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 17
... progress in understanding the differential economic im- pact of alternative tax policies — largely because political con- siderations tend to overwhelm factual analysis when it comes to debate about government's decisions to tax and ...
... progress in understanding the differential economic im- pact of alternative tax policies — largely because political con- siderations tend to overwhelm factual analysis when it comes to debate about government's decisions to tax and ...
Page 29
... progress and improvement of condition to all . " 2 This was , for Lincoln , the American Dream , the raison d'être of America , and the unique contribution of America to world history . President Abraham Lincoln was the first American ...
... progress and improvement of condition to all . " 2 This was , for Lincoln , the American Dream , the raison d'être of America , and the unique contribution of America to world history . President Abraham Lincoln was the first American ...
Page 38
... progress represented one great thrust of our early national life , then the other great thrust was toward increasing political democracy . In the years leading up to Lincoln's entry into politics , most states had expanded their ...
... progress represented one great thrust of our early national life , then the other great thrust was toward increasing political democracy . In the years leading up to Lincoln's entry into politics , most states had expanded their ...
Page 39
... progress . Jack- son's economic policy approach was of a piece with his skepti- cism about what we would call today the public sector . Two Economic Systems Jackson's attack on the activist American System proposed by Clay was ...
... progress . Jack- son's economic policy approach was of a piece with his skepti- cism about what we would call today the public sector . Two Economic Systems Jackson's attack on the activist American System proposed by Clay was ...
Page 40
... progress and the dream of social mobility took fire in the northern mind . Northern and western states from New York to Illinois actively pursued internal improvements and built up their public infrastructure to support this dream . By ...
... progress and the dream of social mobility took fire in the northern mind . Northern and western states from New York to Illinois actively pursued internal improvements and built up their public infrastructure to support this dream . By ...
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