Jared Bernstein: Class Warfare, My A__!

[flpoljunkie]

Class Warfare, My A__!

Sep 19, 2011

There’s an old trick in politics: if you’re winning a fight and the other side tries to do something about it, deny there’s any fight at all.

“Class warfare!” is the big pushback talking point of the R’s in response to President Obama’s call for a balanced deficit reduction plan that calls for more revenue from those who are a) doing the best and b) still benefitting from the highend Bush cuts.

But the fact is—as the figures show—what growth we’ve achieved in recent years has almost exclusively gone to those at the top of the income scale. As the recent Census report revealed, median household income peaked in 1999, went nowhere in the 2000s, and tanked further in the great recession. At $49,500, this metric of middle-class income is now $4,000 below its 1999 peak (2010 dollars).

Now, I’m not crazy about the vernacular of class warfare—it’s too reductionist and doesn’t explain much of what’s going on. But if you want to call developments like these–deregulation, supply-side tax cuts, anti-unionism, cuts in government supports and investments, globalization over domestic investment, anti-Keynesianism—class warfare, and you’ve got a point, then one side is winning.

And guess what? It’s the side that doesn’t want you to talk about it.



(These data show real after-tax income gains through 2007, the most recent year in this series...the great recession certainly whacked high incomes as well, but data on corporate profits through the middle of this year suggest they've more than recovered, while wage trends show continued weakness.)

http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/class-warfare-my-a__/

[pansypoo53219]

1. show 1981-2007.

it will look worse.

[Tarheel_Dem]

2. Kick!

:dem:

[unblock]

3. you don't even need graphs. just ask them how they can defend the rich paying LESS than the middle?

remember that these are some of the same bastards who keep coming out for a "flat tax".
now they're defending the super-rich paying a LOWER percentage than the rest of us.

just call it closing loopholes, limiting excessive deductions, restoring fairness, etc.

in fact, you can even say it's making the tax code more "flat".

[WingDinger]

4. My response to," Thats class warfare"!? Let's dance. Faster.