“Ethical Markets highly recommends this important article from our esteemed global Advisory Board member, author of, ”Diet for a Small Planet” by Frances Moore Lappe.
~Hazel Henderson, Editor”
Protesters hold a sign reading, Fight Poverty Not the Poor. (Photo: Jeremy Hogan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
The assumption held by many Americans that our nation enjoys relatively equal opportunity in part reflects widespread lack of awareness of how extreme U.S. economic inequality has become.
February 15, 2022
For decades I grappled with one puzzle. Why would we homo sapiens, supposedly the brightest species, be creating a world together that as individuals none of us would choose? I’ll bet no one turns off the alarm in the morning and begins plotting to worsen world hunger or heat the planet.
The danger is this: We humans see our world filtered through culturally determined frames. So, we simply cannot see what does not fit within them.
Then, something clicked. I became aware of a special feature of our powerful minds. Of course, our complex brains illuminate a lot we need to know to thrive; but a special feature of human consciousness can, literally, destroy us.
The danger is this: We humans see our world filtered through culturally determined frames. So, we simply cannot see what does not fit within them.
Einstein nailed it when he declared “It is the theory which decides what we can observe.” So, while we often hear the expression “seeing is believing,” the opposite is true. Believing is seeing.
I’ll go so far as to claim that today, Earth as we know it cannot survive unless we grasp and grapple with this human handicap.
Here are three current and dangerous filters I call “thought traps,” from which we must break free.
One: In our free-market economy, all have the opportunity to succeed; so those struggling must be losers. They just need to try harder.
Two: What threatens America’s healthy economy and culture is “the other.” For some, the other includes minorities and immigrants. For others, they are Trumpists or liberals.
Three: American democracy is among the best in the world. Yes, we’ve slipped somewhat, but our goal is to regain the status we’ve long deserved.
I’ll take each in order.
About equal opportunity? We’re not doing so great: Measures of upward economic mobility are a key indicator of opportunity, and by this measure a 2016 Stanford study found that among two dozen industrial countries, we ranked 16th, just below Argentina.
The assumption held by many Americans that our nation enjoys relatively equal opportunity in part reflects widespread lack of awareness of how extreme U.S. economic inequality has become. World Bank data reveals that income here is now more tightly concentrated than in more than 100 countries. We place between Bulgaria and Peru.
To spark necessary hope, we can spread the word that America’s economy has, in the past, been much more equitable. From the 1940s to the 1970s, all income levels doubled real family income. It was only in the ’80s that income started rushing to the top echelons. Continue reading