US is a Plutocracy

[finehoe]

The United States is a plutocracy, with an income and wealth distribution that rivals South America’s worst cases, but economists refuse to acknowledge that these outcomes are attributable to ill-advised public policies on taxation, regulation, trade, and education spending over the last several decades.

A quote from some 'leftist' rag?  From a communist newsletter?  Nope Forbes, 'the Capitalist Tool'.  Read the whole thing here:  http://www.forbes.com/sites/leesheppard/2012/05/03/economists-malign-influence-on-taxes/

[BridgeTroll]

Here is another opinion piece on the same page in Forbes...  Sooooo... if the plutocracy piece is correct... then these must be also?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/carrielukas/2012/05/02/is-america-up-to-solving-the-coming-fiscal-crisis/

The Social Security Trustees’ annual report is a back-of-the-paper news item.  It confirms what anyone paying attention already knows:  Our national pension program is in poor financial shape and worsening rapidly.

How 'bout this one?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2012/05/02/chen-guangcheng-a-day-of-shame-for-the-u-s/

We only know that blind dissident Chen Guangcheng is in a Chinese hospital out of the range of American protection. According to preliminary reports, Chen was pressured by U.S. officials to leave the embassy.

[fsquid]

What's really the problem is the erosion of the middle to upper middle class. It's not that the "rich" are earning more (although they are) or that the "poor" are earning less (they aren't), but that the middle is disappearing. You're not going to fix that by taxing the "rich." You do that by creating incentives to bring the high-paying jobs that support that middle class back to the US.

I say do the following:

1. Make US tax rates at least competitive by world standards. Make up for the revenue losses, and in fact increase revenues, by closing the loopholes. We don't lose anything vis a vis foreign countries by closing the loopholes, because they don't have those loopholes, at least not to the extent we do. I would actually go lower, and try to make the US a tax haven, but I'm really not sure we could handle the incredibly rapid growth that would result if we did.

2. Improve the quality of our work force by improving the quality of our education. Emulate the vocational education program in places like Germany and Finland instead of Obama's fascination with university education for all. Improve primary and secondary education by paying teachers more, changing procedures to put teachers back in control of classrooms (which probably requires a constitutional amendment), and hold everyone--teachers, students, parents, administrators--fully accountable. You are going to need some kind of comprehensive testing--make it conform to the curriculum instead of standing separately, and make it have consequences for everyone, including students. Once Johnny's mommy finds out that her fourth grader can't get to Harvard on the track he's on, guess what, Johnny's mommy starts giving a damn, and when that happens education gets better.

3. Redesign the welfare system to eliminate the welfare trap or poverty trap that exists now. I like either Milton Friedman's negative income tax or the Boortz-Linder prefund to do this.

Step 1 increases the demand for upper middle class labor. Step 2 improves the supply. Step 3 enlarges the supply.

[JeffreyS]

1. I agree raising taxes this way would help. Having the modern world's lowest effective tax rate(we do) dressed up with fake high window dressing rates does nothing.
2. I agree with raising education to compare to those countries you listed but they have much higher taxes to support them.
3. I could go along with a more progressive version of Bohtz-Linder.

[buckethead]

It's a case of misallocation of resources.

Monetization takes wealth from the productive and redistributes it to the unproductive (All to often referred to as "capital").

Arguing against physics won't keep a drunkard from falling down the stairs.