The American Dream vs. The Gospel of Wealth: The Fight for a Productive Middle-Class EconomyNorton Garfinkle paints a disquieting picture of America today: a nation increasingly divided between economic winners and losers, a nation in which the middle-class American Dream seems more and more elusive. Recent government policies reflect a commitment to a new supply-side winner-take-all Gospel of Wealth. Garfinkle warns that this supply-side economic vision favors the privileged few over the majority of American citizens striving to better their economic condition.Garfinkle employs historical insight and data-based economic analysis to demonstrate compellingly the sharp departure of the supply-side Gospel of Wealth from an American ideal that dates back to Abraham Lincoln—the vision of America as a society in which ordinary, hard-working individuals can get ahead and attain a middle-class living, and in which government plays an active role in expanding opportunities and ensuring against economic exploitation. Supply-side economic policies increase economic disparities and, Garfinkle insists, they fail on technical, factual, moral, and political grounds. He outlines a fresh economic vision, consonant with the great American tradition of ensuring strong economic growth, while preserving the middle-class American Dream. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 65
Page 2
... First came the inevitable . In March 2000 , an inflated tech- nology stock market crashed , setting the stage for the onset of a recession a year later . Then came the policymakers . President George W. Bush came to office in 2001 with ...
... First came the inevitable . In March 2000 , an inflated tech- nology stock market crashed , setting the stage for the onset of a recession a year later . Then came the policymakers . President George W. Bush came to office in 2001 with ...
Page 3
The Fight for a Productive Middle-Class Economy Norton Garfinkle. growth during the first five years of the Bush administration averaged only 1.2 percent per year compared to 9.9 percent per year during the Clinton presidency . From the ...
The Fight for a Productive Middle-Class Economy Norton Garfinkle. growth during the first five years of the Bush administration averaged only 1.2 percent per year compared to 9.9 percent per year during the Clinton presidency . From the ...
Page 5
... first question , at the expense of the other two . It was not always so . A generation ago , most Americans would have instinctively understood the relevance of all three questions — factual , moral , and political . That is because ...
... first question , at the expense of the other two . It was not always so . A generation ago , most Americans would have instinctively understood the relevance of all three questions — factual , moral , and political . That is because ...
Page 9
... first place , the tax cuts had obvi- ously not " paid for themselves " ( almost no mainstream econo- mist expected they would ) . The Reagan administration's taxing and spending policies produced the largest peacetime federal deficits ...
... first place , the tax cuts had obvi- ously not " paid for themselves " ( almost no mainstream econo- mist expected they would ) . The Reagan administration's taxing and spending policies produced the largest peacetime federal deficits ...
Page 12
... first glance this principle might appear to have little to do with the modern debates over fiscal and monetary policy , the size of government , or the degree of government regulation of economic life . But underlying these modern ...
... first glance this principle might appear to have little to do with the modern debates over fiscal and monetary policy , the size of government , or the degree of government regulation of economic life . But underlying these modern ...
Contents
1 | |
12 | |
27 | |
47 | |
4 The Age of Reform | 69 |
5 The Business of America Is Business | 88 |
6 The Renewal of the American Dream | 107 |
7 The New Gospel of Wealth | 144 |
SupplySide vs DemandSide Economics | 163 |
9 The Way Forward | 189 |
GDP Consumption Investment Employment Unemployment and Marginal Tax Rates 19512004 | 201 |
Notes | 205 |
Index | 221 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
administration aggregate demand Ameri American Dream bank BEST Budget Bureau of Economic Bush tax cuts business investment business owners citizens clear the path consumer decades deficit spending demand-side democracy Democratic economic growth economic policy economists effect Engen and Skinner federal government Federal Reserve fiscal policy G.I. Bill GDP growth Gilded Age Gospel of Wealth Historical Statistics Ibid Income and Product income tax rate increase increasingly industrial inflation Kennedy Keynes Keynesian laissez-faire Lincoln low top marginal major marginal income tax marginal tax rates ment MIDDLE middle-class millions monetary policy National Income neo-Keynesian economics nomic personal consumption political President progress progressive tax prosperity Reagan real growth recession reducing reform Republican role Roosevelt Social Darwinism society stagflation supply-side economics supply-side tax cuts tariffs tax cuts Tax Policy taxpayers tion top marginal income top marginal rate U.S. Department U.S. economy unemployment Union United vision workers WORST York