Gene Lyons: In Cash We Trust, It's Unions We Bust

[flpoljunkie]

In cash we trust, but unions we bust
BY GENE LYONS


Arnold Chevalier, left, of Stoughton, Wis., shouts inside the State Capitol, Feb. 21, 2011, in Madison, Wis.

Recent events in Washington and Wisconsin have me thinking that maybe we should just go ahead and change the national motto to something more truly reflective of today's America. Forget "e pluribus unum" with its elitist overtones. Also, what people who make a big thing over "In God We Trust" really mean isn't so much that they approve of the deity, as that God approves of them.

Anyway, here's my suggestion: "Money Talks."

Think about it. In Washington, GOP Speaker John Boehner, asked about the near-certain loss of several hundred thousand jobs should severe Republican budget cuts go through, responded, "So be it."

This in the immediate aftermath of extending the Bush administration's tax cuts for millionaires that basically created the national debt his party now pretends to be so concerned about. Previous to 2009, not so much.

"We're broke," Boehner elaborated, although the stock market's now soaring, the bailed-out Wall Street investment banks, whose reckless gambling sent the world economy into a near-death spiral, are doling out billions in bonuses to insiders, while American corporations are sitting on a growing mountain of cash, and while unemployment remains above 9 percent even as some companies openly refuse to consider hiring anybody who hasn't already got a job.

Money Talks.

But, oh no, we can't raise marginal tax rates a lousy 4.6 percent on incomes above $250,000. Perish the thought. Never mind that the past 30 years have seen the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans increase their share of the national wealth from 7 percent to approximately 23 percent. Nor that, according to a study by the Economic Policy Institute, corporate CEOs who made 24 times more than a typical worker in 1965 now earn about 275 times more than the guys in the shop. Assuming the shop hasn't closed down and moved to Thailand, that is.

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