Question

1. What does Tilly mean when he says that some economists criticize progressives for killing the goose that lays the Golden egg ? Why do advocates of unfettered capitalism defend inequality ? Are they right? Would Raising taxes on rich people slow economic growth ?

2. Who are “essential workers” during the current pandemic? Since they are “essential,” are they paid high wages? Should they be?

Answer 1

1.When Tilly says that some economists criticize progressives for killing the goose that lays the Golden egg,he means that the goose which is capitalism and the golden egg is the socioeconomic progress that has been a result of capitalism..

Advocates of unfettered capitalism defend inequality since they only believe in equality of opportunity which unfettered capitalism does provide hypothetically but they don't account for the entrenched nature of capital.They fail to recognise the impact of inequality since they believe the only way to solve inequality in society is through capitalism itself.

Raising taxes on rich people would not slow economic growth since rich people save more which means that money is idle and increased circulation of money which occurs once you tax the rich more allows for greater economic growth.

2. Essential workers are key workers in the public-sector or the private-sector employee who provide essential services.A majority of essential workers are employed in health care, food and agriculture , and the industrial, commercial, residential facilities and services industry.

Despite being essential,a large number of essential workers do not earn a high wage and some of them don't earn a living wage.

Essential workers should be paid wages which reflect their contribution to society. The people who are essential to keeping our society running should paid enough to atleast have a decent quality of life.