General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLook out Coolidge! Look out Hoover! America's Rich May Soon Blow Past Roaring Twenties Tycoons
Thomas Piketty and Joseph Stiglitz: Whats really causing the startling gap between haves and have-nots? Is it mechanical market forces? Outsourcing? Real estate? As Taylor sees it, economists have gotten the answer wrong. Worker exploitation and outsized business profits are factors, but even more key are the unjustified payments to the wealthy generated by our outsized financial sector. This hasnt just happened. Flawed economic theory and politicians beholden to the rich lead to policies that make it happen. We can fix the problem, but it will take bold steps.
The existing social order does not necessarily guarantee that the rich will get richer (remember Keynes on the essential uncertainty of the future). But even if they do, a stiff tax on capital gains could be used to build up a socially-oriented wealth fund that would help offset that.
Look at Norways oil fund, which takes a cut of petroleum revenues and invests the money while giving a small annual pay-out from its investment returns. An example closer to home is Californias CalPERS retirement fund. The key point is that such funds can save at a higher rate than wealthy households, amassing market power and potentially using capital income for social purposes.
In the labor market, real wages of employees have lagged productivity growth, which is why the profit share for the boss has gone up. Outsourcing has played some role, but policies and legal interpretations (think of so-called right to work legislation and attacks on public sector unions) that reduce labors bargaining power have been more important. Recreating that power could reverse the trends and slow the accumulation of wealth. Our studies and others suggest that simply raising taxes on the rich and transferring the proceeds downward in the income distribution will not have a large immediate effect on distribution, but the impacts could cumulate over time.
http://www.alternet.org/economy/americas-rich-may-soon-blow-past-roaring-twenties-tycoons
There are so many records within reach! Childhood poverty, bankruptcy, wage stagnation, environmental pollution, illiteracy! Think of the possibilities!!!!
SammyWinstonJack
(44,130 posts)Octafish
(55,745 posts)More military.
NSA NSA NSA!!!