Joseph Stiglitz @ The Commonwealth Club of California

On my morning jog and work-out, I had  a chance to listen to Joseph Stiglitz’s talk at the Commonwealth Club back in June 2012.  If you have a chance, definitely go check it out.  He’s out promoting his new book: The Price of Inequality: How Today’s Divided Society Endangers Our Future.

He makes the argument that our current political policies and economic system has made America one of the most unequal advanced industrials countries, which has in turn crippled our growth and undermined democracy.  Not only does he offer his criticisms, but offers a plan for changing our fiscal and budgetary policies for creating conditions for a more prosperous future. 

There were some arguments that he made in particular that stood out to me:

  • There are many political policies in place today that encourage the rise in inequality.
  • Income inequality in the US is at levels never seen before
  • While some believe that this inequality accelerates economic growth, Joseph and others have shown that it in fact stifles growth.
  • Originally the financial services and investment industries were meant to enable the rest of the economy run smoothly, but have become too big to be accountable.  
  • These industries now attract the best and the brightest talent in the US because of the income potential.  Instead, it would be great if these talented individuals would spend their time doing basic research and building new products and services.

Overall I believe he made very persuasive arguments and was definitely worth listening to if you have a spare moment.