A foundation of ignorance….

Paul Krugman usually puts the hammer down when he writes his columns, like this one on “Our Invisible Rich” in the Sep. 29 New York Times.

 Here’s his conclusion:

“Does the invisibility of the very rich matter? Politically, it matters a lot. Pundits sometimes wonder why American voters don’t care more about inequality; part of the answer is that they don’t realize how extreme it is. And defenders of the super rich take advantage of that ignorance. When the Heritage Foundation tells us that the top 10 percent of filers are cruelly burdened, because they pay 68 percent of income taxes, it’s hoping that you won’t notice that word “income” — other taxes, such as the payroll tax, are far less progressive. But it’s also hoping you don’t know that the top 10 percent receive almost half of all income and own 75 percent of the nation’s wealth, which makes their burden seem a lot less disproportionate.

“Most Americans say, if asked, that inequality is too high and something should be done about it — there is overwhelming support for higher minimum wages, and a majority favors higher taxes at the top. But at least so far confronting extreme inequality hasn’t been an election-winning issue. Maybe that would be true even if Americans knew the facts about our new Gilded Age. But we don’t know that. Today’s political balance rests on a foundation of ignorance, in which the public has no idea what our society is really like.”

Among Krugman’s key insights is that last bit regarding “a foundation of ignorance”—in far too many ways, in our current political and social realms, too many people don’t know what’s really going on, and too many people passively and dangerously don’t care.

The democratic myths about a conscientious populace and an informed electorate, sadly, are simply myths.

  

Are we forgetting majority rule?

Lexington, we hardly knew ye

Don't vote for incumbents

Re-election....what is the point?

I still don't get it....