from Dave LF
There are at least two ways to turn economics into religion. One is to imagine that the free market will always automagically find the best solution to any problem. Some problems don't have solutions, and while it may be approximately true that a free market finds efficient solutions when they exist, as I human I prefer humane solutions to efficient ones when the two concepts come into conflict (as they often do).
Economics and the free market are already the religion of many who helped create the environment for the current mess we are in. And Dave is 100% right in that we need humane solutions to fix the problems we have found ourselves in due to the religious fanatics of the economic right wing.
The reality for America in the 21st century is that we have indeed engaged in serious wealth distribution schemes in the name of ideology. What now must happen in America is to have a strong middle class and vibrant government services, is for a serious tax increase to hit the people who did well during the second Gilded Age of the last nine years.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/1 ... 59516.html
Income inequality in the United States is at an all-time high, surpassing even levels seen during the Great Depression, according to a recently updated paper by University of California, Berkeley Professor Emmanuel Saez. The paper, which covers data through 2007, points to a staggering, unprecedented disparity in American incomes. On his blog, Nobel prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman called the numbers "truly amazing."
Though income inequality has been growing for some time, the paper paints a stark, disturbing portrait of wealth distribution in America. Saez calculates that in 2007 the top .01 percent of American earners took home 6 percent of total U.S. wages, a figure that has nearly doubled since 2000.
As of 2007, the top decile of American earners, Saez writes, pulled in 49.7 percent of total wages, a level that's "higher than any other year since 1917 and even surpasses 1928, the peak of stock market bubble in the 'roaring" 1920s.'"
Beginning in the economic expansion of the early 1990s, Saez argues, the economy began to favor the top tiers American earners, but much of the country missed was left behind. "The top 1 percent incomes captured half of the overall economic growth over the period 1993-2007," Saes writes.
Despite a rising stock market, largely growing employment and a historic housing boom things were not nearly so rosy for the rest of U.S. workers. This trend, according to Saez, only accelerated during the George W. Bush's tenure as President:
"...while the bottom 99 percent of incomes grew at a solid pace of 2.7 percent per year from 1993-2000, these incomes grew only 1.3 percent per year from 2002-2007. As a result, in the economic expansion of 2002-2007, the top 1 percent captured two thirds of income growth."
One of the first things we must do is to pop the cap on FICA tax deductions used to support Social Security. The current system is a regressive tax which hits working people but pretty much spares most of the wealth of the rich. It violates every principle of progressive taxation known to man. This, combined with adding more tax on the income of the rich would go a long ways to restoring the American middle class and take away power from the corporate class and their toadies and lackeys who serve their interests in the name of ideology.