Submitted by: Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger
Normally, when I work on a guest blog it takes me some hours of research and writing since I type slowly and try to be as accurate as I can be. This one will be a little different because it is written mainly to refer you to the transcript and/or podcast of a fantastic interview with the investigative journalists Donald L.Bartlett and James B. Steele. The interview was conducted by Rob Kall, whose OpEdNews website http://www.opednews.com/ is one that I look to for interesting insight into the political issues of the day. The interview deals with these authors’s current book which is called: The Betrayal of the American Dream”.
Rob Kall’s interview with the author’s is lengthy and so rather than my usual effort to provide a synopsis and relevant quotes of a position that I endorse, I’m going to give you a hint of what this interview contains and the provide you the links so that you can make your decision on the author’s thesis and hopefully be informed on some very important issues for all of us. Readers here know I supported President Obama for re-election, but have been critical of many of his policies. This interview and the book that it is about, demonstrate that the forces at play in the rapid decline of the American Middle Class seem beyond the power of our government to control, simply because they are backed by an elite that not only finances election campaigns, but that has also dominated the discussion with so much false propaganda, that today’s politicians who were born later than 1960 are not even familiar with the reality of how much our economic landscape has changed. Because of this unfamiliarity many don’t even have the conceptualization that things used to be different and why they’ve changed so drastically. In that sense this is less about conspiracy and more about the effect poor education, corporate media and propaganda can accomplish. When I say that the problem is beyond government’s power to fix, it is with the caveat that if the issues presented here were first understood, then maybe we could combat them. In some sense we are all blind men, hypothesizing the nature of an elephant by touching different parts. This interview and the book it is about can miraculously cure the blindness and start the discussion on how we can deal with this 3,000 pound elephant in the room we call America.
I will mention two, among many, of the major factors in the decline of the American Middle Class laid out by the authors. The first is that until the 1970’s our Income Tax was really graduated to the point that government had ample revenue to do its job. The second is that one of the major revenue sources for the Federal Government was tariffs. It was the dismantling of the graduated Income Tax and the proliferation of trade agreements reducing tariffs (and tariff revenue) that have been major pieces in the shipping of jobs overseas, increasing our national debt and destroying what was the greatest industrial economy in the World. For me, a child born to politically aware parents, before the end of World War II, I’ve lived through this history and watched in dismay as these changes took effect. Most Americans though, except for those most prescient, have no idea of what was done, simply because these changes took effect before they were born, or in their early youth. This election past and the polling of attitudes that went with it, show that the majority of Americans perceive that they are being cheated, but often their perception of how, has been skewed by the disinformation that is rampant to the extent that they blame it on the wrong source. If you read either the transcript of this article: “The Selling Out of the Middle Class is No Accident” at this link: http://www.opednews.com/articles/1/The-Selling-Out-of-the-Mid-by-Rob-Kall-121017-79.html or listen to the interview at this podcast: http://www.opednews.com/Podcast/Applying-Investigative-Jou-by-Rob-Kall-120915-680.html
I deeply believe that it will be time well spent.
Profit trumps morals. Greed tramples decency, Power corrupts.
People in a democracy have the ability to vote into office politicians that represent quality morals, decency, and fairness.
Our leadership today by Fiat alone, represents the morals, decency, and fairness present throughout our country . It is all too often a very ugly picture. Citizens can vote these rascals* out every two years. It seems to me we vote them back in every time.
Money spent by the plutocracy influences the attitudes and votes of the people. The mainstream media is a sycophant tool of the 0.1% ers.
Thanks for the link Mike Spindell.
* I chose the term “Rascals” because the true term for them would not pass moderation.
Saw them on CSpan – about a 90 minute interview. Stunning, just stunning.
Nick,
I have paid the self employment tx. However,
I do not think it should be capped at all.
LK,
And you are back to the issue of democracy versus plutocracy (or any form of oligarchy). Government is a tool. It works for those who hold it. In our society, that is supposed to be the public trust that goes with the power of government being vested in the people. Our Congress no longer serves the people but instead caters to the narrow monied self-interests of corporations on a day to day basis. In many ways, this election was an indicator that Americans are tired to this, but expressing the will to change and forcing those who need to change are separates things. Will people in government start listening to the best interests of all or will their greed and egos keep us on a path of destruction? That remains to be seen.
bill mcwilliams: “Politely disagree that the problems “seem to be beyond the power of government to control”. Government created them as the fruit of large campaign contributions and pressuring Congress to control THAT will clear the way for reforming tax policies, restoring protective tariffs and all the rest.”
***
I’m in Bill’s camp insofar as the government being able to control and reverse the problem. More practically though is the question ‘does government have the will to do so?’ As a high school student my economics teacher, a retired and conservative businessman, was concerned about the growing pressure to abandon what was called at the time (’65) “protectionism”. He was against it unless sufficient controls could be maintained to protect American wage earners. He was of the mind that it could be a net plus but was fraught with danger if not done very carefully and with long-range plane in place. We spent a lot of time on the issue.
Every bad thing he predicted (and then some) I have watched happen over the last 50 years. I think of him and my “Politics” teachers occasionally and suspect, that as old school conservatives, they are spinning in their graves.
Darren, if everyone paid an equal percentage, I think it would be better in a lot of ways. I have always wondered WHY we should penalize people BECAUSE they are lucky enough to make more money. I think that having the taxes START at $30,000 is a good idea (since it would let me out). And I don’t think 11 percent is a too high rate. It might STOP the ultra rich coming up with loopholes to get out of paying anything at all, and for that reason might bring in more in the long run. But HERE is a novel idea! If there’s not money for it coming in, DON’T BUDGET IT! There might not BE enough money for stupid senseless wars, that do nothing but kill our families and other people’s families. That would be a shame! There might not (GASP!) be enough money for TSA and DHS and FEMA! We might have to actually let people’s donations trucks go through to help people out, instead of telling them to go back home we have it handled, as FEMA collects more and more taxes (mainly for ammunition and stuff like that)! I actually think it could work out really well. IF the income tax is legal at all, which you will still need to work out with Ron Paul first!
rafflaw, I do agree w/ you on ther SS tax being capped. And, being self employed for 30 years I paid BOTH ends of SS which I assume you do also? There should be a cap. I paid myself a salary[I was an S Corp] and many years my salary exceeded the cap. As much as I despised paying both ends of SS and Medicare, it always seemed like a low cap. At this juncture, just shooting from the hip, I would say the cap should be 150k and adjusted annually. The way things are going the adjustment may be downward!
Mike,
Interesting source material. Thanks for giving me another book to read.
nick
if they’re cooked long enough it should destroy any pathogens.
One problem with a gold standard is a finite amount of available gold pegged to an economy that can grow beyond the reserves of that gold. Moreover, there does not as easily exist a mechanism unless vast amount of treasury gold is held in reserve to inject into the money supply to stimulate growth during a recession.
Additionally, countries having great supplies of gold ore have comparative capital advantage over nations that do not possess such natural resources which can affect the trade imbalance greatly. A nation possessing few natural resources could see its currency devaluated if gold holding countries mine high amounts of gold which then gets included in the value of that country’s currency and since the lesser country has little gold, the market could value it’s currency lower since it does not have comparative gold reserves to back the currency.
But if the gold reserves are fixed and the economy is growing the gov’t might lower the gold reserve amount in relation to the dollars in circulation, then it becomes increasingly fiat like so we’re back to that again
lastly, pegging a currency to one index (the price of gold or silver) can make for some violent shocks to the currency’s valuation due to the price of one item (a large mining strike by a large gold producer, that is one business, could affect all currencies world wide if all adopted the standard) , as opposed to a fiat where the entirety of the market forces tend to dampen these spikes as its changes have vastly more variables.
nick,
I am not saying tax the rich till their death, but when you earn more you should pay a higher rate. I can’t take advantage of the capital gains rate or off shore tax havens. Why should the Social Security tax be capped at $115,000 of income?
Taxing the rich won’t solve our problems or restore the middle class. What really happened was that in 1971, Nixon de-tethered the dollar from gold and the dollar became a 100% pure fiat paper currency that fed big government, endless wars, unaffordable entitlements and Banksters Gone Wild.
The entire article is something right out of the Marxist playbook – a regurgitated Francois Hollande. You want to solve economic problems? End the wars, kill the military industrial complex, abolish the corporate tax and allow folks to be economically free. Of course, shrinking government would go a long way in restoring prosperity.
BTW, I utterly despise both political parties but did vote for Gary Johnson.
Politely disagree that the problems “seem to be beyond the power of government to control”. Government created them as the fruit of large campaign contributions and pressuring Congress to control THAT will clear the way for reforming tax policies, restoring protective tariffs and all the rest.
Electing more Buddy Roemers, Alan Graysons, Bernie Sanders et al. types
would help. ATTN: NPRers: Democrats are as much to blame as are
Republicans. THINK Green.
It is a conspiracy of the rich and powerful to kill the middle and upwardly mobile working class. This conspiracy was born of the hate of the New Deal and reved up steam as the privileged elite noticed that working class children were going to college and going to law school. As a result, the elites saw that education must be stopped and or crippled and so be fan the war on teachers. The working class lawyers knew what was going on and so began the attack on lawyers who worked for the middle class and workers. The elites also noticed that unions started to matter to Washington and so began the war on unions. The elites notice that reporters actuall looked into their back room deals and so began the war on journalists.
It’s a conspiracy alright. Now I’ll go listen to what the experts say but this is what I know from experience and the oral history of my father.
Tax the rich to near death, then kill them and eat them..they’re evil!
Darren,
I don’t think your tax plan would collect enough income taxes or SS taxes. I also do not think the Mitt Romney’s of the world would give up their capital gais tax rates. Also, the taxes should be based on income and not age. In your system someone making millions is paying the same rate as someone making $50,000. Taxes should not be equal for those with large incomes.
Mike:
I am curious to what your and the others’ opinions are on the following tax structure:
Income tax is payable by those individuals 25 to 65 years on all taxable earnings over $30,000 at a rate of 11%.
(I had not enough time to run statistics but the high level is as follows:)
Individuals are not taxed until they reach 25 years in age. This allows persons an opportunity to attend college, learn a trade, or otherwise establish / homestead themselves with less money devoted to borrowing for a home or higher expenses. There could be a factor where any amount earned over 100k would be taxable to help reduce tax shelters.
Persons over 65 years would not pay income tax, since retirement means a less income there would be a benefit in reduced tax liability that could help others be more financially stable.
Those in the middle age group would pay 11% of income that is in excess of 30K. Anything under 30k is exempt from taxes. This allows for a graduated exemption for those earning less money but will tax those equally.
There would be no deductions for expenses other than medical and mortgage interest. Capital gains are counted as ordinary income as are dividends..
I’m not trying to force this on anyone, just curious of what others might opin. I believe this help those less fortunate but create a lower tax rate for the middle class and eliminate some deductions that some view as being unfairly in the advantage of the wealthy. Your thought?
Mike, I appreciate your opinion, and agree with many of your arguments. I must confess that I’m having trouble with your writing style. You might want to review for inappropriate use of apostrophe marks and commas, as well as for run-on sentences.
MikeS,
You don’t belong to the “entertainment brigade” here. And have come with another epoch spanning job, only in this case you let their tale do the burden. A powerful introduction. Tnanks.
Knowing history is to avoid repeating it. Well, we don’t know much of anything in this country and that is the intentions of the one percent.
Yet we live, and I posed the question of what next in the next four years at:
http://jonathanturley.org/2012/11/07/the-akin-factor-how-extremism-and-egotism-has-crippled-the-grand-old-party/#comment-44720
Thee I hope that my questions are relevant and help the reasoning here.
Why post before reading? I can’t manage this tonight, it is too late and must stop staying up late as it does me out of Swede-time. So will see if there is anything left to offer after the folks here comment later. Cool to see if the folks rise to the challenge on a Saturday night. Bad slot.
Here at least reality-bearers don’t get their heads chopped off.
I want to get all of the comments on this one…