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Curiously enough, though, all of Europe and the US has seen more or less the same kind of development of this kind in recent history. Yet the disparity between
by nhaehnle 15y ago
Curiously enough, though, all of Europe and the US has seen more or less the same kind of development of this kind in recent history. Yet the disparity between rich and poor differs widely between those countries, and it has also gone up and down quite strongly over time.
This is very strong evidence that the kind of disparities you mentioned are not truly structural. The "structural argument" is just a decoy used to prevent the disadvantaged from asking inconvenient political questions.
- william42 15y agoSweden actually has higher unemployment than the US, but less wealth disparity, because they have a better social support net for the unemployed.
- nhaehnle 15y agoExactly. It is about political choice, not about structural inevitabilities. Actual numbers: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=unemployment+rate+sweden+usa http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=unemployment+rate+swede... It looks like Sweden merely caught up with the US in terms of unemployment in the last 20 years. Look at the quite drastic ups and downs in unemployment in Sweden in the 1990s. I know that's not exactly what you wrote, but does that look like something that is driven by "structural changes"?