We should be worried

This post may strike some as alarmist and it is not my intent to make things seem bad. They really aren't that bad, but I do think we should be worried. Here are just a couple of reasons why.

1. Inept Leadership
2. Income Inequality 

Inept Leadership 

The leadership of this country seems inept. This is not a knock on our President or on Congress for that matter. I voted for President Obama and am generally not a fan of Congress. The real issue for me, is not about the people but about the structure. What do I mean? Well lets take this example. You really want a job. You network and do all the right things and a year later land the job. It was a long road but you are finally here and ecstatic about it. Are you not going to do everything in your power to hold on to the job? 

Oh you are, well isn't that what Congress is doing. They fight to get elected and are doing their best to keep their job. There in lies the issue I think, keeping your job has nothing to do with being a "good" Congress person. And what is good anyways. If you are elected from a really liberal district or a really conservative one, isn't voting to reflect the interests of you constituents make you a "good" Congress person. With districts being drawn to make them all primarily Democrat or Republican, we have made it structurally impossible for compromise to occur. You don't believe me, what logic is there to the 40th California Congressional district being drawn this way. That is just one example there are many more. The second issue structurally is the Citizens United Case and campaign finance issues. The influence of money is politics is apparent, the ruling just seems to have made it worse... I am barely versed on the topic but it does cause me pause. 

Income Inequality 

Income Inequality is something we should all think about. I have had this conversation with people on a few occasions and it has rarely been an articulate one. Somebody points out the rich are getting richer and the poor are worse off. Another person points out that the rich play plenty in taxes and 50% of Americans receive some form of government aid. Empirically I agree that there is validity to both claims. The richest 1% of Americans by some accounts own 40% of the country's wealth, and with the myriad of government programs out there it doesn't seem surprising that half of America gets aid in some way or form from the government. 

What worries me is that we don't ask ourselves often enough why income equality matters. Yes we want everyone to have stuff, and be want to be good people etc... But really, why as a society outside of altruism should we care about income equality. Society should care because it allows the rich to stay rich. If the masses are happy then they aren't so concerned about the uber rich. If they aren't, the story can change. I am not suggesting that we are anywhere near a revolution or anything remotely close to that. But if we continue on the same track we have been on, it could certainly be problematic. 

I could go on about either or both of these issues, but really just wanted to quickly touch on some things that I feel often escape our radars. At least in the manner presented here. Thanks for reading.