My Sunday column perhaps contains a hint of bile: it reflects my distress at where the economic debate in this country is going, and at the rising levels of economic inequality. I’m afraid that efforts to address the budget mess — a serious challenge, but a medium- to long-term one — will aggravate the inequality and reduce opportunity in this country. In short, I worry that Republican or Tea Party budget policies will make America look more like…well, that’s the point of the column.
One point that I tried to stress is the way government services are being hollowed out and being replaced by privatized elite services for the elite. Police suffer cutbacks, but gated communities with private guards are a workaround if you can afford them. State schools suffer budget cuts, but elites avoid pain through private schools. And so on: the pattern becomes that we degrade public functions but provide private alternatives for those with money. And that’s what to me smacks of Congo or Pakistan.
The Pakistan analogy arises perhaps because I’ve spent a lot of time in that country. I’ve always felt that the feudal elite in Pakistan has suppressed education for the masses and tried to protect themselves not by raising the entire country but by building high walls with broken glass on top. In contrast, the emerging middle class in Pakistan actually truly is engaged in fighting poverty and supporting education, in a way that the feudals never did. The middle class in Pakistan sees development as a shared journey, and that’s a step forward — but it seems to me that some Americans are emulating those Pakistani feudal rulers.
Too harsh? Unfair? Your thoughts?