking at the big winners and losers in terms of income over the two decades from 1988 to 2008. Among the big winners were the global 1%, the world’s plutocrats, but also the middle class in newly emerging economies. Among the big losers – those who gained little or nothing – were those at the bottom and the middle and working classes in the advanced countries. Globalization is not the only reason, but it is one of the reasons.
The emphasis is mine.
To qualify as one of the “global 1%” takes an income of $32,000. That means that about three-quarters of Americans are among that global 1%.
Funny, I don’t feel like a plutocrat. Where’s that swimming pool full of money?
I also don’t feel like I’ve gained a lot from globalization. Are my intuitions wrong? Or is Dr. Stiglitz’s analysis off, say, by a decimal point?
Yes, and I’m aware of and grateful for that. Earth sucks, President Obama has declared that we must level the field. Hugo Chavez at least knew what country he was elected of. I, for one, am tired of him and his Iranian sponsors. Go Trump!