The Gap

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This is about the gap between the rich and the poor.

Robert Reich: "7 lies"

A voice that has been crying in the wilderness for several decades, and which does have a significant number of converts, is that of Robert Reich, the diminutive former Secretary of Labor (in the Clinton Administration).

His principal point has been that Ronald Reagan began a trend to lower taxes in 1980, which resulted in two things: (1) the ability of the very wealthy to retain a larger proportion of their wealth than before, which has given them power, in particular, to influence government; and (2) the loss of purchasing power of the middle-class and the working class, which has driven them to turn against each other.

He has appeared on the Jon Stewart show on Comedy Central; at UCLA, on Bill Moyers, and on MoveOn.org.

The American Dream, he says, is based upon economic mobility; that is, the ability of a person to move out of the economic circumstances of his or her birth, into a higher one, through education, savings, and hard work.  But now, says Robert Reich, not only has the net worth of the highest sector on the scale of affluence in the USA moved greatly beyond that of the lowest sector, the earning capacity of the extremes of the population has spread apart as well, which means that economic mobility has come absolutely to a stop.

This analysis is based on the effective purchasing power of each layer of the American 10-layered party dip.  Subtract the cost of energy, gasoline, transportation, education, health care, food, clothing and shelter, what a person can buy, apart from the necessities, is almost nothing at the lowest level, and almost everything at the opposite end of the spectrum.  This leaves the political process almost entirely in the hands of the top 1% and its supporters, says Reich, which enables the ultra-rich to dictate the agenda of Congress.  The dream has died.

He goes further, to claim that the under-employed and the unemployed are so burdened that they dare not appear to be opposed to the wealthy, or business interests, or anyone who might label them as troublemakers.  Don't look for political activism among the  downtrodden, Reich seems to say; they're too afraid to do it.  The Tea Party is not the voice of the truly downtrodden, I have observed; it is a movement mobilized by the 'Have's, filled by the 'Want More's.

This leaves the more determined elements among the middle class (it hardly deserves to be capitalized any more) responsible for any and all political activism.  Of course, I suppose, we're being watched, and our names put in lists of People We Must Keep an Eye On.  The Christian churches, such engines for renewal and change in the sixties, have been quietly annexed by the protectors of the Status Quo.  What is the Quo of this Status, you might ask?  Low taxes, reduction in Government Services, raised prices for utilities, privatization of education, neglect of resources used by the middle class and the working class, such as the roads, bridges, playgrounds, libraries, and Federal and State Parks, recreation facilities; reduced hours for government offices, reduced free clinics, the rise of For Profit hospitals and Universities.  The Golden Age of the Ordinary American is gradually being put in the archives, and the Golden Age of the off-shored tax-sheltered millionaires is being strengthened.

Robert Reich does not offer an easy route to regain the power and independence of the middle-class and the working class.  He only asks that, if you're convinced that he is right, you should pass the message on.

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