====================================== "Wealth and Poverty in Bush's America" ====================================== by Reo M. Christenson New Patriot, April 31, 1990 [Vol 3, No. 2] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --> [Send the 1-line message GET POPULIST ECON-1 ACTIV-L to ] [LISTSERV@UMCVMB.BITNET for a copy of this file. ] --> [Send GET ACTIV-L ARCHIVE ACTIV-L to above address for a ] [listing with brief descriptions of other files available] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "Maybe most people just don't care. As long as they have a job and the economy seems to be doing okay, the maldistribution of wealth and income may be of small concern to them. But maybe their seeming indifference only reflects ignorance of the facts. Maybe if they knew, they would be as indignant as I am. "[..] The average CEO earns 93 times as much as the average factory worker and 44 times as much as the average engineer (the differential was 41 and 19 back in 1960) The top 1 percent earns as much after-tax income as the lower 40 percent of American families. "Other statistics are just as appalling. The top 1 percent of American households owns 34 percent of the national wealth, up from 289 percent in 1973. And this same percent owns as much wealth as the lower 80 percent of American families. "But the rightness or wrongness of this distribution pattern is clearly related to another question. Do most of the wealthy deserve the wealth they've gained? "About 40 percent of them inherited their wealth. Others have become wealthy by devising slick advertising campaigns for beer, cigarettes or a host of products with virtually indistinguishable qualities (This serves the public interest?) Entrepreneurs often make a killing turning out product trivia that historians will cite as evidence of the frivolity of our age. "Lawyers get rich serving the rich and never asking, ``Is what I'm doing really worth doing?'' [..] Real estate speculators make a mint by an activity that has no social value whatever. Speculators on the stock market (as distinguished from investors in new or expanded enterprises) pocket millions without significantly promoting the public wealth. Financiers rake it in by selling junk bonds and arranging mergers or buyouts of dubious economic value [not to speak of *negative* value for the employees --Ed.] "Journalist Michael Kinsley has estimated that one in seven on the Forbes 400 list earned their wealth in socially productive ways. "Should these people get vastly larger after-tax incomes than scientists, engineers, nurses, teachers, skilled factory workers, etc? Do CEOs merit 93 times as much as most of their employees? What does your horse sense tell you? "[...] Perhaps the most maddening aspect of this economic deformity is the brazen attempt to morally intimidate any one who questions the privileged status of the rich. Call for higher taxes on them and you are accused of ``the politics of envy''. (Envy is one of the seven deadly sins). You are charged with trying to foment ``class welfare". (Which is Marxist, of course) Your are a ``leveler''. You are an enemy of a stable, orderly, prosperous, peaceful society. "[..] We are told that higher taxes on the rich would undermine incentive. Let's explore that. "Some of the more deserving rich are workaholics. They would remain so even if their taxes are raised. Constructive and creative minds would continue to exercise their creativity if marginal tax rates were raised; they'd be miserable if they didn't use their gifts. And who ever heard of an entrepreneur with a bright idea for a new or improved product or service with a strong market potential who declined to develop it because marginal tax rates were, say, 50 percent? [..] Finally, the nation had more rapid economic growth when tax ceilings were much higher than they are today. Is a more convincing rebuttal needed? "[..] The case for scandalously low taxes on the rich thus rests on an exceedingly fragile foundation. It looks impressive only if it is unexamined. And one reason it is unexamined is that so many members of Congress and opinion leaders are either millionaires or are approaching that plane. They aren't indifferent to class interest unless the laws of *Realpolitik* have recently been repealed. "America needs some Old Testament prophets to thunder against the gross inequalities of our day. Alas, there's not a single one in sight." ################################################################## New Patriot ("A publication of the Patriotic Majority") Suite 1420, 202 S. State Chicago, IL 60604 Tel (312) MODEL1776 [For a listing of alternative publications, use GET with PUBLCATN RESOURCE in the format at the top of this file] ################################################################## ############################################################### # Harel Barzilai for Activists Mailing List (AML) # ################################################################ { For more info about ACTIV-L or PeaceNet's brochure send } { inquiries to harel@dartmouth.edu / mathrich@umcvmb.bitnet } To join AML, just send the 1-line message "SUB ACTIV-L " to: LISTSERV@UMCVMB.BITNET; you should receive a confirmation message within 2 days. Alternate address: LISTSERV@UMCVMB.MISSOURI.EDU Qs/problems: Rich Winkel, MATHRICH@UMCVMB.["MISSOURI.EDU" or "BITNET"]