[lbo-talk] Are Conservatives Racist?

SA s11131978 at gmail.com
Sat Aug 20 22:02:51 PDT 2011


On 8/20/2011 11:53 PM, Doug Henwood wrote:


> And then there's this:
> http://www.insightcced.org/communities/Closing-RWG.html
>
> The problem with the lopsided distribution of wealth in the U.S. is
> that it's color-coded, not that it's lopsided. So we need to encourage
> black wealth accumulation.

And it's so backward. I just calculated that if the wealth share of the top 10% dropped back to its 1983 level and the proceeds were simply distributed equally to every household -- i.e., an ostensibly race-neutral policy -- the black-white wealth gap would fall almost in half -- from 10:1 to about 5:1.

But that doesn't fly. Which recalls Branko Milanovic's anecdote:


> I was in a think tank in Washington. The president of the think tank
> told me: “Well, you can do whatever you want, but just don’t call it
> inequality. Put the word poverty there. Because we have many rich
> people on our board, and when they see the word poverty that makes
> them feel good, because [it means] they’re really nice people who care
> about the poor. When they see the word inequality it makes them upset,
> because [it means] you want to take money from them.”

SA



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