In fact, who needs the entire financial services industry? Look at your average hedge fund manager. What does he do to be so impressively compensated? He creates nothing, builds nothing, adds nothing of value to the economy.
When did we start valuing the valueless?
Thursday, May 12, 2011
There is a war on the middle class
Whether the average voter believes it or not, the numbers don't lie. The middle class is shrinking, and nearly all of that wealth is being redistributed upward.
Since Ronald Reagan's presidency, there has been a steady transfer of wealth away from the middle class. Tax cuts favoring the rich, a steady diet of deregulation, hostility towards unions and collective bargaining, fetishizing the free market, and determined efforts to chip away at the social safety net have all contributed.
Look at the results. 42% of the financial wealth in this country is controlled by 1% of the population -- numbers that haven't been seen since the Great Depression. The top 10% control 93% of the wealth. The wealthiest Americans saw huge income gains during the Bush presidency (73% of the total growth), while income for the middle class decreased when adjusted for inflation. Since 1979, the top 1% have seen an average increase in income of $741,000, while the middle fifth has seen a $9400 decrease. Could it be any clearer?
Conservatives have been the champions of the policies that have caused this shift. We hear them saying that the country can't go on with the current tax burden on the highest earners -- rates that, with the exception of a couple of years in the late 1980s, are actually lower than they have been in 80 years.
There is a party that wants wealth redistribution: the Republicans. If there's a war, they're winning.
Since Ronald Reagan's presidency, there has been a steady transfer of wealth away from the middle class. Tax cuts favoring the rich, a steady diet of deregulation, hostility towards unions and collective bargaining, fetishizing the free market, and determined efforts to chip away at the social safety net have all contributed.
Look at the results. 42% of the financial wealth in this country is controlled by 1% of the population -- numbers that haven't been seen since the Great Depression. The top 10% control 93% of the wealth. The wealthiest Americans saw huge income gains during the Bush presidency (73% of the total growth), while income for the middle class decreased when adjusted for inflation. Since 1979, the top 1% have seen an average increase in income of $741,000, while the middle fifth has seen a $9400 decrease. Could it be any clearer?
Conservatives have been the champions of the policies that have caused this shift. We hear them saying that the country can't go on with the current tax burden on the highest earners -- rates that, with the exception of a couple of years in the late 1980s, are actually lower than they have been in 80 years.
There is a party that wants wealth redistribution: the Republicans. If there's a war, they're winning.
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