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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRobert Reich: 10 Ways to Fix Inequality
A very good read and a good list of concrete goals.
He finishes by pointing out the need for a national movement to apply public pressure for these changes. Reich is an invaluable spokesman, because he has the ability to convey these ideas at every level, from complex discussions of economics to his short, animated cartoons that explain what the oligarchy is really doing to this country.
"This trend (of inequality) is now threatening the three foundation stones of our society: our economy, our ideal of equal opportunity and our democracy...
....
...Instead of responding to these gale-force winds with policies designed to upgrade the skills of Americans, modernize our infrastructure, strengthen our safety net and adapt the workforceand pay for much of this with higher taxes on the wealthywe did the reverse. We began disinvesting in education, job training and infrastructure. We began shredding our safety net. We made it harder for many Americans to join unions. (The decline in unionization directly correlates with the decline of the portion of income going to the middle class.) And we reduced taxes on the wealthy.
We also deregulated. Financial deregulation in particular made finance the most lucrative industry in America, as it had been in the 1920s. Here again, the parallels between the 1920s and recent years are striking, reflecting the same pattern of inequality.
....
Here are ten initiatives that could reverse the trends described above:
1) Make work pay. The fastest-growing categories of work are retail, restaurant (including fast food), hospital (especially orderlies and staff), hotel, childcare and eldercare. But these jobs tend to pay very little. A first step toward making work pay is to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, pegging it to inflation; abolish the tipped minimum wage; and expand the Earned Income Tax Credit. No American who works full time should be in poverty.
2) Unionize low-wage workers. The rise and fall of the American middle class correlates almost exactly with the rise and fall of private-sector unions, because unions gave the middle class the bargaining power it needed to secure a fair share of the gains from economic growth. We need to reinvigorate unions, beginning with low-wage service occupations that are sheltered from global competition and from labor-replacing technologies. Lower-wage Americans deserve more bargaining power.
3) Invest in education. This investment should extend from early childhood through world-class primary and secondary schools, affordable public higher education, good technical education and lifelong learning. Education should not be thought of as a private investment; it is a public good that helps both individuals and the economy. Yet for too many Americans, high-quality education is unaffordable and unattainable. Every American should have an equal opportunity to make the most of herself or himself. High-quality education should be freely available to all, starting at the age of 3 and extending through four years of university or technical education.
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Thats why we need a movement for shared prosperitya movement on a scale similar to the Progressive movement at the turn of the last century, which fueled the first progressive income tax and antitrust laws; the suffrage movement, which won women the vote; the labor movement, which helped animate the New Deal and fueled the great prosperity of the first three decades after World War II; the civil rights movement, which achieved the landmark Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts; and the environmental movement, which spawned the National Environmental Policy Act and other critical legislation.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)ProSense
(116,464 posts)"A very good read and a good list of concrete goals."
...include many policies similar to President Obama's. Reich's proposals:
2) Unionize low-wage workers. The rise and fall of the American middle class correlates almost exactly with the rise and fall of private-sector unions, because unions gave the middle class the bargaining power it needed to secure a fair share of the gains from economic growth. We need to reinvigorate unions, beginning with low-wage service occupations that are sheltered from global competition and from labor-replacing technologies. Lower-wage Americans deserve more bargaining power.
3) Invest in education. This investment should extend from early childhood through world-class primary and secondary schools, affordable public higher education, good technical education and lifelong learning. Education should not be thought of as a private investment; it is a public good that helps both individuals and the economy. Yet for too many Americans, high-quality education is unaffordable and unattainable. Every American should have an equal opportunity to make the most of herself or himself. High-quality education should be freely available to all, starting at the age of 3 and extending through four years of university or technical education.
4) Invest in infrastructure. Many working Americansespecially those on the lower rungs of the income ladderare hobbled by an obsolete infrastructure that generates long commutes to work, excessively high home and rental prices, inadequate Internet access, insufficient power and water sources, and unnecessary environmental degradation. Every American should have access to an infrastructure suitable to the richest nation in the world.
5) Pay for these investments with higher taxes on the wealthy.
6) Make the payroll tax progressive.
7) Raise the estate tax and eliminate the stepped-up basis for determining capital gains at death.
8) Constrain Wall Street.
9) Give all Americans a share in future economic gains.
10) Get big money out of politics.
The President has moved on many, not all (I really like item 9), of those issues and others not mentioned.
Why It Matters That Home Care Workers Just Got New Labor Rights
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/09/17/2634411/home-care-workers-rule-change/
BOOM: Obama signs order to raise minimum wage for federal contractors...disabled workers included!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024489919
NEW WHITE HOUSE REPORT: The Impact of Raising the Minimum Wage on Women and the Importance of Ensuring a Robust Tipped Minimum Wage
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/26/new-white-house-report-impact-raising-minimum-wage-women-and-importance-
How Obama's Reforms To Overtime Law Will Change People's Lives
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024660707
Update May 31, 2013 This page has been updated to reflect the fact that the EITC changes under ARRA, which were to expire at the end of 2012, were extended through December 2017 by the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012.
Update Oct. 31, 2011 This page has been updated to reflect the fact that the EITC changes under ARRA, which were to expire at the end of 2010, were extended through December 2012 by the Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2010.
The earned income tax credit is a refundable credit intended to help people who work but earn modest incomes. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides a temporary increase in the EITC for taxpayers with three or more qualifying children. In 2013, the maximum EITC for this new category is $6,044. ARRA also increased the beginning point of the phaseout range for the credit for all married couples filing a joint return, regardless of the number of children.
In 2013, the credit begins to phase out at $22,870 for married taxpayers filing a joint return with children and completely phases out at $43,210 for one child, $48,378 for two children and $51,567 for three or more children. For married taxpayers filing a joint return with no children, the credit begins to phase out at $13,310 and completely phases out at $19,680.
These changes applied to 2009 and 2010 tax returns under ARRA, and were extended by the Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2010 to apply to 2011 and 2012 tax returns. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 extended these temporary ARRA increases for five years through December 2017.
http://www.irs.gov/uac/ARRA-and-the-Earned-Income-Tax-Credit
Krugman: Obama and the One Percent
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024391415
The heatlh care law also raised the payroll tax for high income earners and taxed investment income.
A new Net Investment Income Tax goes into effect starting in 2013. The 3.8 percent Net Investment Income Tax applies to individuals, estates and trusts that have certain investment income above certain threshold amounts. The IRS and the Treasury Department have issued proposed regulations on the Net Investment Income Tax. Comments may be submitted electronically, by mail or hand delivered to the IRS. For additional information on the Net Investment Income Tax, see our questions and answers.
Additional Medicare Tax
A new Additional Medicare Tax goes into effect starting in 2013. The 0.9 percent Additional Medicare Tax applies to an individuals wages, Railroad Retirement Tax Act compensation, and self-employment income that exceeds a threshold amount based on the individuals filing status. The threshold amounts are $250,000 for married taxpayers who file jointly, $125,000 for married taxpayers who file separately, and $200,000 for all other taxpayers. An employer is responsible for withholding the Additional Medicare Tax from wages or compensation it pays to an employee in excess of $200,000 in a calendar year. The IRS and the Department of the Treasury have issued proposed regulations on the Additional Medicare Tax. Comments may be submitted electronically, by mail or hand delivered to the IRS. For additional information on the Additional Medicare Tax, see our questions and answers.
http://www.irs.gov/uac/Affordable-Care-Act-Tax-Provisions
Why isn't there more focus on shareholders' say on executive pay?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024877216
Robert Reich: The Significance of Citigroups Shareholder Revolt
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002579118
More on the President's policies, enacted and proposed:
If Obama got his way...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024972225
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)which will lower wages for 90 percent of American workers, destroy jobs, and force Americans to compete with Third World workers.
And implementing austerity.
And supporting the expansion of H-1B visas.
And appointing Geithner and Pritzker and corporate hack after corporate hack to his administration.
And personally twisting the arms of attorneys general to ensure settlements for corrupt banks.
Woo hoo, Third Way!
ProSense
(116,464 posts)"Right. While pushing for the most predatory trade agreement in American history"
...you can point to concrete cause and effect of an actual policy:
Obamacare boosting household income and spending
Posted here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024972225
pampango
(24,692 posts)policies outlined by Reich. The countries with the most equitable distributions of income and strongest middle classes trade more than the US not less. TPP is a bad idea but trade is not the cause of inequality. We could drop trade back to zero (as republicans tried to do in the 1920's resulting in the greatest income inequality in US history) and it will not help our middle class.
Regressive taxes, anti-labor legislation, safety net defunding and deregulation are the causes of inequality. Europe and Canada seem to understand this quite well.
Vincardog
(20,234 posts)The TPP is the epitome of
"anti-labor legislation, safety net defunding and deregulation"
pampango
(24,692 posts)I think some consider it to have a lot to do with lowering tariffs and such. I agree that it does not. Tariffs are already quite low so this is about other things.
I agree that any trade agreement that does not address labor rights and the environment is useless or worse.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)primarily by trashing them for the benefit of corporations.
Like most economic and political assaults we face these days, this is not a Red versus Blue issue. It is an issue of the corporate One Percent and their purchased politicians, against the rest of us.
seveneyes
(4,631 posts)They can certainly afford it and there are lots of them to tap into.