“Even one high-profile break with conservative orthodoxy would’ve had a protective effect. Imagine if Ryan had said, as Tom Coburn has, that balancing the budget means ‘my taxes are going to go up.’ Forget the fact that raising taxes is an obvious and inevitable element of a budget deal. Proposing it would’ve been politically masterful. It would’ve given Ryan cover for reforms like medicare privatization, which are, both from an ideological and fiscal point of view, more important. In the absence of any such attempt to share the sacrifice, however, Ryan’s left us with little more than a conservative wish list backed by some very funny numbers.”
“The richest 1 percent of Americans now take home almost 24 percent of income, up from almost 9 percent in 1976. As Timothy Noah of Slate noted in an excellent series on inequality, the United States now arguably has a more unequal distribution of wealth than traditional banana republics like Nicaragua, Venezuela and Guyana. C.E.O.’s of the largest American companies earned an average of 42 times as much as the average worker in 1980, but 531 times as much in 2001. Perhaps the most astounding statistic is this: From 1980 to 2005, more than four-fifths of the total increase in American incomes went to the richest 1 percent.”
— Nicholas Kristof in his Sunday column for The New York Times (Timothy Noah’s Slate piece is here).
So the gap between the Haves and the Have Nots grows, and yet anyone who even suggests spreading the wealth around a little is demonized as a socialist. But this isn’t socialism. It’s the right thing to do. This is the richest country in the world, and yet 44 million Americans live below the poverty line, or one in seven residents. That’s shameful, and despicable. The Haves, as these letter writers point out, built their wealth on the backs of American infrastructure and workers educated at public expense, so they do indeed have a greater debt to society. Time for them to pay up.
Three brief, fantastic letters to the editor
What a great group of letters to The New York Times regarding Paul Krugman’s Monday column!
From a Milwaukee woman:
I’m 81. I don’t have to worry about losing my home. I know I’ll never go hungry.
I can help my grandchildren go to college. I can give to causes I believe in.
Why am I not being taxed more? Why was I told to go out and shop after 9/11? Why wasn’t I asked to help pay for two wars in which brave young men and women are dying? The question remains for me: “It’s my country. I love it. Where is my responsibility to help the only way I can with my taxes?”
From an Ithaca woman:
I’d like to remind the wealthiest among us that they did not acquire their wealth all by themselves. They needed competent workers (educated at public expense), transportation and communications networks, laws and regulations (yes, regulations, such as those making their rarefied air fit to breathe) … and for this vast web of support, the rich do in fact have a greater debt to society than the poor or even the middle class. So stop whining and pay up.
From a New York woman:
Paul Krugman describes the concerns of a number of America’s wealthiest that they might have their taxes raised. Perhaps they might view this as a form of reinvestment to maintain the society that has provided them with the opportunity to benefit so enormously.
Couldn’t have said it better myself! (Really, I couldn’t.)
