It's the Wealth Gap, Stupid

[NNN0LHI]

http://motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/its-wealth-gap-stupid

Why the truly alarming economic trend is not income inequality.

—By Reid Cramer

| Mon Feb. 13, 2012 3:00 AM PST9

When Mitt Romney bowed to political pressure and released his 2010 tax return, it showed, to no one's great surprise, that the Romneys are rich. Really, really rich. They reported income of more than $21 million, itemized deductions of over $4.5 million, and a total tax bill of just over $3 million. They made charitable contributions of almost $3 million, although more than half of that went to their church.

But what really stood out in the tax return—beyond the presidential candidate's 13.9 percent tax rate—is not that Mitt makes a lot of money, it's that he has a lot of money. Romney's finances are illustrative of the growing gulf between haves and have-nots. It's not about income equality; it's about the widening wealth gap.

In recent years, the fortunes of the Romneys and others in their cohort have continued to grow, notably diverging from the majority of Americans still struggling to deal with a slow economic recovery. The Occupy Wall Street protestors stole the media spotlight this past fall by creatively highlighting these discrepancies. President Obama has taken notice and, as reflected in his State of the Union address, is teeing up inequality as a major a campaign theme for the fall. But it is not enough to highlight the gap between incomes of the top 1 percent and the bottom 99. What’s more alarming—and consequential over the long haul—is the growing concentration of wealth. snip

There's an additional problem. When wealth is concentrated at the top, there are fewer resources available for everybody else to deploy. And in the aftermath of the Great Recession, we should recognize that the dynamics of inequality have fundamentally shifted.

[NNN0LHI]

1. I would have thought the concept of taxing wealth would have been very popular on DU

Then again, maybe not?

Don

[TBF]

2. I posted this article in a couple places this morning -

my guess is that someone has probably posted it in "Good Reads" too so that's probably why you didn't get comments here. It's a very good article imo and exactly what we should be focusing on.

[NNN0LHI]

4. We need DU search back real bad

Occasionally I can find dupes with Google if the identical headline is used.

Thanks for letting me know this is getting out there.

Don

[libtodeath]

3. Hard to flesh out

how to do it but I wish we had some sort of tax that would hit capital gains not turned back for the betterment of society and the economy at 90%.
Take that wealth before it gets laundered into offshore accounts or the toys of the rich and make sure it stabelizes the economy.
If the rich person wants to actually work god forbid then let them start a company to produce something and really create jobs.
Profits from that can be taxed as income.
This bullshit of letting wealth accumulate unrestrained is what has driven us to the brink.

[TBF]

5. Agree completely -

putting the capital gains tax back where it used to be. Prior to about '80 it was taxed the same as income - since then it was chipped away at and after W's reign was down to 15%. Here's an article I posted about that subject in Socialist Progressives group earlier today: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/us/politics/for-wealthy-tax-cuts-since-1980s-have-been-gain-gain.html?_r=1

[Terra Alta]

6. the rich get richer while the poor get poorer.

Oh the joys of capitalism.

Tax the 1%, and tax them heavily. They can afford it.