Nov. 23 (Bloomberg) -- The supercommittee’s failure to
reach a substantial agreement this week is disappointing
but unsurprising. The old model of politics, in which
bipartisan agreement was the key to success, simply doesn’t
work anymore. In the new model, there is almost no overlap
in views across party lines, and government function
requires either domination by one party (as was the case
for much of President Barack Obama’s first two years in
office) or more automatic decision-making (as I have
suggested elsewhere).
What’s causing today’s hyper-polarization? Although
political scientists still debate the issue, a growing body
of evidence suggests that, as economists such as Paul
Krugman and Ed Glaeser have argued, increases in income
inequality may play a significant role.
