What wealth inequality produces, and where we stand

The book:
Rodney Tiffen and Ross Gittins, How Australia Compares. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

A political scientist and and an economics editor from Australia have written a factbook that should be at the top of our country's agenda.They rate 18 peer countries (stable, developed democracies) on over 200 different measures of well being.
These countries are Australia, the United States, Japan, Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Ireland, and New Zealand.

I point out those that Sam Pizzigati, author of "Greed and Good", discusses in his newsletter available at
TOO MUCH

"No other nation has the wherewithal the United States has to do good for its people. Yet, on measure after measure of basic decency, we lag the rest of the developed world. We lag badly."

Of the 18 most significant developed nations in the world:
The United States rank last in overcoming child poverty.
The United States rank last in leisure time in the developed world.
Our probability of surviving to age 60 is 18th, worst in the developed world.
We rank last in the developed world in infant mortality, as well as in maternal mortality
We rank last in the level of unemployment benefits.
We rank last in spending for job training,
Teacher salaries are next to last.
We rank first in homicides, incarceration rates, and INEQUALITY.

"No nation has a greater gap between top and bottom than we do. In no developed nation has wealth and income concentrated as intensely as ours."

Other measures show that the "United States has become less good, less caring, less compassionate, less healthy as we have become more unequal."

I hope you also take the time to read "Greed and Good." It is thick book, but I couldn't put it down. We must strengthen our middle class, and we must put this at the top of our agenda when we consider for example: taxes, healthcare, corporate regulations....