THANK THE LORD FOR GROVER NORQUIST! Were it not for his tireless efforts, the recent Democratic move to raise taxes on the job creators, the wealthy, would have succeeded and, obviously, in the process crippled our economy and brought any possibility of recovery to a halt! Consider what would have happened had that savage tax blow passed into law!
Hold it … They did pass the tax increase?! “Relatively small,” you say? No tax is small! All are devastating!
So then what happened? The Dow gained 1,500 points and reached a new high!
And so it goes in the wonderland of Norquist, this spokesman for the rich, this pompous little servant of wealth happily engaged in efforts to forever cripple the capacity to govern. As a consequence of which, the word on the real storm front — in the homes of the middle class and the poor, those from whose fate Norquist is far, far removed — is not so cheery. Time for a survey of what is going on in that part of the land not wedded to stock dividends and executive salaries.
From a piece in the Los Angeles Times by Don Lee, “Rich get richer in recovery, but net worth of lower 93% declines,” April 23, we learn the following:
“The richest 7 percent of American families saw their average wealth soar 28 percent from 2009 to 2011, while the remaining 93 percent of households lost 4 percent of their net worth over that same period, according to a new report.
“Economists attributed the varying recovery in wealth partly to Fed policies that supported gains in stock and bond markets.”
Which brings to mind this from rawstory.com’s “Concentration of wealth in hands of rich greatest on record,” Aug. 16, 2009:
“The wealthiest 10 percent of Americans now have a larger share of total income than they ever have in records going back nearly a century — an even larger amount than during the Roaring Twenties, the last time the U.S. saw such similar disparities in wealth.
“The contrast is even starker for the super-rich. The top 0.01 percent of earners in the U.S. are now taking home 6 percent of all the income, higher than the 1920s peak of 5 percent, and a whopping six-fold increase since the start of the Reagan administration, when the top 0.01 percent earned 1 percent of all the income.”
A story last year at MSN Money Partner (“Do rich people create jobs?” May 17, 2012) broached the question head-on, incorporating the views of Nick Hanauer, a venture capitalist and multimillionaire:
“Sorry, Republicans, but rich people are not ‘job creators.’ They never have been and never will be. No one ever invests in anything to create jobs. Employing people is a byproduct of capitalism. … Rich people don’t create jobs, nor do businesses, large or small. What does lead to more employment is a ‘circle of life’-like feedback loop between customers and businesses. And only consumers can set in motion this virtuous cycle of increasing demand and hiring. In this sense, an ordinary middle-class consumer is far more of a job creator than a capitalist like me.”
Hanauer added this little zinger: “So when businesspeople take credit for creating jobs, it’s a little like squirrels taking credit for creating evolution. In fact, it’s the other way around.”
Another flaw in the Republican argument is the idea that the rich have an onerous tax burden. “Between 1985 and 2008, the wealthiest 400 Americans saw the percentage of their income paid in federal income taxes drop from 29 percent to 18 percent,” the article continued, citing data from the Internal Revenue Service.
Who are the real makers and takers in our society? Les Leopold, writing in Salon, gives us “Five Obscene Reasons The Rich Grow Richer” (Oct. 1, 2012) and some illuminating math:
“The wealthy have learned it’s better to take than to make. Meanwhile, the middle class continues its slow decline.
“If you want to see what’s wrong with America take a good look at the nauseating list of the 400 richest Americans — the Forbes 400. While the economy struggled to create jobs, it was another banner year for the super-rich. They increased their collective wealth by a whopping $200 billion, which is more than enough to provide every student in the country with free higher education.
“Meanwhile, the median middle-class family — the one smack in the middle of the income distribution — saw its net worth (assets minus liabilities) drop from $102,844 in 2005 to $66,740 in 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. So while the richest 400 Americans increased their wealth by 54 percent since 2005, the median middle-class family saw its wealth decline by 35 percent. Welcome to the new American math.”
In short, we have the familiar and anguished cry from the GOP that raising taxes on the “job creators” (i.e., higher-bracket earners) would destroy the economy, combined with a continuing assault on both the concept of and capacity for governance. Subsequently, a relatively small increase in taxes for the highest earners has no ill effect and the market surges to a historic high — as indeed have the salaries and dividends, the loot as it were, of those higher-bracket earners. But no lesson is learned. Absent a fresh look at tax rates and a thorough rooting out of the loopholes and credits that make mockery of the tax system and permit the great corporations to chuckle their way past April 15, governance is crippled. And what are the odds on that with our current House of Representatives representing as they do not a vast majority of American voters but a vast majority of American corporations?
In sad summary, we have a government in thrall to a Republican filibuster-palsied Senate and Republican House, which are, in turn, beholden to a corporate America happily engaged in stockpiling of wealth, tax avoidance, outsourcing of jobs and paying big dividends. All of which is accompanied by a GOP equally enamored of the virtues of austerity — for the middle class and poor, of course.
Cry the beloved country.
Jerome Page is a Benicia resident.
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Thank you, Jerome: Another good one. Add to that all-time high CO2 levels. In the end we all may be working for Border Collies. Good luck, America, catch you on Noah’s next boat—pb
Jerry you always leave out the added taxes that the poor, middleclass, upperclass and super rich pay at the same rate. Crossing the bridge and paying the toll. Goes from four to five. Who gets hit the hardest? Lower income folks. Payroll tax up by 2% to the original amount. Who gets hit the hardest? Again the lower income folks. Any added tax on utility bills and right here in Benicia our water bills. Who gets hit the hardest? Again the lower income foiks. You add all this up and you will see the reason why upper income does not get hit as hard as lower income folks. Conderable less of their income goes to these taxes. Just wait till the California gas tax goes up in mid year. Again who gets hits the hardest? Lower income folks. Another thing Jerry since when was it not the right thing for lower income folks to invest? If the Liberal Socialist would stop nickel and dimeing the lower income folks they would have a better opportunity to invest. But no the Liberal Socialist will take from them every chance they get. Jerry quite simply there is your answer. Who are the owners in Silicon Valley? Who owns WalMart? Who owns all the big business in the USA? In most cases private or stock owned companies. Do they provide jobs Jerry? I do believe you will find out that they do,. By the way Jerry keep your eye on the new jobs that will be coming back to America. All because of that hated energy that oil and natural gas supply. The big problem again is the stone walling of President Obama and the rest of the Liberal Socialist. The Keystone pipeline will be built. Right here in Benicia Valero is spending about 40 Mil for their new rail spurs. That is very good for Benicia and it also cuts polution because of less ships coming in. Would you rather have that or the Mayors failed Coda car company. I will take Valero any day. Jerry it is the Liberal Socialist and not the Republicans that are causing what you describe. Join the party Jerry.
Another great column by Benicia’s dean of letters. Thank you Mr. Page.
By the way added fees/taxes is what causes the big difference in wealth and separates the low income at a faster pace than it has in the past. When we get to under 5% unemployment you will see the gap close very rapidly. Sorry Jerry it is about time you start blaming the real folks whos fault it is. The Liberal Socialist and President Obama and his policies. You can not tax the wealth to get out of this big issue. Just get the folks back to work. Energy is the answer not more big government spending.
The old complaint regarding income gap was admirably addressed by the late Margaret Thatcher over 20 years ago:
“What the honorable member is saying is that he would rather that the poor were poorer, provided that the rich were less rich. So long as the gap is smaller, they would rather have the poor poorer.” – Margaret Thatcher Nov. 1990
Link to answer to a member of Parliament
Hmmm I wonder how many people that “rich” guy Bill Gates employs at Microsoft? Heavier taxation of the the rich who own companies and produce products will only serve to tax the lower and middle class the most because they will find a way to pass that tax along and they have the power to do it. Less taxation serves to spur production. It has been proven over and over again. But we need less government in order to do it. Unfortunately that happens to be in direct conflict with the libs and the current administration. Shrink the government and shrink government spending and you will need less taxes. A lot of work needs to be done to accomplish that but it will never happen under and democrat president and I fear any more probably not under a republican president either. Have we come too far to turn the ship around?
Microsoft currently employs 94,290 people. Nearly twice the employees as compared to 2003.
“Even as the economy improves and you end the wars, you’re going to have to raise taxes and certainly, whatever form it takes, and I’m not an expert on this — the rich should bear a larger increase than the rest,”
– Bill Gates
Of course Gates would say that. It makes him look smart, which he is. It also makes him look reasonable, which he probably is. But at the end if the day he doesn’t care one bit because he won’t actually pay any of the tax increases because he is smart enough to pass it on the customers by including into their production costs and it will just trickle down.
Maybe confirm this with Mr. Gates. BYI – mark-up is a bitch, taxes or not.
Another point. People like Bill Gates get most of their income from capital gains. This is cited by Warren Buffett when he refers to the fact that he pays a higher percentage than his secretary. The easy answer is to raise the capital gains tax. But what about the everyday schmo. Many of the working class try to buy stocks in one way or another. An increase in the capital gains tax hits them harder than people like Gates and Buffett. Another point to consider – there is no law against Gates or Buffett and their ilk giving the government more money. Funny how they never try that approach.
Mark J. Perry, professor of economics at the Flint campus of The University of Michigan:
“Most of the discussion on income inequality focuses on the relative differences over time between low-income and high-income American households, but it’s also instructive to analyze the demographic differences among income groups at a given point in time to answer the question: How are high-income households different from low-income households?”
Here’s a chart that helps illustrate where we’re going with this:
If one looks at the demographics with an open mind, one can see that a lot of the factors which influence which percentile they fall in can be attributed to:
Youth (25% of the bottom 40% are under 35)
Lack of education (27% of the bottom have no high school)
Lack of employment (68% of the bottom are unemployed)
Single Parent families (83% of the bottom fifth)
Mr. Page’s column always manages to put a smile on my face. He is truly a force to be reckoned with. The epitome of “truthiness”.
A force? Really? Having bearing on what?
Don’t worry about it.
It cost a lot of money just for the essentials, food and housing. I’d like to see the first 30,000 dollars as federal income tax free and then start taxing to whatever rate it takes to pay the bills
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/05/11/1208385/-Bill-Maher-s-excellent-and-sobering-commentary-on-the-wealth-gap#