No, businesses aren't going to "get off the sidelines" to fix income inequality
by David Atkins
This is depressing:
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged business leaders to "come off the sidelines" and do more to help combat income inequality in an economic address Friday.
The potential 2016 Democratic presidential contender said she is working to "encourage more companies to come off the sidelines and frankly, for some to use some of that cash that is sitting there waiting to be deployed," in a speech at the New America Foundation 2014 Conference.
She said the Clinton Global Initiative is "assembling a network of businesses" that will be unveiled next month at their conference in Denver. And she praised businesses like Corning and Gap, Inc., for investing in programs that spur economic growth and raise wages.
"We can’t wait for government, which seems so paralyzed and unfortunately at a time when we could be racing ahead," she said.
In her address, Clinton stuck to economic issues, arguing that businesses and community groups needed to work together to help bolster the middle class. The speech comes as Clinton gears up for the release of her new memoir and weighs a possible run for president.
"Our economy grows fastest when people in the middle are working and thriving, and when people at the bottom believe that they can make their way into that broad based middle," she added.
Clinton said upward mobility in America exists "where the fabric of community is strong," in places with a "vibrant middle class, two-parent families and good schools."
"It's not about average income … it's not about race,” she said. “It's about all of these other factors that add up to healthy families and inclusive communities."
I understand what she's saying here, and perhaps I'm being unfair. Perhaps encouraging business to do more is a good thing as long as Republicans are so intransigent.
But the notion that income inequality fixes will come voluntary from big business is ludicrous, and the fact that this is Ms. Clinton's first big move on the subject shows all the wrong, neoliberal instincts.
If the GOP is refusing to allow income inequality fixes to move forward at the federal level, the right answer is to punish the hell out of them at the ballot box over it while rapidly advancing with fixes at the state and local levels. The answer isn't to beg corporate interests to do the right thing over a "business roundtable."
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