In a New York Times column, Nicholas Kristof writes that in his work he often travels to the so-called banana republics, “notorious for their inequality. In some of these plutocracies, the richest 1 percent of the population gobbles up 20 percent of the national pie.” Now he doesn’t have to leave home.
The richest 1 percent of Americans now take home almost 24 percent of income, up from almost 9 percent in 1976. As Timothy Noah of Slate noted in an excellent series on inequality, the United States now arguably has a more unequal distribution of wealth than traditional banana republics like Nicaragua, Venezuela and Guyana.
Kristof says this about tax cuts: “The richest 0.1 percent of taxpayers would get a tax cut of $61,000 from President Obama. They would get $370,000 from Republicans, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. And that provides only a modest economic stimulus, because the rich are less likely to spend their tax savings.”
He wonders that with the existing economy, it might be better to use the money on jobs programs.
Here’s more at Slate: “The United States of Inequality.”
The wealthy just cannot bear to lose one precious cent to the federal government from their bloated income. We are moving toward a plutocracy–maybe even so far as a plutarchy–so the NYT is correct; Nicholas will not have to leave home to experience the inequality. And a huge thanks to the SCOTUS opinion on campaign reform back in January for giving a huge assist with outcome of the most recent moneyed election.
Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21 said, “With a stroke of the pen, five justices wiped out a century of American history devoted to preventing corporate corruption of our democracy.” Alito was not honest during his nomination screening when he testified he would honor stare decisis. Justice Roberts lied to the American Congress when he pledged to honor judicial independence. Neither intended any such thing.
Good-bye middle class; welcome to the bread lines.
I suggest the two of you visit Haiti and see if your opinions change. I disagree with the SCOTUS decision also but believe it is equally wrong for the unions to fund campaigns.
We need the kinds of campaigns run in England with limited time and financial constraints. And I agree, contrarian, about union funding or anything similar. However, the funds from unions this election were only a drop in the bucket compared to the billions that came in from foreign investors. And NONE of those dollars were required to be documented because of the aforementioned Citizens United ruling.
Re: Haiti. I didn’t say we were there yet. Haiti has been a third-world nation for years. Back in the mid-1700′s, when it was dubbed the Jewel of the Antilles, it was the richest colony in the entire world. We’re talking over 250 years ago. To compare us with Haiti now is not even an apples to oranges comparison.
Glad you agree.