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Report Home

  • Top 10 Trends of 2015
    • 1. Deepening income inequality
    • 2. Persistent jobless growth
    • 3. Lack of leadership
    • 4. Rising geostrategic competition
    • 5. Weakening of representative democracy
    • 6. Rising pollution in the developing world
    • 7. Increasing occurrence of severe weather events
    • 8. Intensifying nationalism
    • 9. Increasing water stress
    • 10. Growing importance of health in the economy
    • Immigration in focus: an overlooked trend?
  • Regional Challenges
    • Regional Challenges: Middle-East & North Africa
    • Regional Challenges: Europe
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    • Regional Challenges: Sub-Saharan Africa
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    • Tension points: Assessing the state of geopolitics
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Outlook on the Global Agenda 2015   Regional Challenges: North America
Home
Outlook on the Global Agenda 2015   Regional Challenges: North America
Home
Outlook on the Global Agenda 2015 Home
  • Report Home
  • Top 10 Trends of 2015
    • 1. Deepening income inequality
    • 2. Persistent jobless growth
    • 3. Lack of leadership
    • 4. Rising geostrategic competition
    • 5. Weakening of representative democracy
    • 6. Rising pollution in the developing world
    • 7. Increasing occurrence of severe weather events
    • 8. Intensifying nationalism
    • 9. Increasing water stress
    • 10. Growing importance of health in the economy
    • Immigration in focus: an overlooked trend?
  • Regional Challenges
    • Regional Challenges: Middle-East & North Africa
    • Regional Challenges: Europe
    • Regional Challenges: Asia
    • Regional Challenges: North America
    • Regional Challenges: Sub-Saharan Africa
    • Regional Challenges: Latin America
    • Tension points: Assessing the state of geopolitics
  • Global leadership and governance
    • A call to lead: the essential qualities for stronger leadership
    • Global Leadership Index
    • New governance architecture: strategies to change the way we lead
    • LGBT: moving towards equality
  • Future Agenda
    • Synthetic biology: Designing our existence?
    • Brain-computer interaction: Transforming our networked future?
    • Deep sea mining: The new resource frontier?
    • Emerging nuclear powers: A safe path to energy security?
    • The evolution of monetary policy: A new era for central banks?
    • Mapping the future: The future of education
    • Mapping the future: The future of work
    • Mapping the future: The future of the internet
  • About this report
    • Welcome
    • Introduction
    • Making the Outlook on the Global Agenda 2015
    • Acknowledgements
  • Browse by Topic
    • Africa
    • Asia-Pacific
    • Brain Research
    • Climate Change
    • Corruption
    • Decarbonizing Energy
    • Economics and Finance
    • Economies
    • Education
    • Emerging Technologies
    • Employment, Skills and Human Capital
    • Environment and Sustainability
    • Europe and Eurasia
    • Future of Government
    • Global Economic Imbalances
    • Global Financial System
    • Global Governance
    • Global Health and Healthcare
    • Global Issues
    • Human Rights
    • Industries
    • Internet Governance
    • Latin America
    • Middle East and North Africa
    • Migration
    • North America
    • Nuclear Security
    • Oceans
    • Science and Technology
    • Security and Governance
    • Society and Human Development
    • Water
  • Top 10 Infographics
  • Download as PDF
  • Download Chinese language version as PDF
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Middle East & North Africa | Europe | Asia | North America | Sub-Saharan Africa | Latin America | Tension points: Assessing the state of geopolitics

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  • Economies
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Author

kempe

 

Frederick Kempe
President and Chief Executive Officer of The Atlantic Council, and a Member of the Global Agenda Council on the United States

Author

kempe

 

Frederick Kempe
President and Chief Executive Officer of The Atlantic Council, and a Member of the Global Agenda Council on the United States


In 2013, President Barack Obama branded income inequality as “the defining challenge of our time”. Income inequality in the US has reached levels not seen since 1928, according to the University of California, Berkeley. In 2013, the top 1% of families received nearly 22.5% of income, while the bottom 90%’s share was below 50% for the first time.

It is striking that an administration openly conceding the problem has done little to address it. Our North American Survey respondents named inreasing inequality as the issue they are most concerned about, followed by geopolitical shifts and the challenge of adapting to climate change.

quoteleft

The best way to address the (inequality) gap is through training and education to increase access to these opportunities.

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Inequality undermines the US as an example for others to emulate

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Inequality undermines the US as an example for others to emulate
Frederick Kempe, President and CEO of the Atlantic Council, agrees that inequality undermines the US as an example for others to emulate. Paradoxically, it is the innovation and Entrepreneurship the world admires that has produced much of the wealth. 

Globalization and the digital economy, Kempe says, provide greater earning power, so the best way to address the gap is through training and education to increase access to these opportunities. 

Key Challenges

Regarding tax policy, Kempe says increasing inequality is a reversible trend only if addressed through education and training: “If we use tax income to take on under-education and inadequate training, we can succeed. However if the goal is simply to punish the fabulously wealthy, greater taxation could kill the goose that’s laid the golden egg,” he adds. “Let’s give people the skills to bring them into the middle and upper middle-classes. Government intervention should advance skills pertinent to modern economies, including maths and science.”

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Political dysfunction is hindering the US establishment from building consensus on contentious issues

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Political dysfunction is hindering the US establishment from building consensus on contentious issues
According to this year’s Survey, 88% of respondents believe that meaningful strategies to combat inequality are unlikely to be developed within 18 months. Kempe believes that American “political dysfunction” – the polarization between Republicans and Democrats in Congress – is making it difficult for the US establishment to build consensus on crucial but contentious issues, from immigration reform to climate change. While there is 98% agreement among scientists about climate change, only 50% of Republicans say there is solid evidence of rising temperatures. Agreement is smaller among Tea Party Republicans, where only 40% say global warming is happening.

Yet Kempe believes there is sufficient agreement on climate to progress – but less through the United Nations, and more at the G20 level. “The UN can only do so much. They can set targets, but without policy, technology and finance, they become fig-leaves concealing a lack of action. Technology and finance will be crucial to meeting targets, so negotiations may be more effective among the G20, who account for more than three-quarters of emissions, not the 192 at the UN.

The response “unlikely” groups the Survey phrases of “not likely at all” and “not very likely” Source: Survey on the Global Agenda 2014

Meanwhile, the cautious response of the Obama administration to a series of global events, including the spread of extremism across the Middle East and the Russian annexation of Crimea, raises questions about America’s role in the world. Kempe worries that the temptation of US disengagement is dangerous. Although it would satisfy much of American public opinion, it would leave a vacuum that would be filled either by less benevolent actors or chaos.

The fact that Obama acknowledged that the Ukraine crisis and spread of Islamic State require a concerted global response is positive, according to Kempe. “It’s a good sign the US sees the need to remain engaged, but do we have the political will required to address the generational challenges that won’t be solved in a year or two?”


Source: Pew Research Center Global Attitudes Project, 2014

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