"Development economics expert Ha-Joon Chang dispels the myths and prejudices that have come to dominate our understanding of how the world works in a lecture at the RSA."

"The immorality is based upon the idea that the wealthy earned every penny they received and it would be immoral to take it away and give it to those who didn't toil as hard, as effectively, or at all (you know, the people whose wages have not kept up with their productivity). The arguments against the idea that pay at the top reflects merit alone are well known -- the contention hardly passes the laugh test -- and I won't repeat them here. But anyone who thinks the reward for crashing the financial sector ought to be unimaginable wealth should rethink their ideas."

"when Reagan was running for president...average joe had [no] idea what was about to come...unleashing of monstrous culture of debt...for 25 years...next 25 years will...[not be] repeat of past 25...At no other time in our history could somebody achieve “prosperity” w/out education, hard work, creativity, honesty & integrity...look to days of my youth...70s...By today’s standards...we would [not] be...middle-class...not enough stuff...my experience...similar to vast majority of Americans at time...was sustainable...so different from...today...before massive swamps of credit allowed people to act like millionaires...everything [is] a status symbol...preceded instant gratification of Reagan years...easy debt made everything...attainable...spending next generation’s lifestyle to avoid last generation’s lifestyle...waste of resources...lifestyle I knew as kid will [not] be reserved for families w/ 7 kids...addiction to fake wealth will not be voluntarily kicked..."