Memo to Obama, Pope Francis: Global ‘Inequality’ is Declining By Larry Elder

Source:  www.theguardian.com

By Larry Elder, Apr. 14, 2014

Last Sunday on “60 Minutes” President Obama explained why he and Pope Francis have so much in common: "President Obama shares what it was like to meet with Pope Francis"

Both, said Obama, fight to arrest growing worldwide “inequality.” About Obama’s then-upcoming visit to Vatican City, White House press secretary Jay Carney said, “The president looks forward to discussing with Pope Francis their shared commitment to fighting poverty and growing inequality.” Obama calls inequality “the defining challenge of our time.”

But global inequality is declining, not increasing, declining.

The reason is obvious. China and India account for more then one-third of the world’s population. While the Chinese government avoids the “c” word -- capitalism -- its embrace of free-market reforms has lifted millions out of poverty. Similarly, in India freer markets spark a growth rate that now exceeds that of many countries in the West.

The Atlantic magazine, no right-wing rag, cites researchers who confirm the shrinking global inequality gap: “First, consider inequality. Academic researchers -- from Xavier Sala-i-Martin of Columbia University, to Surjit Bhalla, formerly of the Brookings Institution and Rand Corporation, to Paolo Liberati of the University of Rome -- all agree that global inequality is declining. That is because 2.6 billion people in China and India are richer than they used to be. Their economies are growing much faster than those of their Western counterparts, thus shrinking the income gap that opened at the dawn of industrialization in the 19th century, when the West took off and left much of the rest of the world behind.

“Paradoxically, the shrinking of the global inequality gap was only possible after India and China abandoned their attempts to create equality through central planning. By allowing people to keep more of the money they earned, the Chinese and Indian governments incentivized people to create more wealth. Allowing inequality to increase at home, in other words, diminished inequality globally. And global inequality, surely, is the statistic that should most concern the leader of a global religion.”

Rocker/philanthropist Bono also sees a decline in global income inequality. He attributes that growth not to foreign aid but to “entrepreneurial capitalism.” Indeed, he calls foreign aid “just a stop-gap.”  

“Rock star preaches capitalism,” Bono said, almost apologetically, about his un-rock-star-like embrace of free markets. 

Preach, brother, preach!

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