Mr. Litton appears you missed the Brackets with this one just like your target audience is missing the social concern necessary for Americans whose financial status and means have been decreased and for those without food, shelter, and security despite their best efforts. The aftermaths of the Great Recession and the Great Depression produced sharply different changes in U.S. incomes that tell us a lot about tax and economic policy.
The 1934 economic rebound was widely shared, with strong income gains for the vast majority, the bottom 90 percent. In 2010, we saw the opposite as the vast majority lost ground.
Since 1980 Government policy has focused on helping the already rich get richer still with such policies as lower taxes and fewer audits. National income gained overall in 2010, but all of the gains were among the top 10 percent. Even within those 15.6 million households, the gains were extraordinarily concentrated among the super-rich, the top one percent of the top one percent.
We should expect this pattern of concentrated gains weighted toward the very top to continue unless we change our policies. The different results in 1934 and 2010 show how a major shift in federal policy hurts the vast majority while primarily benefiting only the super-rich.
What we must do is (1) increase spending on education and research to maximize returns from human capital, (2) create jobs rebuilding our decaying infrastructure so people and goods move efficiently, (3) honor markets, letting mismanaged banks and insurers receive their just desserts in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, (4) adjust our focus away from financial sector profits to people, (5) reform taxes to discourage capital withdrawals and offshoring and, (6) then encourage reinvestment of profits at home.
If we do not change the current direction of Corporate and GOP policies the inevitable result will be economic, political and social instability – not a pretty picture for anyone.
leweclectic about 12 years ago
The 1934 economic rebound was widely shared, with strong income gains for the vast majority, the bottom 90 percent. In 2010, we saw the opposite as the vast majority lost ground.
Since 1980 Government policy has focused on helping the already rich get richer still with such policies as lower taxes and fewer audits. National income gained overall in 2010, but all of the gains were among the top 10 percent. Even within those 15.6 million households, the gains were extraordinarily concentrated among the super-rich, the top one percent of the top one percent.
We should expect this pattern of concentrated gains weighted toward the very top to continue unless we change our policies. The different results in 1934 and 2010 show how a major shift in federal policy hurts the vast majority while primarily benefiting only the super-rich.
What we must do is (1) increase spending on education and research to maximize returns from human capital, (2) create jobs rebuilding our decaying infrastructure so people and goods move efficiently, (3) honor markets, letting mismanaged banks and insurers receive their just desserts in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, (4) adjust our focus away from financial sector profits to people, (5) reform taxes to discourage capital withdrawals and offshoring and, (6) then encourage reinvestment of profits at home.
If we do not change the current direction of Corporate and GOP policies the inevitable result will be economic, political and social instability – not a pretty picture for anyone.