Writing at Vox Nova, Morning's Minion makes the case, quite effectively, that we are entering a new Gilded Age. The money quote:
We are living through a “de-leveling” of society where the rich retreat to their own enclaves and the values of the market trump the values of common citizenship. We are back to the old societal divisions between “labor” and “capital”, something that had become somewhat anachronistic in the postwar era. We are back to a time when the major income division is not between high-waged and low-waged individuals, but between those who rely on wages and those who rely on investment income – earned versus unearned wealth. Not surprising, social cohesion or social trust – the glue the binds society together – is coming part at the seams.
