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| Moneybox World Class Warfare Why almost every continent on Earth is experiencing social and political turmoil. Posted Thursday, Oct 13, 2011, at 07:28 PM ET  Social and political instability has gone global. This year alone, masses of people have poured into the real and virtual streets: the Arab Spring; riots in London; Israel's middle-class protests against high housing prices and an inflationary squeeze on living standards; protesting Chilean students; the destruction in Germany of the expensive cars of "fat cats"; India's movement against corruption; mounting unhappiness with corruption and inequality in China; and now the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York and across the United States. While these protests have no unified theme, they express in different ways the serious concerns of the world's working and middle classes about their prospects in the face of the growing concentration of power among economic, financial, and political elites. There is high unemployment and underemployment in advanced and emerging economies. There is resentment against corruption, including legalized forms like lobbying. Young people have inadequate skills and education to compete in a globalized world. And income and wealth inequality is sharply rising in advanced and fast-growing emerging-market economies. This malaise cannot be reduced to one factor. For example, the rise in inequality has many causes. Some 2.3 billion Chinese and Indians are now in the global labor force, reducing the jobs and wages of unskilled blue-collar and off-shorable white-collar workers in advanced economies. Skill-biased technological change, winner-take-all effects, and less progressive taxation all have an impact. The increase in private- and public-sector leverage, and the related asset and credit bubbles, are partly the result ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Tea Party Aims To Discredit Occupy Wall Street Movement A Shocking Number of Top U.S. Gymnasts Are Getting Injured. Is Their Training Too Brutal? What Animals Cause the Most Deadly Road Accidents? Deer? Rhinos? Hartebeests? | Advertisement   |
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