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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Page 3
... tax increase during the Clinton administration while the Bush tax cuts produced nothing of the kind. What rationale could the Bush administration have had for wreaking such havoc on the federal finances? Why insist Introduction.
... tax increase during the Clinton administration while the Bush tax cuts produced nothing of the kind. What rationale could the Bush administration have had for wreaking such havoc on the federal finances? Why insist Introduction.
Page 6
... kind of unofficial economic policy for the nation in the postwar years, reflected this understanding.It integrated technical economic insights developed by the British economist John Maynard Keynes with the moral and political ...
... kind of unofficial economic policy for the nation in the postwar years, reflected this understanding.It integrated technical economic insights developed by the British economist John Maynard Keynes with the moral and political ...
Page 11
... kind of a nation we seek to be. The promise of the American economy and the promise of America itself have always been closely bound up together.What kind of an economy do we seek,and what kind of a nation do we wish to be? Do we want ...
... kind of a nation we seek to be. The promise of the American economy and the promise of America itself have always been closely bound up together.What kind of an economy do we seek,and what kind of a nation do we wish to be? Do we want ...
Page 20
... . We have witnessed this kind of failure on a major scale twice in the past hundred years. The first episode was the Great Depression of the s,and the second was the stagflation of the The American Economic Vision.
... . We have witnessed this kind of failure on a major scale twice in the past hundred years. The first episode was the Great Depression of the s,and the second was the stagflation of the The American Economic Vision.
Page 27
... familiar moral context. In actuality, the Civil War was fought not just about slavery, but about what kind of economy the nation would have. It was a moral clash, and it was. 2 Lincoln's Economics: The Origins of the American Dream.
... familiar moral context. In actuality, the Civil War was fought not just about slavery, but about what kind of economy the nation would have. It was a moral clash, and it was. 2 Lincoln's Economics: The Origins of the American Dream.
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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Common terms and phrases
administration American Dream argued average bank BEST Bureau Bush business investment called citizens claim consumer consumption created Deal decades deficit demand demand-side Democratic economic growth economic policy economists effect expand federal government first fiscal Gospel of Wealth growing hands HIGHEST historical House important improvements income tax rate increase increasingly individual industrial inflation interest investment issues Kennedy kind labor Lincoln major marginal income tax ment MIDDLE middle-class millions monetary nearly nomic opportunity ordinary percent political President problem Product progress prosperity Reagan reducing reform Republican result risk role Roosevelt Security social society spending strong substantial supply supply-side tax cuts tion top marginal income unemployment Union United vision workers WORST York