Recently I wrote some blog articles about the growing and
dangerous disparity of wealth and incomes in America. My site has always taken a conservative view
of issues, and my readers have considered mine to be a conservative voice. I learned from some of the responses to these
articles, however, that conservative America
also has many ideologues who ignore facts and data that do not comport with
their world view – as do liberals whose foolishness is destroying our culture
and our cities like Detroit.
I was called names like ‘socialist’ and ‘communist’ by many
readers simply because I had pointed out that present-day measures of incomes
and wealth were similar (and even worse than) those that preceded the
trust-busting era near the turn of the last century, and that conservatives and
liberals had to join forces to come up with ways to minimize these disparities
before our society imploded.
I have also noticed, over the last few years, how
conservatives are much more likely to turn on Republicans they formerly
supported, simply because of a single issue of disagreement. Many former supporters of Senator Rubio, for
example, have deserted him because of his stand on immigration; I disagree with
him, but he is still a great senator whom I will support against any liberal
Democrat. Democrats always seem to be
able to unite behind a position once their leadership has settled on it.
In the aftermath of the Zimmerman trial, I view the
unbelievable outcry from the ignorant crowds following the corrupt race baiters
like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson to be a symptom of both the disintegration
of our society caused by income and wealth disparity, and of our need to apply
both liberal and conservative measures to improve the lives and the opportunities
for young, black men. It is not white
men that black men have to fear, but black men who were fatherless children and
who have no good jobs or job opportunities; whites need to fear them too.
It was greatly disappointing that President Obama chose to
speak so little of this side of things, but instead fed the nonsense that profiling
and white vigilantes pose a major problem for African-Americans. What poses major problems for
African-Americans is ordinary life and the poverty and the inequality that come
with it.
The kind of inequality, which I mentioned above, was a fact
of life at the turn of the last century. It led to the trust-busting that made
Teddy Roosevelt a hero, and to the breakup of Standard Oil and of the US Steel
Company. Inequality peaked in 1928 and then ameliorated greatly up until the
late 1970’s, when it began to reverse and take on steam. The income inequality
ratios that existed in the 1920’s have returned and exist today. One example of
this is that average CEO pay was 40 X average factory pay in 1976. In 2008,
average CEO pay was 400 X average factory pay. This is immoral and
unsustainable, and is one of the reasons why real wages have declined steadily
from 1976 through the present day.
In 2007 the richest 1% of the American population owned
34.6% of the country's total wealth, and the next 19% owned 50.5%. Thus, the
top 20% of Americans owned 85% of the country's wealth and the bottom 80% of
the population owned 15%. Even more
shocking is the fact that the bottom 40% of Americans (that’s 128 million
Americans) own just 3/10’s of 1% of the nation’s wealth, and many of them have
negative wealth.
What Are The Reasons For This?
1. the
welfare state led to the disintegration of the African-American family.
2. low
and unskilled factory jobs have disappeared in inner cities.
3. the
wholesale decline of private sector unions.
4. income
tax rates have been cut drastically since 1981 when the highest rate was 70%.
I understand that there are other factors such as
globalization and technological changes, but the above four factors are
somewhat within the power of American voters to change, if liberals and
conservatives can manage to make compromises and work together.
In my next post I will explore some of those changes.
Labels: Wealth Inequality
2 Comments:
Bill O'Reilly pointed out the problems of black society and how to improve things the other night on the Factor and I have to agree with him.
People like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackass are doing nothing for the blacks. They are just using these people. These people are in it for the money. Talking about the problems is not enough.
These so called black leaders need to encourage young black women to start living a cleaner life style by abstaining from sex until they get married. Sure, the black guys are a problem, but you need to start somewhere.
Hollywood idiots and Rappers need to put out a better message for young blacks. Obama needs to stop painting blacks as victims. Instead, he should be doing something to end the drugs, gangs, and murdering that is going on in these big cities like Chicago in his own home state. He can improve the schooling for these kids by reinstating "No Child Left Behind."
So far, Bill O'Reilly has come up with a solution. It's up to the leaders in this country to make it happen.
It is not often that I so thoroughly agree with your point of view. Your analysis of the income disparity situation in this country is spot on.
I do, however, question your view of what the president had to say in his remarks at the White House press conference. He wasn't addressing the problems of black poverty and its attendant violence. He was talking from the point of view of a middle to upper class black man who has done everything right in terms of education, industriousness, and family obligations, yet is still targeted as a potential thief in a department store because of his skin color. This happens because the black man is easily identified as such, and it is racism. We don't pick out Italian Americans as potential mafiosi, probably because we can't so easily identify Italians on sight.
As a nation we need to address both the problem of inner city black violence, and continued white racism.
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