US in state of self-inflicted decline: Chomsky

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Renowned American academic Noam Chomsky condemns the concentration of wealth in the United States in the hands of the 1 percent, which he refers to as the “self-inflicted” American decline.

“The (US) policies are a failure for the large majority, the 99% in the imagery of the Occupy movements - and for the country, which has declined and will continue to do so under these policies,” Chomsky wrote in his article titled 'Losing' the world: American decline in perspective, part 1.”

From the 1970s, there has been a significant change in the US economy, as planners, whether private or state, shifted production off shores, partly due to the “declining rate of profit in domestic manufacturing,” then82-year-old senior academic noted.

He went on to say, “these decisions initiated a vicious cycle in which wealth became highly concentrated (dramatically so in the top 0.1% of the population), yielding concentration of political power, hence legislation to carry the cycle further: taxation and other fiscal policies, deregulation, changes in the rules of corporate governance allowing huge gains for executives, and so on.” More...