Well, thank you for another very interesting article, especially your first paragraph. Well, I consider myself a progressive. Yes, I support equal opportunity. However, I am also a female, and now a female nearing 70years of age in the US, and a US born citizen. I can only hope that I’m not a hypocrite, especially with my following remarks.



Equal opportunity is a myth.

Democracy is becoming a myth as political infrastructures and community systems try to function, if at all.

I appreciate your article. It adds a bottom-line perspective to continuing intellectual discourse about globalized economic actions, or really inactions affecting international and national policies.



There are millions if not billions of US citizens that are worse off, and present younger citizens are a good proportion of those citizens today. Do I have the statistics to backup my words? Check EPI.org.



Am I focusing on “domestic inequality”? I sure am. Am I aware of the bigger picture, and the worser, or worst “inequalities”? I sure am. Thank God, I have not had to experience some of the worst. Do I think that the issue of global inequality is being overshadowed by domestic inequality? No. Emphatically.



Is the arrival of desperate boat people on Europe’s shores a symptom of Europe’s failure to make a difference? I sure don’t think so. Is it Europe’s responsibility to resolve the corruption problems, and inability of the fleeing peoples countries governments to allow survival within their own nations?



Individual states must be allowed to maintain their own boundaries, laws, and infrastructures, if individual states are going to be allowed to survive. Who is the almighty power to determine state’s survival? If the issue is an international issue, then state members of the international unions need to establish shelters, and aid internationally. There would need to be permanent international processing and systems established that are agreed to by the state members to compensate for human misery due to internal corruptive and abhorrent internal state practices. Who of international state leaders will be the first to step up and practice what they really support and placate? Where does most of the money go to the present volunteer(?) NGO and aid groups? How transparent are their budgets? I sure haven’t found much on the internet, for a clear financial picture. How did ISIS, and some of those other rogue military groups get most of their weaponry, tanks, trucks, airplanes, and other weaponry? They sure didn’t manufacture the weaponry themselves. Who is cleaning up the destruction? Who created it?





If Europe is to be condemned, and responsible for past colonialism, then start charging all the people who inherited wealth from their ancestors. Start taxing the individual human beings that have established the business practices of the corporations, and business that have existed for generations that have profited from the inhuman labor practices. Who is the first political leader that is going to voice such an action?

Will Obama include a specific limitation to corporate leadership and board members salaries in the new

Trade agreement? Will the US Congress and Asian Countries support such a proposal? Step right up folks and improve the world for all the world/s citizens. Is it gonna happen? I don’t think so.



I would like to be optimistic, but all of my idealism has been shattered for me by the political leadership that only continues to support themselves, not any goals of this nation. Is it any different in other nations today? The form of government doesn’t seem to make much difference any more. There are only various political bases that exist for themselves, feeding off the masses of the various societies within their individual nations. The imbalances aren’t severe enough worldwide yet. If more immigration destabilizes already weakened social structure within Europe, of course, Europe will become a free-for-all-to-escape too! Let the herding of the masses begin! Hasn’t this been occurring for over a generation now? Who has access to those algorithms, population projections and reports? I view the fleeing of populations today as deliberate “herding” of groups of people. Yes, I think in this day an age, that this “herding” is deliberate, and focused. Who is doing the herding varies from illegal profiteers in S.A., and other continents, to the legal profiteers who are profiting by low-wage practices. This herding is calculated and allowed by elite corporate practices, supported by political leadership and corrupt business practices. Is this just a bizarre thought from an opinionated old lady?



Did I just share an example of what you mentioned years ago: “As the world becomes richer, inequality inevitably will loom as a much larger issue relative to poverty, a point I first argued more than a decade ago. “ I would have to argue back, that the world is NOT becoming richer.



Trickle down economy is also a myth. One of the biggest myths ever told. Only a certain platform, or segment of national and international society is becoming richer. That segment is proportionally quite small to the number of the mass society that is growing in numbers, but not in equivalent wealth to continue reasonable existence. I would also like to emphasize “Reasonable existence”.



If the issue of “reasonable existence” continues to not be acknowledged by international corporate and political leadership, then ultimately the issue of :



“With most rich countries’ capacity and tolerance for immigration already limited, it is hard to see how a new equilibrium for global population distribution will be reached peacefully. Resentment against the advanced economies, which account for a vastly disproportionate share of global pollution and commodity consumption, could boil over. “



You are absolutely right. It ain’t gonna happen peacefully. The pot’s been on a high simmer for quite a while now. Yep, it’s already starting to boil over.



