In Health Bill, Obama Attacks Wealth Inequality

[steven johnson]

During the campaign, a 2001 radio interview of Obama by WBEZ was dug up in which he dicussed "redistribution of wealth" as the unfinished job of the civil rights judicial outcomes. He considered "economic reparations" to be theoretically justifiable. It looks like this issue is alive and well.

http://blog.acton.org/archives/2533-obama-reparations-radio-interview-begs-a-question-does-wealth-redistribution-actually-help-the-poor.html.

For all the political and economic uncertainties about health reform, at least one thing seems clear: The bill that President Obama signed on Tuesday is the federal government’s biggest attack on economic inequality since inequality began rising more than three decades ago.

Over most of that period, government policy and market forces have been moving in the same direction, both increasing inequality. The pretax incomes of the wealthy have soared since the late 1970s, while their tax rates have fallen more than rates for the middle class and poor.

A big chunk of the money to pay for the bill comes from lifting payroll taxes on households making more than $250,000. On average, the annual tax bill for households making more than $1 million a year will rise by $46,000 in 2013, according to the Tax Policy Center, a Washington research group. Another major piece of financing would cut Medicare subsidies for private insurers, ultimately affecting their executives and shareholders.

The benefits, meanwhile, flow mostly to households making less than four times the poverty level — $88,200 for a family of four people. Those without insurance in this group will become eligible to receive subsidies or to join Medicaid. (Many of the poor are already covered by Medicaid.) Insurance costs are also likely to drop for higher-income workers at small companies.



In Health Bill, Obama Attacks Wealth Inequality