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 41
Page 2
... Tax cuts , the president and his ad- visers said , were the key to increasing investment . Tax cuts were the key to increasing jobs . Tax cuts were the key to getting the economy back on a pathway of growth . Between 2001 and 2003 , the ...
... Tax cuts , the president and his ad- visers said , were the key to increasing investment . Tax cuts were the key to increasing jobs . Tax cuts were the key to getting the economy back on a pathway of growth . Between 2001 and 2003 , the ...
Page 3
... tax cuts would create a fundamentally new eco- nomic environment that fostered historically high rates of in ... tax increase during the Clinton administration while the Bush tax cuts produced noth- ing of the kind . What rationale could ...
... tax cuts would create a fundamentally new eco- nomic environment that fostered historically high rates of in ... tax increase during the Clinton administration while the Bush tax cuts produced noth- ing of the kind . What rationale could ...
Page 4
... tax cuts , especially in the post - September 11 era , when security spending was bound to explode and costly disasters awaited right around the corner ? How would major tax breaks for the highest - income earners work magic on an ...
... tax cuts , especially in the post - September 11 era , when security spending was bound to explode and costly disasters awaited right around the corner ? How would major tax breaks for the highest - income earners work magic on an ...
Page 8
... tax cuts — and es- pecially tax cuts for the highest - income taxpayers — as the key to generating new investment and production and , so they ar- gued , eliminating inflation . Supply - siders believed that demand - siders had put too ...
... tax cuts — and es- pecially tax cuts for the highest - income taxpayers — as the key to generating new investment and production and , so they ar- gued , eliminating inflation . Supply - siders believed that demand - siders had put too ...
Page 9
... tax cuts would so powerfully unleash the forces of supply that the tax cuts would not even produce a deficit : they would pay for themselves . The Republican candidate Ronald Reagan made supply- side tax cuts the center of his ...
... tax cuts would so powerfully unleash the forces of supply that the tax cuts would not even produce a deficit : they would pay for themselves . The Republican candidate Ronald Reagan made supply- side tax cuts the center of his ...
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