Originally aired on December 13, 2007.
Tom Fudge: The United States is considered to be one of the world's leaders in guaranteeing equality among all citizens. But that doesn't mean people are economically equal. Indeed, under the American market economy, economic status is supposed to be the result of hard work, ambition, and ingenuity. That's how we would like to imagine it, at least. But the fact is that politics and changing economic realities play a role in determining who's got money and who doesn't. During the past three to four decades, economic inequality has increased among Americans.
So why is this? Is it due a changing, globalizing economy that has hurt people in certain lines of work? Or is it due to Republican control of government, which tends to favor the well-to-do. Here's another question. If economic disparity is increasing, is that necessarily a bad thing? You'll get different views on that, too.
Guest
- Paul Krugman , professor of economics at Princeton and columnist for The New York Times . He has also written a new book called "The Conscience of a Liberal."
