Les Miserables and class warfare

Wow, what an amazing movie is the recently released Les Miserables.  In addition to beautiful music and acting, the story line is captivating, touching heavily on themes related to the Catholic religion, redemption and forgiveness, the law, war and class struggle.

When the suggestion that the tax rate should be raised on the wealthy the term "class warfare" is being bantered around by fiscal conservatives in the USA.  When I hear "class warfare" the struggle between the "haves" and "have nots", as depicted in Les Miserables, is more along the lines of what I imagine. 

Thankfully the United States isn't run by a monarchy, so the citizens are be able to influence the law makers to enact changes that would help to bring about a more just and equitable system.  It is important however that citizens, particularly those who have become disenfranchised, vote and communicate with those in power. The environment and those on the lowest rungs of society don't have much lobbying power. Without getting out the vote, and advocating to lawmakers to support the common good, the voices of the lobbyist for those individuals and corporations with great financial resources will continue to speak most loudly.  I think all might agree that it would be best to avoid the kind of class warfare depicted in Les Miserables.

A final note, did you know that the United States is the world's leader in incarceration?  We have 2.2 million people locked up, which is a 500% increase over the past thirty years (The Sentencing Project).

Trickle down economics not working for 99%

The merits of trickle down economics were roundly debunked in an editorial "Five misconceptions about economic fairness" by David Morris.

Consider that since 1980 the average annual income of the bottom 90 percent of Americans has increased a minuscule 1 percent, while during that same time period the income of the top one percent has doubled!

The United States of America, long know as the land of opportunity, has become a place where  a poor person is less likely to become rich than in most other industrialized countries

Photo from Occupy Minnesota protest

Despite the rhetoric of the far right, redistributing income to the 99 percent is actually much more likely to work its way into the economy than keeping it in the hands of the wealthy, who are much more likely to hold onto those dollars. A dollar in tax cuts on capital gains results only in 38 cents of economic growth, while that same dollar in unemployment benefits fuels the economy at a rate of $1.63.

Lastly, Mr. Morris, who works with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, points out that taxing the rich could indeed significantly help to reduce our national deficit.  If only the richest 400 families paid the statutory rate of 39 percent of their income (to be reenacted next year) an additional $500 billion would be raised over 10 years.

Class warfare... on the rich?

The audacity of President Obama to suggest that wealthy Americans all be asked to contribute to the deficit reduction plan. Thanks to the complicated tax code, many are able to legally shelter a great deal of their resources from taxes. An article "Obama to propose $1.5 trillion in new tax revenue as part of long-term deficit package" further details his plan.

A newspaper yesterday contained the following article, "Europe's top car brands thrive as ultra-luxury sells out". This is additional evidence of the fact that the wealthy have been getting wealthier, as the poor have been getting poorer.

It seems incredulous that some Republicans have the nerve to call it class warfare, when the president wants everyone to pay their fair share of the nation's taxes.