A few people, mostly men, have managed to get disproportionately rich in a globalising market and may now bend rules or move goals to make the rest of us pay (“The clash is no longer between left and right, but between a global financial elite and the rest of us”, Comment). As the ladders of wealth, income and power get steeper, the rungs get fewer and further apart. At the top sit the fabulous 0.001%. With such ample means and commanding overview, how would they not be realigning markets and moralities?
So far, so bad, but the headline over Robert Reich’s piece doesn’t square with his conclusions. When we confront the gulf “between a global financial elite and the rest of us”, we face a choice between “leftwing reform populism” and “rightwing authoritarian populism”. In such a fix, can there really be no clash between left and right?
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