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
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Page 7
... citizens had a stake . It was an economy that promoted a strong faith in democracy . Beginning in the mid - 1960s , however , the demand - side consensus began to go awry . President Lyndon Johnson em- barked simultaneously on massive ...
... citizens had a stake . It was an economy that promoted a strong faith in democracy . Beginning in the mid - 1960s , however , the demand - side consensus began to go awry . President Lyndon Johnson em- barked simultaneously on massive ...
Page 9
... citizens who would invest their increased revenue in their own busi- nesses . Many supply - siders claimed that such tax cuts would so powerfully unleash the forces of supply that the tax cuts would not even produce a deficit : they ...
... citizens who would invest their increased revenue in their own busi- nesses . Many supply - siders claimed that such tax cuts would so powerfully unleash the forces of supply that the tax cuts would not even produce a deficit : they ...
Page 10
... citizens slipping below the poverty line. The federal government is in debt up to its ears, and so are many Americans, as ordinary citizens max out their credit cards and borrow against their home equity in a desperate effort to main ...
... citizens slipping below the poverty line. The federal government is in debt up to its ears, and so are many Americans, as ordinary citizens max out their credit cards and borrow against their home equity in a desperate effort to main ...
Page 19
... citizens and their heirs was unnecessary and in some respects unfair - since such tax cuts would create deficits and could eventually lead to cuts in the necessary functions of the government . Such functions include national defense ...
... citizens and their heirs was unnecessary and in some respects unfair - since such tax cuts would create deficits and could eventually lead to cuts in the necessary functions of the government . Such functions include national defense ...
Page 22
... citizens . The great consequence of the advent of modern economic life in the six- teenth and seventeenth centuries was the emergence of the middle class . America was not only the world's first democ- racy ; it was also the first ...
... citizens . The great consequence of the advent of modern economic life in the six- teenth and seventeenth centuries was the emergence of the middle class . America was not only the world's first democ- racy ; it was also the first ...
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 |
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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