The Price of Inequality: How Today's Divided Society Endangers Our Future

by Joseph E. Stiglitz

Maintaining the kind of society and the kind of government that serve all the people—consistent with principles of justice, fair play, and opportunity—doesn’t happen by itself. Somebody has to look after it. Otherwise our government and our institutions get captured by special interests. At the very least, we need countervailing powers. But our society and our polity have grown off kilter. All human institutions are fallible; all have their weaknesses. No one proposes abolishing large corporations because so many exploit their workers or damage the environment or engage in anticompetitive practices. Rather, we recognize the dangers, we impose regulations, we attempt to alter behavior, knowing that we will never fully succeed, but that these reforms can improve behavior. And yet, our attitude toward unions has been the opposite. They are vilified, and in many states there are explicit attempts to undermine them, but there is no recognition of the important role that they can play in countervailing other special interests and in defending the basic social protections that are necessary if workers are to accept change and to adjust to the changing economic environment.