Income Inequality and Ben Franklin

I don't know about you, but I get upset every time I read something on the increasing income inequality in the United States. Here's a piece from the New York Times that presents the work of some academics on the topic. Read it and weep with me.

Let's look back at one of our Founding Fathers, indeed my fave Founding Father, Ben Franklin. OF course, he achieves the status of favorite because of his well-known comments on frugality. But Franklin also has something to say on income inequality in America, or rather, on its absence. By mediocrity, he, of course, means medium, or something like that. Happy indeed! This is from Information to Those Who Would Remove to America. Read it HERE.

Here's the best part:

The Truth is, that though there are in that Country few People so miserable as the Poor of Europe, there are also very few that in Europe would be called rich; it is rather a general happy Mediocrity that prevails. There are few great Proprietors of the Soil, and few Tenants; most People cultivate their own Lands, or follow some Handicraft or Merchandise; very few rich enough to live idly upon their Rents or Incomes, or to pay the high Prices given in Europe for Paintings, Statues, Architecture, and the other Works of Art, that are more curious than useful.


How I love you, Ben Franklin.
And how I love Mr. FS, who told me about this piece.

On Election Day 2010