By Timothy Noah
President Obama observed, in a December 4 speech, that “a dangerous and growing inequality and lack of upward mobility” are “the defining challenge of our time.” This seemingly self-evidentstatement prompted many people—not all of them conservative—to argue that all this talk about income inequality is overblown. They happen to be wrong, but the inequality backlash has gathered sufficient strength that it’s worth reviewing their arguments.
…President Obama’s insistence on talking about inequality is not only apt; it is, given the especially direturn this trend has taken during his presidency, pretty brave. The problem was one-third of a century in the making and won’t be halted overnight. But isn’t it time to start trying?

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