Marilyn vos Savant (born August 11, 1946) is an American magazine columnist, author, lecturer and playwright who rose to fame through her listing in the Guinness Book of World Records under “Highest IQ” (Ai note: 228). Since 1986 she has written Ask Marilyn, a Sunday column in Parade magazine in which she solves puzzles and answers questions from readers on a variety of subjects.
Question: Why has the income disparity grown so much in developed countries? – Matthew Cencich, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Answer: I think the disparity is a normal result of overall economic growth. The bottom incomes (zero) can’t go lower, but the top incomes can go up and up. And so they do, of course.
Question: Do you think that government actively encouraging people to borrow money (and spend it) is the right way to resolve the recession? – Caroline Kelly, Hendon, London
Answer: No. I think that more consumer activity could be modestly helpful to the economy in the short term. And in better times, it would even masquerade as growth. But in the current climate, increasing the family debt would cause added personal financial problems. So I doubt that it’s useful for government to advocate shopping as a form of national service unless elected officials are perhaps a tad more interested in shifting a little of the burden away from themselves than they are in a lasting solution.
On financial crisis. “First, an economy based on growth is bound to falter now and then. A whole sector could collapse. It’s a house of cards. Eventually, it must morph into a system that functions on stability, or it will fail – meaning a fall large enough to cause an unstoppable breakdown and widespread hardship.”
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