ABSTRACT
There is an ongoing war within the economics profession concerning inequality and unemployment. Most people in America have worked for stagnant wages or salaries. The chapter introduces three related conflicts: inequality versus equality, cyclical unemployment versus full employment, and plutocracy versus democracy. One cause of inequality is the enormous profits of many large corporations, such as the private health insurance companies. Most conservative economists argue that inequality is necessary to give incentives for investment and work that makes the American capitalist system great. America today is undergoing a severe clash between the political power of the wealthiest 1 percent, known as the rule of the plutocracy, and the political power of all the people, known as democracy. Just as Franklin Roosevelt actively fought against unemployment in the 1930s, Senator Bernie Sanders spoke during the 2016 presidential campaign for revolutionary improvements in the economic system.
