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 6
... workers and their families was patently unfair , and that unemployment and spreading poverty threatened the very basis of American democracy . After the economy recovered in World War II , Americans were still thinking within this ...
... workers and their families was patently unfair , and that unemployment and spreading poverty threatened the very basis of American democracy . After the economy recovered in World War II , Americans were still thinking within this ...
Page 7
... workers and their families . Government was understood to have an active role - indeed , a responsibility— in this process . The demand - side consensus constituted the basis of an economy that saw a remarkable growth of the American ...
... workers and their families . Government was understood to have an active role - indeed , a responsibility— in this process . The demand - side consensus constituted the basis of an economy that saw a remarkable growth of the American ...
Page 14
... worker . The new vision shifted focus to the extraordinary en- trepreneur , the business owner , the industrial magnate as the engine of the new industrial prosperity . Lincoln thought gov- ernment could and should enhance Americans ...
... worker . The new vision shifted focus to the extraordinary en- trepreneur , the business owner , the industrial magnate as the engine of the new industrial prosperity . Lincoln thought gov- ernment could and should enhance Americans ...
Page 15
... worker . The Gospel of Wealth promoted worship of the exceptional individual , the millionaire , the industrial magnate , as prosperity's engine . The ideal behind the Ameri- can Dream was universality and equality of opportunity . The ...
... worker . The Gospel of Wealth promoted worship of the exceptional individual , the millionaire , the industrial magnate , as prosperity's engine . The ideal behind the Ameri- can Dream was universality and equality of opportunity . The ...
Page 35
... workers was generally secondary to his nationalistic ambitions for the United States , his vision of America as an emerging world power . 15 Lincoln's vision came from his personal experiences . His perspective The Origins of the ...
... workers was generally secondary to his nationalistic ambitions for the United States , his vision of America as an emerging world power . 15 Lincoln's vision came from his personal experiences . His perspective The Origins of the ...
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