Inequality Rising — All Thanks To Government Policies

[HiPointDem]

A revealing new examination of the top 1 percent in a variety of countries brings into focus how the American government’s tax, union bargaining, inheritance and other rules widen the growing divide between those at the top and everyone else.

Four economists found that such wealthy and technologically advanced countries as Japan, France and Germany have seen growth at the top, but not the chasm of inequality created in recent decades in the U.S. and Britain.

That is significant because it means that new technologies and the ability of top talent to work on a global scale cannot explain the diverging fortunes of the top 1 percent and those below, since the Japanese have access to the same technologies and global markets as Americans. The answer must lie elsewhere.

To us, the fact that high‐income countries with similar technological and productivity developments have gone through different patterns of income inequality at the very top supports the view that institutional and policy differences play a key role in these transformations. Purely technological stories based solely upon supply and demand of skills can hardly explain such diverging patterns.

And at the heart of that ability to make more from work and make investments grow more are lowered tax rates on those at the top. With lower rates, boards of directors are willing to pay more, executives get to keep more and of the money they save, they also get to keep more — all of which would be fine if society as a whole were better off as a result, something the American economic data has shown is not the case.

In short, what the paper shows is this: Inequality is a product of government policy.

http://www.nationalmemo.com/inequality-rising-all-thanks-to-government-policies/

[Fire Walk With Me]

1. Government policies directly influenced by the Plutonomists.

It has been proven that the Koch brothers co-created the "tea party", meaning that "tea party" politicians are direct shills for billionaire policy and intent. And it gets worse:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022931204#post78

[xchrom]

2. Du rec. Nt

[KG]

3. bi-partisanship at its best...

[Maineman]

4. Government policy is purchased by corporate profiteers and greedy bastards with lots of money.

This must change.

Demand structured campaigns, like equal time for ads, no closed door lobbying (input must always be in open hearings), etc.

Constitutional amendments: corporations are not persons, money is not speech.

[Maineman]

5. Essentially everything wrong in Wash DC is traceable to corporate funding of politicians.

[Major Nikon]

6. This is something I've been saying for a while

When the deck is stacked in the favor of the 1%, it naturally follows that they will be the ones winning.

All taxes should be truly progressive.

[byeya]

9. Yes. The way it used to be. Until the 60s, the USA even had a tox on stock transactions like the UK

and many other countries. Now such an idea is treated as something brand new and toxic to the "creation of jobs." If London can remain a major stock exchange with their long running tax on transaction, then the USA can too. Such a tax may even curb some of the economy-wrecking speculation.

[Dustlawyer]

7. He is wrong, or at least not addressing the ROOT of the problem! CORRUPTION OF OUR SYSTEM!!!!

[byeya]

10. In my view it was corruption more than anything else that led to the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Corruption eats and eats at every type of human encounter lowering public trust.

[fasttense]

8. Over time, capitalism destroys all democracies

Allowing a handful of lucky sperm club winners to amass, larger and larger sums of money will eventually buy out democracy. Politicians and federal governments can place restrictions and regulations on the uber rich capitalist but allowing them to retain the reins of wealth will make it so that they will eventually buy up all the politicians and the governments. Temporary restraints were placed on them by the likes of FDR, but elite capitalist like the Koch brothers worked night and day to get rid of even those minor restraints. That's where we are right now. Lucky sperm club winners are buying up our politicians and government. They have amassed so much wealth from our labor that they are practically kings. They rule us.

Until we workers take over the means of production, our democracies will continue to deteriorate and eventually disappear.

I think the choice is between capitalism and democracy, you can't have both.

[byeya]

11. That's indeed the choice. Capitalism has to be closely controlled for the reasons you state.

Unions need to reform on the social bottom up model like the new leadership of the Chicago Teachers Union has done. Since most benefit from strong unions, the unions themselves will be stronger the more people feel they have a part in the direction the union takes.

[uponit7771]

12. People support "trickle down" decades ago, now that its here people don't like it