Inequality is the real threat to Asia’s growth miracle

STEINBACH, Man. — Evan Wiens, the teenager who has become a focal point for gay rights in Manitoba schools, may have a wish come true for his birthday. Wiens, who turned 17 on Tuesday, met behind closed doors with the board of the Hanover School Division and asked to be allowed to put up posters at his school to promote a gay-straight alliance group he set up last year.

At times it is instructive to go back in time and read some of the seminal pieces which describe the mood of that day. Worst case, you get a reminding glimpse of the prevailing thoughts (and giggle at their naïveté), but if you are lucky, you uncover a long forgotten treasure that provides you with timeless insight.

One of the more sophisticated arguments against free trade and other free market policies is that they exacerbate income inequality in the United States.  For example, here's Public Citizen in a 2008 anti-Bush/FTA screed:

|Peter Boettke|

(cc photo by Nesster)

Soaring global food prices threaten to push tens of millions of Asians into extreme poverty and cut the region's economic growth this year, the Asian Development Bank warned in a report.Coupled with skyrocketing oil prices, the spike poses a serious setback for developing Asia after having rebounded rapidly and strongly from the 2008 global economic crisis, chief ADB economist Rhee Changyong said on Tuesday."Left unchecked, the food crisis will badly undermine recent gains in poverty reduction made in Asia," Rhee said in a statement.

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