One of the firs complaints I heard from Republicans about Barack Obama and the Democratic Party is that they would try to redistribute the wealth, taking it from the people who earned it and giving it to freeloaders. Of course, this is just another Republican lie. Republicans have been redistributing the wealth since Reagan took office, if not before. Now we have proof from the CBO,m as this article by Eugene Robinson demonstrates.
The hard-right conservatives who dominate the Republican Party claim to despise the redistribution of wealth, but secretly they love it — as long as the process involves depriving the poor and middle class to benefit the rich, not the other way around.
That is precisely what has been happening, as a jaw-dropping new report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office demonstrates. Three decades of trickle-down economic theory, see-no-evil deregulation and tax-cutting fervor have led to massive redistribution. Another word for what’s been happening might be theft.
The gist of the CBO study, titled “Trends in the Distribution of Household Income Between 1979 and 2007,” is that while we’ve become wealthier overall, these new riches have largely bypassed many Americans and instead flowed mostly to the affluent. Perhaps my memory is faulty, but I don’t remember voting to turn the United States into a nation starkly divided between haves and have-nots. Yet that’s where we’ve been led.
Overall, in inflation-adjusted dollars, average after-tax household income grew by 62 percent during the period under study, according to the CBO. This sounds great — but only until you look a little closer.
For those at the bottom — the one-fifth of households with the lowest incomes — the increase was just 18 percent. For the middle three-fifths, the average increase was 40 percent. Spread over nearly 30 years, these gains are modest, not meteoric.
By contrast, look at the top 1 percent of earners. Their after-tax household income increased by an astonishing 275 percent. For those keeping track, this means it nearly quadrupled. Nice work, if you can get it.
This is not what Republicans want you to think of when you hear the word redistribution. You’re supposed to imagine the evil masterminds as Bolsheviks, not bankers. You’re supposed to envision the lazy free-riders who benefit from redistribution as the “poor,” and the industrious job-creators who get robbed as the “wealthy” — not the other way around… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Washington Post>
The above graph is from the CBO study itself.
Ed Shultz has an excellent example of how Republicans help redistribute wealth at American workers’ expense, ties the story into the OWS movement, and interviews Bernie Sanders.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Ed only made one mistake here. He did not allow enough time for Bernie Sanders, who unequivocally stated that one party, not both, is standing in the way of recovery.
14 Responses to “Redistributing the Wealth”
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If Boehner, McConnell and Cantor have their way, all the income will soon be in the elitists hands.
Almost already!! 🙁
So the only – THE ONLY – quintile that enjoyed an increase in their share of income in almost three decades was the one that needed it the least?!? So much for their “Trickle Down Economics”!
Shouldn’t that be Trickle Trick?
Just TRY to explain this to a Dildohead. They stammer, they get mad, they walk away.
That’s certainly the norm.
I was raised to “Never trust a Banker” ; born during the Depression— into a family that had suffered though several Depressions , and had learned– .: (btw– the Great Depression was not the first– I am not going into the history– but there was also a very severe Depression in c1898-)- Bankers have to be controlled by laws that are enforced– Nothing they do is for the benefit of any one but themselves . Period. We have been deceived and we have cooperated in that deception — think we have learned ? I doubt it–
I agree. I also think the FED needs to be brought completely under government control.
This proves beyond the shadow of any doubt that followers og Grover Norquist (i.e. REPUBLICANS) are LIARS who are waging class warfare against all below the top 1%. EVERY REPUBLICAN MUST GO!!!!
Amen, Pope Jack.
It’s not outrageous, or unusual for the rich to protect what they have, and they can afford the lobbyist to promote their issues. There is much more going on when 48-52 percent are willing to vote for and support those same issues.
Politicians lies and misinformation are normal in American politics. And History is full of examples when Americans have bought into those lies.
Somehow (even with all the evidence) Americans don’t see what Republicans represent, as wealth redistribution. They seem to think that the wealthy need political protection, or have a right to more access just because they are rich.
Are millions of Americans stupid?
I won’t answer that, and I’ll never understand, because I don’t understand why people would vote against their own self interest, or protect those who need no protection.
Redistributing wealth, is what tax policy is all about.
I’m a liberal, unlike the President, and I believe the government should help those who are least able to help themselves. Lack of want fosters stability in a society. Unequal opportunity fosters resentment. I am well aware that liberal policies I support, redistribute wealth. And I believe America is a much better country because of the wealth redistribution liberal policies have caused Americans to endure. But back then a majority of Americans supported those programs. Just as today a majority seem to not support those programs.
I have been hoping for decades, that Americans would change their tune and see the necessity of, and the History of the success of liberal policies going back centuries, but they do not. Not even a Democratic President seems to be willing to support long standing Democratic principles, like NOT supporting tax cuts for the rich.
We are more than a right center country. We have lost support for the basic liberal ideology and policies. Yes it’s sad, but there has been a majority vote out there for decades, which has led us to these barbaric Republican policies. Hate, fear and bigotry are the tools that drive politics today, and it seems Americans have gotten the government they have been voting for, for 30 years now.
The idea of communal taxation to better America for all, is dead. Selfishness rules, and the false thinking that we can do it alone has been sold to a generation who have been spoiled and don’t comprehend living without basic needs.
Power in the hands of the rich and elite. We have centuries of proven failure with those leading people and governments. I guess History, Science, and even simple Math defies their logic. Thank God I won’t be around to have to live under their thinking. The last 30 years have been bad enough.
Tom, I suppose I’m more optimistic than you are, but that come from going over every item that goes before either house in the legislature. Before Republicans won control of the House, Democrats passed a steady stream of liberal measures that went to the Senate and died due to Republican obstruction, assisted by three or four DINOs. I remain convinced that, if we can keep Republicans from further packing the Supreme Court with unconstitutional ideologues, we can turn this nation around.
“The gist of the CBO study, titled “Trends in the Distribution of Household Income Between 1979 and 2007” is that while we’ve become wealthier overall, these new riches have largely bypassed many Americans and instead flowed mostly to the affluent.”
OK, so we have a non-partisan study from the CBO that clearly shows that the rich are getting richer by income increases of 275% over the 28 year period while the bottom quintile’s income increased 18% over the same period..
We have companies like Whirlpool, that despite getting $19.3 million in federal stimulus money are closing American plants and moving operations to Europe and Mexico where costs are cheaper because they don’t pay benefits and their are no unions involved yet. And yet the corporate head has a compensation package of $14.4 million. Personally, I think the government should demand that stimulus money be repaid forthwith or suffer the consequences of the population going apeshit all over them.
And the same type of thing is happening with other corporations. Just look at the high tech group outsourcing help desks to India. Some banks, like HSBC for example, have outsourced document processing etc to China and Payroll to India. Why, the wages are less as are benefits, if they are paying them at all. Just ask an employee how easy it is to fix a mistake now that so many things are off shore — not easy and can take days and weeks to fix. Ask an employee whose paycheque is incorrect how long it took to get rectified. Minimum 2 weeks if they are lucky.
Until there are decent honest politicians (I know, that’s an oxymoron for the most part!) who have the interests of the American people at heart, little will change for the the better if anything. It will only get worse. America needs people like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders in the Congress. And I’ll say this, they need Obama too — he’s not perfect but he is redeemable with the right team in place.
As I was writing earlier, I remember Bob Hope used to do those ‘Made in America” commercials showing off the tag in his suit jacket. Remember those? Well Bob Hope would be rolling in his grave if he knew what was happening to made in America under the dunderhead Republicans and Teabaggers and DINOs and Blue Dogs.
If Wall Street doesn’t like the protests, they are really going to hate the revolution that surely will come if things aren’t fixed sooner than later.
I hope ir does not come to that. Revolutions rarely produce the desired results.