Race to the Bottom

Stolen from letter to NYT: Bob Herbert’s reminder of the importance of teachers and the average worker hits at a fundamental problem with our society — when given the choice to value people who are providing worthwhile services or people who exist purely to satiate their own wealth and fame, we choose the latter.

How else to describe a society that believes that the average teacher or autoworker should take a pay cut while the average millionaire shouldn’t be overly taxed?

We can point fingers at Bernard L. Madoff as a bad apple in a basically well-intentioned system, but really he is a reflection of the economy we have chosen for ourselves.

Until we face this fact, no amount of bailout money will save us from a profoundly dysfunctional society in which actors, pop stars and hedge fund managers impress us more than the people teaching our children how to read.