A Hedge Fund Republic?

Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times, who is worth reading today. He is perhaps a bit over-optimistic about Latin America, but it's still a great piece. Among other things, he says of the United States:

Earlier this month, I offended a number of readers with a column suggesting that if you want to see rapacious income inequality, you no longer need to visit a banana republic. You can just look around. . . . after reviewing the evidence I regretfully confess that they have a point.

That’s right: I may have wronged the banana republics.

And it goes on to look at the proposed tax cuts for wealthy Americans. And he continues:

"But there is also a larger question: What kind of a country do we aspire to be? Would we really want to be the kind of plutocracy where the richest 1 percent possesses more net worth than the bottom 90 percent?

Oops! That’s already us."

Nothing very new here, but it's a short, well written article that is a useful reminder of what has been happening.