“Real incomes and wealth have stagnated for the vast majority of Americans, even as they have skyrocketed for those at the very top,” and this trend has largely been repeated across the developed world, writes Gideon Rose, editor of Foreign Affairs, in his introduction to the new issue’s package of articles on inequality. “These trends are starting to define our era. But what is driving them? What is the significance of the economic inequality that has resulted? And what can or should be done about it?” The six articles leading this issue focus on the definition of inequality and its role in a healthy democracy.
“The extent to which inequality increases or decreases,” writes Ronald Inglehart, professor of political science at the University of Michigan, “is ultimately a political question.” As issues such as the environment, gender equality, and abortion were introduced into politics in the later decades of the twentieth century, an earlier tendency to vote along social-class lines all but disappeared, weakening demand for distributive economic policies. Yet thanks to unprecedented growth in the gap between haves and have-notes, the political pendulum may soon start swinging in the other direction, predicts Inglehart. “The more current trends continue,” he writes, “the more pressure will build up to tackle inequality once again.”
“The same factor that can be credited for the decline in inequality among countries can also be blamed for the increase in inequality within them: globalization,” writes François Bourguignon, professor of economics at the Paris School of Economics. “To maintain the momentum behind declining global inequality, all countries will need to work harder to reduce inequality within their borders, or at least prevent it from growing further,” he concludes. “Failing to do so could cause disenchanted citizens to misguidedly resist further attempts to integrate the world’s economies—a process that, if properly managed, can in fact benefit everyone.”
The conditions that led to the egalitarian policies of the early twentieth century have disappeared and have been replaced by the celebration of individual performance and responsibility, writes Pierre Rosanvallon, professor of political history at the College de France. “If inequality is to be reduced once more, therefore, the effort will have to be grounded in a solid, shared conception of what equality involves and why it is worth promising.” That conception requires “a more robust vision of democratic equality—one based on the singularity of individuals, reciprocal relations among them, and a social commonality.”
Danielle Allen, director of Harvard University’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, focuses on the notion of “an eternal conflict” between equality and liberty, pointing out that until Cold War rhetoric took hold, Americans saw equality and liberty as mutually reinforcing ideals. “Political equality, shored up by economic equality, was the means by which democratic citizens could secure their liberty,” she explains. To get back to economic equality, Allen writes, “we need a virtuous circle in which political equality supports institutions that, in turn, support social and economic equality.”
Politicians like talking about the inequality problem, but they have proposed few ideas for actually solving it, asserts Anthony B. Atkinson, Centennial professor at the London School of Economics. Atkinson proposes a number of measures to chip away at growing inequality, including increasing the percentage of taxes paid by those in the top income brackets, providing government transfers with a focus on children, and establishing a specific target for unemployment. Not only are these politically feasible, but, he writes, “If properly designed, the measures can in fact improve the performance of the economy.”
Since taking office in 2009, “the president has been besieged by foreign policy crises, constrained by diminished American power, and pressured by opponents at home and allies abroad to take action and show leadership, even when dealing with intractable problems,” writes Fred Kaplan, a columnist for Slate. Kaplan pulls back the curtain on the decision-making process behind the president’s foreign policy, drawing on interviews with dozens of senior administration officials to write an account of the decisions that have defined Obama’s tenure. He gives Obama credit for steering clear of military adventurism and for remaining patient with drawn-out diplomatic negotiations. But Syria, he writes, “is where Obama’s foreign policy met its most brutal challenge, and where his tools for dealing with crises—words, logic, persistent questions, and sequential problem solving—proved inadequate.”
The rate hike has consequences for everyone across the nation. The target is tied to a raft of key interest rates consumers pay. Wells Fargo almost immediately announced it would increase its prime rate to 3.5 percent. U.S. Bancorp and JPMorgan Chase quickly followed with their own hikes. In other words, the interest consumers may to credit card debts and mortgage rates are likely to go up in the coming weeks and months.
The Pluralism Project has engaged religious practitioners, students, scholars, interfaith and civic leaders for nearly 25 years around national and international research and education about religious diversity. Its projects include online resources, symposia and trainings, seminars and consultations, producing documentary films, case studies and profiles of interfaith organizations nationwide. Among the groups it has 
In New York City, AIF brought together preeminent thought leaders in the disability space for a discussion on “Skilling the Disabled for the Workforce.” The keynote speaker for the evening was Dr. Romesh Wadhwani, who is a world-renowned entrepreneur and is the Founder of the Wadhwani Foundation. Dr. Wadhwani spoke about the innovative work that his foundation is doing in India in terms of skilling those with disabilities, as well as his Foundation’s strong partnership with AIF. Ravi Kumar, the CEO of AIF, talked about AIF’s Ability Based Livelihood Empowerment (ABLE) program. ABLE trains persons with disabilities and facilitates their entry into the job market through advocacy, promoting inclusive growth in India. Kumar talked about how this year ABLE has impacted more than 3,000 persons with disabilities, 2.5 times the previous year, and that the program has now overall has impacted over 10,000 persons with disabilities.
Cocoon Cam is a product under the umbrella of the Palo Alto, Calif.-based Wearless Tech Inc. company founded by the baby monitor’s creators. Kumar serves as the chief technical officer, while Nattamai is the chief operating officer, and Sanchez is the company’s chief executive officer.
Kiva NYC is part of Kiva’s effort to expand risk-tolerant and patient capital from city to city across the U.S. that was announced as a Clinton Global Initiative Commitment to Action in 2011. Since then, 12 other Kiva City programs have launched and Kiva loans are crowdfunding in 47 states, and in Guam and Puerto Rico. Recently marking its 10th anniversary, Kiva has provided crowdfunded loans to support more than 1.7 million entrepreneurs globally.
Tirlok Malik has recently launched 
A group of scientists – Valentina Tarasova (Northumbria University, England, Space Research Institute, Ukraine), Elena Popova (SINP, MSU), Simon John Shepherd (University of Bradford, England) and Sergei Zharkov (University of Hull, England) – analyzed three solar activity cycles from 1976 to 2009, using the so-called “principal component analysis”, which allows reveal waves of solar magnetic field with the biggest contribution in the observational data. As a result of a new method of analysis, it was found that the magnetic waves in the Sun are generated in pairs, and the main pair is responsible for changes in the dipole field, which is observed when solar activity is changing. Also scientists have managed to obtain analytical formulas describing the evolution of both waves.
