The Democratic Party And Economic Inequality

Robert Reich, Bill Clinton's Secretary of Labor, is one of the most prolific communicators of the truth about the source of economic inequality in the USA. Click on the links below for a 2-part in-depth expose of such, and how the Democratic Party has not been aggressive enough in challenging the lies of Republicans regarding who is responsible for it:

America's Four Stories (Part 1)

America's Four Stories (Part 2)

A summary:

"The Democrats’ weakest story has been the Rot at the Top. Democrats have been reluctant to condemn economic elites who have grown richer than ever and who have used their affluence to corrupt the political system.

"This should not be surprising. Since the 1980s, Democrats have been drinking at the same funding troughs as Republicans — big corporations, Wall Street, and wealthy individuals. And as the Supreme Court opened the spigots of big money into politics, those troughs have become far larger, for both parties."

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"Bernie Sanders told this story about the real Rot at the Top, but other leading Democrats have been reluctant to tell it.

"The Democrats’ failure to tell this story has enabled Republican cultural populism to fill the void, offering Americans who were growing distrustful of the system an explanation for what had gone wrong and a set of villains to blame — immigrants, '“coastal elites,' 'woke'ism, the 'deep state,' transgendered people, 'communists,' 'socialists,' the 'Left,' Critical Race Theory, 'cat ladies,' and other bogeymen.

"But none of these is the real explanation. The real explanation, the real Rot at the Top, has been a new record concentration of wealth and power at the top — enough to corrupt our system of self-government."

Eisenhower Was Right

"President Dwight David Eisenhower, perhaps the last real Republican, had a 90 percent tax rate for the super-rich during his administration.

"Eisenhower explained it this way: The super-rich could avoid the high taxes by investing their money in things that make America stronger. If they wanted to avoid high taxes, he said they could invest in business expansions and higher employee wages. They could give a million or two to tax-exempt non-profits that feed, house, and clothe poor people of America, among other things.

"They did some of that, but the Eisenhower years generated enough taxes to launch and complete the labyrinth of interstate highways, the largest road project America had ever seen and is needed again."

Eisenhower Proved That Higher Tax Rates Could Work

It's Not A New Story

The USA just experienced a brutal "assassination" of the CEO of a major healthcare insurance corporation and there is no lack of conflicting responses to such. Much of the comments from social media are making jokes, fueled by legitimate anger over corporate greed in this area of our economy. While I abhor such responses, I understand what is fueling it. 

Click on this link for an article by my favorite American historian, which places this event in the context of other events in US history that were also motivated by corporate greed.

Beware The Billionaires

"This is an ideology gaining in popularity amongst tech billionaires that the world is inevitably heading toward a collapse, and that instead of trying to prevent that collapse, we should rip off the band-aid as fast as possible to get to the better world on the other side. While there’s a cold logic to it, it’s a dangerous philosophy that ignores the incalculable human suffering that such a collapse would create."

Click on the link below for more about this real sub-terranean movement that is visible through Elon Musk and most of Trump's support:

Why Some Billionaires Are Actively Trying To Destroy The World

A Summary Of Trump's Disasterous Financial Plan

"The economy was a key issue for American voters. Trump has promised to make incomes 'soar' and make the cost of living 'come tumbling down.' But economists — like Financial Times global business columnist Rana Foroohar — aren't convinced. Foroohar says that Trump's plans for deregulation, tax cuts, and tariffs will likely bring an economic downturn. She joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss the practicalities of the Trump agenda."

Click on the link below for what is ahead for the USA and the planet if Trump is true to his word:

What Will Trump's Economic Plan Mean For America's Wallets?

Leading Economists Strongly Prefer Harris' Economic Plan

"Twenty-three Nobel Prize-winning economists endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris over former President Donald Trump in a joint letter released Wednesday. Morning Joe economic analyst Steve Rattner joins Morning Joe to discuss the economic plans of both Trump and Harris."

Click on the link below for the details:

Trump’s mass deportation and trade war plans will tank the economy

Trump's Tax Plan Was Harmful, Don't Accept Any New One

"The verdict is in: Trump’s tax scam was trickle-down economics on steroids."

Click the link below for a video from Robert Reich exposing Trump's economics:

Trump’s Tax Scam: Why Nothing Trickled Down

Tariffs: What You Rely On If You Are Economically Ignorant

"Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is elevating McKinley, representative from Ohio from 1877 to 1891 and president from 1897 to 1901, to justify his plan to impose new high tariffs.

"Trump’s call for tariffs is not an economic plan; it is a worldview. Trump claims that foreign countries pay tariff duties and thus putting new tariffs of 20% on all imports, and as much as 60% on Chinese imports, will bring enough foreign money into the country to fund things like childcare, end federal budget deficits, and pay for the tax cuts he wants to give to the wealthy and corporations.

"This is a deliberate lie. Tariffs are essentially taxes on imported products, and they are paid not by foreign countries but by American consumers. Economists warn that Trump’s tariff plan would cost a typical family an average of more than $2,600 a year, with poorer families hardest hit; spike inflation as high as 20%; result in 50,000 to 70,000 fewer jobs created each month; slow economic growth; and add about $5.8 trillion in deficits over ten years. It would tank an economy that under the Biden administration, which has used tariffs selectively to protect new industries and stop unfair trade practices, has boomed."

Click on this link for more.

The "Multiplier Effect" In The Economy

Many economists will admit that economics is the "Dismal Science." Why? Because there are unaccounted-for variables. That said, the Multiplier Effect is science, thus real. In other words, when you spend money on ANYTHING, that goes through the economy and becomes worth more than the original amount of money many times over, to the benefit of all. The Democrats/Progressives recognize this reality, but the conservatives/Republicans/MAGA don't. That is why it is wrong for wealth to pool at the top of society unspent when EVERYONE benefits more when the middle and lower classes get more money because they SPEND more of their wealth.

It Is Difficult To Determine Causation Regarding The Economy

Click on the links below for several articles about whether Trump or Biden was better for the economy. It is important to consider all influences. One cannot just look at their effects presently:

The Trump and Biden Economies by the Numbers

Biden versus Trump's Economies

Biden versus Trump's Economy, in Eight Charts

How The Economy Really Fared Under Biden/Harris And Trump

Is Economic Growth Always Good?

"A 10th basic tenet of our system is that economic growth is always good.

"This, too, is utter bunk. Unconstrained economic growth is causing such grave harm to the climate that its costs are likely to be greater than the gains.

"Mainstream economists don’t measure the costs of growth. They talk about climate change as a so-called “externality,” as if it were just incidental to growth.

"But if you consider the deaths and injuries caused by chemical pollution, wildfires, and more intense hurricanes and storms, the costs of growth are huge.

"It’s possible to shift from an economy organized around growth to one organized around sustainability. How? Dramatically reduce the use of fossil fuels. Limit what can be mined and extracted."

"Treat the Earth the same way we treat any limited natural resource: We prevent overfishing by limiting the amounts of fish that can be taken out of the sea over a given period of time.

"We should also limit the amount of gunk that can be put into the air, limit how much plastic can be produced, how much of our coastlines can be developed, and how much land can be owned and developed.

"In other words, if we accept that the Earth is a finite resource, let’s also agree that infinite growth will destroy the Earth. It’s already on its way."

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/debunking-myth-10-economic-growth

Trump Only Helped The Elite In His First Term

 Click on the links below for a clear understanding of what you will get under another Trump administration. If you are not in the 1% and vote for MAGA, you are gaslighted and gullible:

100 Ways, in 100 Days, that Trump Has Hurt Americans

The 2017 Trump Tax Law Was Skewed to the Rich, Expensive, and Failed to Deliver on Its Promises

The middle class needs a tax cut: Trump didn’t give it to them 

Trump’s Economy: 7 Broken Promises to Working Americans

A look at Trump's economic legacy

How Trump and Congress further rigged the economy in favor of the wealthy

How Trump Took the Middle Class to the Cleaners

Don't Believe The Lies: Democrats Best Against Crime And For The Economy

US Crime Rates At Historic Lows

The FBI released its latest Uniform Crime Reporting survey last week that revealed a notable positive trend continuing across the US—with violent and property crimes dropping by double digits.

Compared to January through March 2023, data from the first quarter of 2024 indicates that reported violent crime decreased by 15.2 percent.

Murder decreased by more than 26 percent.

Rape is down by 25.7 percent.

Robbery dropped by 17.8 percent.

Aggravated assault reports decreased by 12.5 percent.

Property crime also decreased by just over 15 percent.

The report includes data from more than 18,000 city, county, state, tribal, university and college, and federal law enforcement agencies.

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/us-crime-rate-drops-to-historic-lows-new-q1-stats-show/

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Surging crime levels, out-of-control Democratic cities and 'migrant crime.'

Former President Donald Trump regularly cites all three at his campaign rallies, in news releases and on Truth Social, often saying President Joe Biden and Democrats are to blame.

But the crime picture Trump paints contrasts sharply with years of police and government data at both the local and national levels.

FBI statistics released this year suggested a steep drop in crime across the country last year. It's a similar story across major cities, with violent crime down year over year in Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C.

NBC News analyzed crime data to evaluate Trump's assertions about the topic.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trumps-claims-crime-rates-clash-police-data-rcna145353


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Democratic Administrations Have Economic Advantage Since 1949

Since 1949, there has been a Democratic advantage in the average performance of key macroeconomic indicators measuring economic health, including: 

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth
Job growth
Unemployment rate
Growth in inflation-adjusted wages
Growth of market-based incomes per capita
Inflation
Interest rates

This Democratic advantage is across the board in all variables we measure but strongest in private-sector outcomes—notably, business investment, job growth, and the growth of market-based incomes.

Household income growth (adjusted for inflation) was faster on average and far more equal during Democratic administrations, and the Democratic advantage shows up for every group.

https://www.epi.org/publication/econ-performance-pres-admin/

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Government CREATES The Free Market

"Between the 1930s and 1970s, America’s middle and lower-middle class offset the power of big corporations and the wealthy through labor unions, small businesses, small investors, and local political parties.

"Since then, though, all such centers of countervailing power have withered."

Click on this link for a debunking of the myth that the government gets in the way of the free market.

Understand What Is The Greater Negative Influence In The USA

"Everyone knows the rule about not meeting your heroes because they'll so often disappoint you, today we look at the most disappointing yet most idolized false heroes of our day, the twits of tech and the zany hijinks they've been getting up to recently."

Click on the link below for an expose of the dangerous influence of for-profit corporations, especially in technology fields:

The False Promises, Enshittification Economics, and Misguided Adventures of the Twits of Tech

(Please understand that I support REGULATED capitalism,
BUT, that is not what is happening in the USA)

Is There A Better Tool For Economic Health Than GDP?

"There may be logic in the belief that wealth can measure well-being. Free-market prices are determined by supply and demand that can relate to how much better off individuals believe a good or service can make them. Greater wealth can mean greater access to things that can improve everyday life.

"And, it's conceivable that those who produce wealth in an honest way create the most value for others, in an economic sense.

"So, higher GDP might equate to greater human progress, because it means a greater amount or greater value of goods and services has been created.

"But does economic growth really mean that people are better off? Scratch a little deeper and you may find that GDP does not reflect this traditional view or actual economic value and health very well."

Click on this link for the details.

Immigration Is A Positive

"An increasing number of Americans are becoming concerned about immigration. As am I. And I am an immigrant. But my concern isn’t tied to the specter of hordes of criminals crossing our borders, as Donald Trump and many of his supporters insist, or to immigrants causing the cost of urban housing to soar, or to low-skilled or unskilled workers driving down wages.

"I’m worried instead that our changing attitudes about immigration, our rhetoric and our behavior, will ultimately curtail immigration policy to the point where we cause serious damage to our nation. In a fast-developing, fast-urbanizing world in which a fierce global battle for labor and talent is well underway, America is already underperforming. We have one thing going for us, though: robust immigration rates. And we’re about to give it up."

Click on the link below for more:

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-immigration-lies-hide-americas-real-immigration-problem-rcna152421 

The "Cowboy Myth" Of Rugged Individualism Destroyed

"I write a lot about how the Biden-Harris administration is working to restore the principles of the period between 1933 and 1981, when members of both political parties widely shared the belief that the government should regulate business, provide a basic social safety net, promote infrastructure, and protect civil rights. And I write about how that so-called liberal consensus broke down as extremists used the Reconstruction-era image of the American cowboy—who, according to myth, wanted nothing from the government but to be left alone—to stand against what they insisted was creeping socialism that stole tax dollars from hardworking white men in order to give handouts to lazy minorities and women.

"But five major stories over the past several days made me realize that I’ve never written about how Trump and his loyalists have distorted the cowboy image until it has become a poisonous caricature of the values its recent defenders have claimed to champion."

Click on the link below for more:

Conservative Economics Debunked

Mega-Corporations And Big Tech: A Monopoly Nightmare

"The effort to turn theory into practice that will open up new ways of thinking about antitrust lawsuits attempting to rein in big tech and other mega-corporations, which are operating in a new phase of capitalism."

Click on the link below for a podcast presenting the history of monopolies, anti-trust legislation and what is needed presently to resist the continuing growth of monopolistic corporate practices:

New Era of Antitrust for a New Era of Capitalism, Mega-Corporations and Big Tech

The Reason Today's Young Are Pissed Off (And, Rightly So)

"In a scorching talk, marketing professor and podcaster Scott Galloway dissects the data showing that, by many measures, young people in the US are worse off financially than ever before. He unpacks the root causes and effects of this "great intergenerational theft," asking why we let it continue and showing how we could end it."

Click on the link for the video:

How the US Is Destroying Young People’s Future