Paul Krugman

And I had assumed that that was a society that sort of evolved naturally.

Actually, we kind of thought that was an end state of economic development.

But it turns out it wasn't.

Obviously, inequality soared again, back to Gilded Age levels.

But it also turns out to be that that society, both in the U.S.

and in the U.K.

and Europe more generally, that didn't just happen.

That was created.

The U.S.

was a highly unequal society in 1938, and it was a pretty much middle-class society by 1946.

And it was all...

Deliberate government action, strengthening of unions, new wage norms enforced by wartime controls.

So look, inequality, and I think this is an issue.

I think people are, whether or not they frame it that way, the fact that there's so much spectacular

inequality and perceived, and I think, true unfairness out there, this is one of those things that governments need to do.

Now, whether we are able to get our act together, I think it was kind of a miracle that we dealt with those tensions so well, you know, in my grandfather's generation.

But maybe we should do it again.

We need to move towards equality.

historically, have always basically been associated with wars.

Absolutely, yeah.