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| It is a theme we seem to hear more and more of these days. We cannot solve our debt and deficit crises without "share sacrifice". And while I agree that bringing down our national debt and solvinig our deficits cannot be accomplished by any one thing and will require all Americans to sacrifice something the problem is this. All Americans are not sacrificing. While the working class languishes and are still expected to sacrifice for a very few Americans it is business as usual. |
That is because very few Americans have actually benefitted from the economic policy of the last thirty years:High-income households have benefited disproportionately from recent economic growth. Between 2002 and 2007, the top 1% of earners, those currently making more than $378,000 a year, captured a whopping 65% of economy-wide income gains. Those in the top 1% now take home around 20% of the nation's total income, and control over one-third of all wealth in the country. See http://www.epi.org/analysis_an... And while these very few have benefitted the most from these policies a funny thing happened. Even as they horded more of the money to themselves they have also eroded their own responsibility to their country that they lecture us about loving: Tax policies of the past decade also excessively benefited the rich, who now pay relatively low taxes by historical standards. For example, the top 400 households, with an average income of over $350 million, saw their taxes fall to just under 17% in 2007, down from an average of 26% in 1992. This is just a couple percentage points above the rate for middle-income families and less than the economy-wide average. Bush-era changes lowered taxes for high-income individuals, while adding trillions to the national debt. Thus we have an economy in which high-income individuals are not only taking home more and more, but they are also paying less and less. Despite this what does Congress do?? They extend tax breaks to these very people that have bankrupted our country. Instead of asking those with the means to sacrifice they have decided to shamelessly attempt to balance the budget by asking those with less to sacrifice and ignore what everyone really needs, more high-paying jobs: This deficit reduction debate comes at a time when the middle class is struggling in the aftermath of the Great Recession; high unemployment remains and foreclosure crises persist. Neglecting these concerns, Congress is turning towards cuts - in areas such as education, Medicare and research - under the auspices of deficit reduction while protecting tax breaks for the rich. The focus should be on investment and jobs, not middle-class pain. And while nobody here is suggesting that we can solve our debt crises by tax hikes on the rich alone, we are simply saying this. You cannot have shared sacrifice when one group of folks are constantly given a free pass from that sacrifice: By itself, higher taxes on high-income individuals will not solve the nation's long-run deficit problems. The growth rate of health care costs must be slowed. Spending by the Department of Defense should be reduced. Government programs that are wasteful or ineffective should be eliminated. But we cannot ask for shared sacrifice while exempting those best able to afford to pay a little more. So while we need to get serious about curtailing the debt our children will inherit one fact remains. No politician can be serious about addressing our national debt when the first thing they take off the table is sacrifice from the very folks who can afford it and have been given every break on the table the last three decades. So what we really need to be telling the millionaire and billionaire elites in our Congress is this. We have sacrificed for our country . . . We all love our country enough to continue to sacrifice. However, we cannot do it alone. When you talk about sacrifice and immediately exempt yourself from any of it you are not offering solutions you are spewing idiocy. So when it comes to "shared sacrifice" the American people are far beyond the ruling elites who make the laws. We have been sacrificing for a long time now and have nothing left to give. Until you catch up with us and start to share your part of the sacrifice maybe you should just shut the hell up and look into the mirror . . . source: http://www.hillbillyreport.org/diary/2867/the-problem-with-shared-sacrifice |
