Gladwell on Income Inequality: We're Off the Rails

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Best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell discusses America's dramatically changing notions of wealth and income inequality since the mid-20th century. Gladwell notes that top-earning Americans faced a 91% income tax rate during most of the 1950s. "What's amazing is that, if you even bring this up now, people don't believe you," he says.

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This excerpt was taken from a program titled "The Magical Year 1975," featuring Malcolm Gladwell. It was recorded in collaboration with the New Yorker Festival, on October 3, 2010.

Malcolm Gladwell has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1996. He is the author of, most recently, "What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures," and the Times best-selling books "The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference," "Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking," and "Outliers: The Story of Success."

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[enossir1]

The reason growth was there was because companies had no reason to pay execs above that amount so wealth was capped and were did it go....well to the middle class thats were.

Also that money generated above that amount was taxed and then spent on gov. services; schools, military, NASA, science (mainly scientific R&D to defeat the commies...high paying jobs).

[jle717]

Money = power

Power = policy

Why are we surprised?

[reader642]

There is no debate over income inequality--just look out your window. Interestingly, I just watched a video about how the Founders crafted the Constitution in such a way as to benefit the mega wealthy. It's called The Founders' Dark Side and is on youtube; you should all watch it. It's short and well-documented. Turns out the country has been "rigged" against the poor for a very long time.

[idontcarewtfwhat]

Well-intentioned intellectuals have made this issue so much simpler than it really is. Funny anecdotes and smartalec comments from the likes of Gladwell and Krugman have had such a damaging effect on the debate over inequality. They have made it into a circus. The reality is so complex. How do we MEASURE inequality? How do we define TOO MUCH inequality (this requires walking the dry deserts of moral and ethical theory)? How do we quantify the EFFECTS of inequality? Its so so so hard.

[pismo10]

The US dummy. Read, it is all there..

[WANTStoFEELupPALIN]

@pismo10

please clarify what country you are talking about????

[pismo10]

@WANTStoFEELupPALIN Get reading some my friend. 58.4% of this country gets a check from the govt every month. Wake up...Even higher if you count all the "guarantees"

[WANTStoFEELupPALIN]

@contractedwow

go get ASS FUCKED BY YOUR FATHER!!!.....again:)

[WANTStoFEELupPALIN]

@pismo10

what country do you live in????...if you are not a canadian/american citizen,then i appologize(i am so used to right wing nuts manipulating stats,that i failed to consider you might live in another country)....however if you are talking about America/Canada,then your really full of shit!

[contractedwow]

@WANTStoFEELupPALIN

I like the part where you use ad-hominem then follow that up with the spelling, grammar, and punctuation of a fourth-grader. Eat a dick, fagot.

[pismo10]

@WANTStoFEELupPALIN 60% of this country is on welfare dipshit...

[WANTStoFEELupPALIN]

@pismo10

WTF?????....70% ON WELFARE????.....STOP PULLING STATISTICS OUT OF YOUR ASS!!!

next your going to tell me that NPR spending is 10% of the GDP, lmfao:P