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. |
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... claim to support the goals of maximum economic growth and maximum benefit for the society as a whole, but they present radically divergent programs to achieve these goals. One approach claims that the engine of economic growth can best ...
... claim to support the goals of maximum economic growth and maximum benefit for the society as a whole, but they present radically divergent programs to achieve these goals. One approach claims that the engine of economic growth can best ...
Page 3
... claim of President Bush and his ad- visers — that tax cuts would create a fundamentally new eco- nomic environment that fostered historically high rates of in- vestment , job creation , and growth — had not panned out . At the same time ...
... claim of President Bush and his ad- visers — that tax cuts would create a fundamentally new eco- nomic environment that fostered historically high rates of in- vestment , job creation , and growth — had not panned out . At the same time ...
Page 4
... claims to support maximum eco- nomic growth and a fair and equitable basis for American democratic society . One vision , based on the American Dream , supports a progressive tax structure that enables the govern- ment to implement ...
... claims to support maximum eco- nomic growth and a fair and equitable basis for American democratic society . One vision , based on the American Dream , supports a progressive tax structure that enables the govern- ment to implement ...
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... claim to emphasize the factual dimension of economic issues at the expense of the moral and the political questions. That was simply a debating posture. It was another thing to actually have a factual basis for their claims (see chapter ...
... claim to emphasize the factual dimension of economic issues at the expense of the moral and the political questions. That was simply a debating posture. It was another thing to actually have a factual basis for their claims (see chapter ...
Page 20
... claim : that cuts in the top marginal income tax rate alter economic behavior in such a way as to cause more investment and employment ( and , as a result , more economic growth ) . This is a claim that is either true or false ; one ...
... claim : that cuts in the top marginal income tax rate alter economic behavior in such a way as to cause more investment and employment ( and , as a result , more economic growth ) . This is a claim that is either true or false ; one ...
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