Power Inequality
Photo credit: Clker-Free-Vector-Images | Pixabay.
Introduction
This page explores the moral and ethical problems of power consolidation because of wealth and economic decision-making power, held up against God’s creation order and God’s vision for relationships between human beings, and also between human beings and the created world.
Other Resources on Power Inequality
Leo Gerard, Walmart, Armstrong Seek Redemption Without Remorse. Huffington Post, Jan 21, 2013.
Joshua Davis, Meet the Man Who Sold His Fate to Investors at $1 a Share. Wired, Mar 28, 2013. raises deep questions about both corporate personhood and the morality of investors
Bill Mears, Justice Back Corporations In Overseas Abuse Case. CNN, Apr 17, 2013.
Jordan Weissmann, Entrepreneurship: The Ultimate White Privilege? The Atlantic, Aug 16, 2013.
John Green, Why Are American Health Care Costs So High? Vlog Brothers, Aug 20, 2013.
David R. Henson, Criminalizing Christ: The Nationwide Targeting of Homeless. Sojourners, Sep 4, 2013.
Phillip Martin, Underground Trade: Why Human Trafficking is Called Modern Day Slavery. Huffington Post, Oct 1, 2013.
Marcus Bleasdale, Conflict Minerals: Minerals in Our Electronics Have Bankrolled Unspeakable Violence in the Congo. National Geographic, Oct 2013.
Denmark is Considered the Happiest Country. You'll Never Guess Why. Huffington Post, Oct 23, 2013.
Chris Miles, Ten Corporations Control Almost Everything You Buy - This Chart Shows How. PolicyMic, Oct 31, 2013.
The Daily Take, Meet America's Biggest Welfare Queens. Truthout, Nov 25, 2013.
Richard Kirsch, Courageous Boeing Workers Say No to Corporate Extortion. Next New Deal, Roosevelt Institute blog, Nov 29, 2013.
Jeff Faux, NAFTA at 20: State of the North American Worker. Foreign Policy in Focus, Dec 13, 2013.
Rollie Williams, The Tradition of Engagement Rings is Barely a Tradition at All. Upworthy, Mar 12, 2014.
Zachary Davies Boren, Major Study Finds the US Is An Oligarchy. Business Insider, Apr 16, 2014. although it was designed that way
Michael Zelenko, The Human Cost of Your Mother's Day Flowers. Vice, May 8, 2014.
Marvin Ammori, John Oliver's Hilarious Net Neutrality Piece Speaks the Truth. Slate, Jun 6, 2014.
Henry Grabar, The Suburb of the Future is Here. Salon, Jul 6, 2014.
Bruce Wydick, The Taste of Many Mountains. Thomas Nelon | Amazon page, Aug 2014. about the global coffee trade and Christians working for change
Lindsay Abrams, Water is the New Oil: How Corporations Took Over a Basic Human Right. Salon, Oct 5, 2014.
Paul Krugman, Amazon's Monopsony is Not OK. NY Times, Oct 19, 2014.
David Smith, Tanzania Accused of Backtracking Over Sale of Masai's Ancestral Land. The Guardian, Nov 16, 2014.
Eric Lipton, Energy Firms in Secretive Alliance With Attorneys General. NY Times, Dec 6, 2014.
Howard Meyerson, Shareholders' Big Skim. Washington Post, Mar 4, 2015.
David Grewal, Why Fast Track Isn't Free Trade. The American Conservative, Jun 11, 2015.
Alia Wong, History Class and the Fictions About Race in America. The Atlantic, Oct 21, 2015. How government oppressed racial minorities.
Howard Meyerson, The Gross Oversight in the Fed's Decision to Raise Interest Rates. Washington Post, Dec 16, 2015. Labor lost power to negotiate wages.
George Monbiot, Neoliberalism - The Ideology at the Root of All Our Problems. The Guardian, Apr 15, 2016.
Eric Olin Wright, Two Approaches to Inequality and Their Normative Implications. Items, Jul 5, 2016.
Paul Mozur, How China is Changing Your Internet (NY Times, Aug 9, 2016. The dangers of technology and information consolidation.
Todd C. Frankel, The Cobalt Pipeline. Washington Post, Sep 30, 2016. about Congo and the mining of cobalt for lithium ion batteries.
Brian S. Feldman, The Decline of Black Business. Washington Monthly, Mar/Apr/May 2017. "And what it means for American democracy" illuminates the relationship between economic independence and political liberty.
Margaret Harding McGill, John Oliver Again Fires Up Net Neutrality Debate. Politico, May 8, 2017.
Jon Gorey, What Real Estate Agents, Sellers Have to Tell Buyers - And What They Don't. Boston Magazine, Jun 1, 2017. lack of transparency
Juliet Macur, Redskins Cheerleaders Describe Topless Photo Shoots and an Uneasy Night Out. NY Times, May 2, 2018.
Max Blau, ‘It Does Something to Your Soul When Everyone Losing Their Homes Looks Like You’. Politico, May 24, 2018. re: evictions in Durham, NC
Lynn Parramore, Meet the Economist Behind the One Percent’s Stealth Takeover of America. Institute for New Economic Thinking, May 30, 2018. "Nobel laureate James Buchanan is the intellectual linchpin of the Koch-funded attack on democratic institutions, argues Duke historian Nancy MacLean"
Eliza Griswold, Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux | Amazon book, Jun 12, 2018. re: the Appalachian region, environmental issues, and political divide between urban and rural America; see also review by Isaac Chotiner, “What Is the Source of Disenfranchisement for Rural Americans?” Slate, Jun 14, 2018.
Franklin Foer, Elizabeth Warren's Theory of Capitalism. The Atlantic, Aug 28, 2018. emphasizing power relations built into corporate law and shareholder-executive-labor relations, prior to the distribution of wages; highlights the role of “pre-distribution” of wealth.
Anand Giridharadas, Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World. Vintage | Amazon page, Oct 2019. See interview by The Majority Report w/ Sam Seder, Guest Destroys Bloomberg Panel On the American Dream Lie. The Majority Report w/ Sam Seder, Jan 19, 2019. How true meritocracy and democracy have been undermined by concentrations of wealth and power; see also Velshi & Ruhle, Is Taxing The Ultra-Wealthy ‘Punishing Success?’ Velshi & Ruhle | MSNBC, Feb 12, 2019.
Brian Feldman, Senators Introduce Data Portability Legislation. Which Is More Exciting Than It Sounds, I Swear. NY Magazine, Oct 23, 2019. On data privacy and reigning in high-tech.
Adrian Tirtanadi, Creating Universal Access to Justice. Passion Talks International, Nov 23, 2019. Lack of access to legal assistance is a major driver of poverty. Meaning we have decent laws and decent supports, but lack law enforcement in civil suits for people in poverty. One legal aid attorney reduces property crime by 8x as one police officer. Legal aid is the only factor known to reduce domestic violence. Legal aid has about the same effect as affordable housing resources in reducing homelessness.
Krystal Ball, The American Dream is Dead, Good Riddance. Rising | The Hill, Jun 12, 2020. A brilliant takedown of the “myth of meritocracy” because of the vision of economic rights.
Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism. Melville House | Amazon page, Feb 2024. See interview by Politics Joe, Yanis Varoufakis Explains How Big Tech Is Economically Dominating Your Life. Politics Joe, Oct 6, 2023.
Christian Restorative Justice, Business, and Economics: Topics:
This section on Economics includes the following pages: Economics Metrics identifies and critique the metrics we use. Public-Private Partnerships defends government involvement as a permanent fixture of economic growth, historically and philosophically. Environment examines many aspects of conservation, climate change, sustainability, and human health. Taxes examines models of taxation, claims by adherents, and effects. Housing Policy highlights how housing should be considered a human right, with better planning, zoning, and accountability. Corporate Law examines monopoly, limited liability, regulation, and other features of business law. Labor highlights the importance of labor over capital investment. Automation examines the impact on people and communities. Wealth Inequality and Power Inequality track the historical ups and downs, along with the ideologies used to justify them. Media examines media companies as economic and political agents, especially rightward media.
Christian Restorative Justice Critique of the Right: Domestic Policy Topics:
This page is part of our section Critique of the Right, which engages the following topics: Banking and Finance examines the economic and political power of financial institutions; Bioethics discusses abortion policy; Business and Economics examines economic theories, taxes, housing, environment, corporate law, labor law, automation, and inequalities of wealth and power; Civil Unions makes the Christian case for civil unions for all and removing marriage from the culture wars; Criminal Justice examines crime statistics and definition, policing, prosecution, sentencing, prisons, and reintegration; Education examines public education and conservative resistance to it; Environment and Health highlights the many challenges we face related to animals, climate change, food, and health systems; Government Corruption spotlights political compromises and dealings contrary to the public good; Gun Rights examines gun policies and rhetoric; Media spotlights failures of, and possible fixes to, left-wing or left-leaning media; Power and Politics highlights the impact of racial considerations and racism on political campaigns, voting rights, public investments, and other political procedures; Race examines the impact of white supremacy on virtually every aspect of American life.
Christian Restorative Justice Critique of the Right: Philosophical Influences:
