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 33
Page 1
... grown at an average real rate of 4.2 percent , a figure well above the 3.2 percent average for the post - World War II era . Unemployment , at 4.2 percent , was well below the postwar average . Inflation was minimal . Yearly growth in ...
... grown at an average real rate of 4.2 percent , a figure well above the 3.2 percent average for the post - World War II era . Unemployment , at 4.2 percent , was well below the postwar average . Inflation was minimal . Yearly growth in ...
Page 4
... growing for several years at faster - than- historical rates — under a progressive tax structure that pro- duced healthy federal surpluses ? Why was the Bush adminis- tration content to throw away federal surpluses when huge unfunded ...
... growing for several years at faster - than- historical rates — under a progressive tax structure that pro- duced healthy federal surpluses ? Why was the Bush adminis- tration content to throw away federal surpluses when huge unfunded ...
Page 6
... grown out of the Great Depres- sion . In a book written in 1936 , Keynes showed policymakers a way out of the Depression . Keynes's key innovation was to shift the focus of economists from production , or supply , as the engine of ...
... grown out of the Great Depres- sion . In a book written in 1936 , Keynes showed policymakers a way out of the Depression . Keynes's key innovation was to shift the focus of economists from production , or supply , as the engine of ...
Page 8
... grow . One could engineer fairness , the supply - siders believed , only at the expense of economic growth . The government had been trying too hard to control the economy ; now the government had to learn to obey the laws of economics ...
... grow . One could engineer fairness , the supply - siders believed , only at the expense of economic growth . The government had been trying too hard to control the economy ; now the government had to learn to obey the laws of economics ...
Page 15
... grow . Under the influence of the doctrines of laissez - faire economics and Social Darwinism , the proponents of the new ... growing economy . Justice would be defined by the principle that those who contributed most to the economy de ...
... grow . Under the influence of the doctrines of laissez - faire economics and Social Darwinism , the proponents of the new ... growing economy . Justice would be defined by the principle that those who contributed most to the economy de ...
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