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 5
... effect , in evaluating economic policy , we have to ask three questions : ( 1 ) Does it work ? ( 2 ) Is it fair ? and ( 3 ) Will it sustain the democratic struc- ture of our society ? Today our debate tends to focus almost exclusively ...
... effect , in evaluating economic policy , we have to ask three questions : ( 1 ) Does it work ? ( 2 ) Is it fair ? and ( 3 ) Will it sustain the democratic struc- ture of our society ? Today our debate tends to focus almost exclusively ...
Page 8
... effect , a mirror image of demand - side theory . The real engine of growth in an economy was not demand , said the supply - siders , but rather supply . The problem was that the gov- ernment was pumping too much demand into the economy ...
... effect , a mirror image of demand - side theory . The real engine of growth in an economy was not demand , said the supply - siders , but rather supply . The problem was that the gov- ernment was pumping too much demand into the economy ...
Page 19
... effect it will have on the entrepreneurial class in America . . . . And you all can help by explaining clearly to people that reducing the top rate will help with job creation and capital formation ; and as importantly , will help ...
... effect it will have on the entrepreneurial class in America . . . . And you all can help by explaining clearly to people that reducing the top rate will help with job creation and capital formation ; and as importantly , will help ...
Page 20
... effects . This is a moral claim . Tax cuts for top - income taxpayers , the president ar- gued , are in the interests of everybody . They serve the common good . They might not look fair at first glance , but they are fair because ...
... effects . This is a moral claim . Tax cuts for top - income taxpayers , the president ar- gued , are in the interests of everybody . They serve the common good . They might not look fair at first glance , but they are fair because ...
Page 22
... effects on the day- to - day lives of average citizens : they shape the way the costs and benefits of economic life are distributed . To put the point more directly : economic policies can create winners and los- ers . Contemporary ...
... effects on the day- to - day lives of average citizens : they shape the way the costs and benefits of economic life are distributed . To put the point more directly : economic policies can create winners and los- ers . Contemporary ...
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