August 29, 2014 saw 16 participants discuss on ‘Inequality as a Drag’, an event moderated by Akash Shrestha at Gaia, Restaurant, Thamel.
The reading provided was an article published on August 7, 2014 in The New York Times by Paul Krugman that argued that the liberal idea of taxing the rich and helping the poor infact does help the economy, primarily because this approach involves the reduction of wasting human resources. Participants gave impassioned talks on the idea of helping the poor via introducing a number pro-poor policies. The debate centered on whether this was really a better idea than slashing down taxes on the rich, which would directly promote economic activity and creation of more wealth.
Participants were well-interested in the chosen topic that resulted in an informed discussion on the aforementioned idea.
Link to Krugman’s article: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/08/opinion/paul-krugman-inequality-is-a-drag.html?_r=2