Redistribution 2014

The word “redistribution” is usually followed by the words: “of wealth”. “Redistribution of wealth” is the most reviled phrase in the English language if you happen to be a strict capitalist, a conservative, or a Republican in America. For those folks, the phrase “redistribution of wealth” conjures up some very unholy and vile images. It quite literally means (to them) that hard-working, industrious, rugged Americans, who go out into the world and make their own way have their hard-earned money taken from them by liberty-hating government types who hand it over to lazy, no-good slackers who just want to live off of the labor of others. I know this true because I hear folks saying just that on TV and the radio every day. I hear it in the gym as I work out in the mornings and I hear it coming from the next table over in restaurants. I don’t mean to imply that this feeling is so widespread that a vast majority of Americans believe it-which must make it true. But I have heard it enough that I know some people actually feel that way.  So to even suggest that someone blatantly comes out in favor of ‘redistribution of wealth” would most surely cast them as a heretic, and a traitor to the “American Way”. Well, guess what? That’s exactly what I’m suggesting. I suggest that “Redistribution of Wealth” would be a great undertaking in 2014. In fact I suggest we redistribute a few other things besides wealth, but I’ll get to that a little later.

I think a lot of us have been conditioned to believe some incredibly inaccurate information about wealth in this country. Although it is true that many people have been able to capitalize on the American Dream of being a self-made financial success story, most of the current wealth in this country is inherited, or created by financial dealings that produce nothing tangible. Wealth in this country is a protected commodity that is sheltered and guarded by the advantages the wealthy have arranged for themselves through the sheer power of their money. One of the most important by-products of wealth is the influence that wealth affords those who have it to change laws and policies in a way that guarantees the wealthy get wealthier, while the middle-class and the poor pay for it. Of course the politicians who protect the wealthy would have us believe that the opposite is true. Every time some lawmaker or government executive proposes a program to equalize the economic equation, the opposition breaks out the old clichés about poor people just being lazy and trying to “take” from those who earned it.

In fact, over the last 30 years there has been a tremendous “redistribution of wealth”. That redistribution is the largest in the history of the country, which makes it the largest in the history of the world. Here are some facts (not to be confused by beliefs or talking points):

1. When Ronald Reagan took office he inherited a $3trillion national debt, and left office with a $5 trillion national debt spurred on by the faulty "supply-side" theory of economics.
2. When Ronald Reagan took office, the top 1% of Americans held 10% of the wealth.
3. When Barack Obama took office the top 1% of Americans held 22.4% of the wealth.
4. Today 400 American families own more wealth than the bottom 50% of all remaining Americans.
5. Today one fifth 1/5 of the people own four fifths 4/5 of all wealth in America.
6. Today income and wealth Inequality is the greatest in the history of the country.
7. Since the economic recovery began following the Great Recession of 2008, 95% of the recovered wealth has gone to 5% of the people.

Given these facts it is hard to not want a redistribution of wealth- only this time it needs to go in the other direction. Income and wealth inequality may be the single most dangerous element in our economy today. It far outweighs the issue of debt and deficit the Republicans always fall back to when confronted with real economists who have warned us about income and wealth inequality for quite a while now. It threatens to destroy any semblance of a middle class and to cast the poor into an unrecoverable downward spiral. Over the last 30 years or so, the middle class and the poor have remained economically stagnant, making the promise of upward mobility a lost dream in this country. However our politics continue to be an impediment to economic justice. Take for example two issues before the public square right now; Unemployment Compensation and the minimum wage.

Two weeks ago 1.3 million Americans lost the extension of their Unemployment Compensation. Never in modern history has the Congress failed to extend Unemployment when we have an unemployment rate over 5%. Congress extended it five times when George W. Bush was in office, and never once asked for an off-set to pay for it. Today the Republicans in Congress insist on an off-set, and have been haggling for two weeks while real American families suffer with no answer in sight. It seems the only off-set Republicans will accept is to cut other programs that aid the poor. No Republican is talking about an off-set that retracts corporate subsidies, farm subsidies, or closes huge tax breaks for the wealthy- that is the power of the wealthy on full display. Extending Unemployment makes good sense. That money recirculates in the economy and stimulates commerce. The Congressional Budget office calculated that every dollar spent on Unemployment Compensation creates $1.74 in economic activity. But to listen to the likes of Rand Paul and his ilk, those benefits are actually a “disservice” to the recipients- a classic and misguided notion that the unemployed are just lazy and really don’t deserve to get the extension. Let’s remember that every person on Unemployment lost their job through no fault of their own, and it is the state of the economy and government policy that is preventing those people from rejoining the workforce. But old stereotypes are hard to break, particularly when the people in power are being guided by the money interests who benefit from the current conditions. It is better to get more money into circulation, if not for humanitarian reasons, then at least to create more economic activity in the short run. Even as I write this the Congress cannot produce a bill to aid the 1.3 million who have been cut off with no other options. That number will grow to 2.4 million by the end of March. Partisan wrangling and petty power plays have once again won the day while Americans suffer.

On the issue of the minimum wage, the same dynamics are at work. There is a wide-spread acknowledgment that the minimum wage is grossly insufficient, with nearly 70% of all Americans believing it needs to be raised. Yet our Congress is unlikely to raise it. Why? Because they “believe” raising the minimum wage leads to job loss. There is not one single empirical study that supports that belief- and to the contrary every study refutes the notion that raising the minimum wage costs jobs. Consider these facts about wages in this country and how they are disbursed: 1 in 4 American households are headed by single women with children; 1 in 5 jobs pay minimum wage; 3in 4 of the minimum wage jobs are held by women- and of those jobs over 60% have no paid sick leave. Now consider that a full-time worker making (Federal) minimum wage earns $15,080.00 ($7.25/hr. at 2080 hours a year). The Federal poverty level is $19,530.00 per year for a family of 3- it’s $23,550.00 for a family of 4. In my state (with the highest) minimum wage of $9.32/hr. a full time worker makes $19,385 and is still under the poverty level. And, we all know that a huge number of minimum wage jobs are not even full time. The minimum wage issue is not just an economic injustice- it is a serious gender issue that affects women and children the hardest. It now becomes a moral issue for the nation.

There are far too many sanctimonious politicians and uninformed people who continue to cast the poor as the bad guys who are only out to live off the rest of us. The horrible result of these inaccurate and hateful beliefs are that they result in bad public policy. When the issue of raising the federal minimum wage is bandied about the halls of Congress and the nothing happens, who wins and who loses? The winners are the large companies (the McDonalds’ and the Walmarts’ and the rest) who defend their low wages while garnering unheard-of corporate profits. The losers are clearly the working poor who will never get ahead. But the other losers are you, me and all middle-class taxpayers. Programs like food assistance (food stamps) rent subsidies, Medicaid, and the like are programs our tax dollars pay for because these corporations are allowed to pay these paltry, non-living wages. In reality, every taxpayer is subsidizing Walmart and fast-food chains, because they won’t pay a living wage. This is the sad state of economic injustice in this country. But too many of us have been convinced by the right-wing conservatives to support policies that hurt us instead of help all of us by constructing a just redistribution of wealth through sensible public policy and legislation.

I have no faith that this Congress will honestly deal with our economic issues, let along institute fair policies that redistributes wealth for the benefit of the country unless a few other things get redistributed too. I’d like to see a redistribution of power in Congress along gender lines. Less than 20% of our Senators and Congresspersons are women, in a country where women outnumber men. That is worse ratio than a majority third-world nations.  Women would do a far better job of recognizing and dealing with economic injustice. All other things considered it is only right that our government should reflect the nation. It doesn’t now- 94% of the House and Senate combined are white men. I’d like to see a redistribution of rational thought in Congress. We have too many members of Congress who are strictly beholden to ideological positions instead of positions based in reason and good thought. For example, the Republican Chair of the Science Committee in the House, doesn’t believe in science. He’s a “young Earth” fundamentalist Christian who believes in the literal truth of the Bible. That promotes governance that doesn’t make sense, but we see examples of this throughout Congress.  And, I’d like to see a redistribution of real patriotism. I’d like to see our politicians turn back in to statesmen and stateswomen. The intractable politics of hate and partisanship has left us with no real patriots for more than a generation, only hallow politicians. These are not the people to deal with our real problems of economic and social injustice. They need to go, and we need to insist that we won’t be manipulated or fooled in to sending the same ineffective people back to do our business. We deserve much better. That might actually result in a redistribution of pride in our leaders. I hope 2014 is a year for redistribution of many kinds.

Thanks for looking in.