Seventy-three people have died for every person killed in the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. So who is paying for all this "national security"?...the middle class. Even though the tea party fringe adopted the rubric, "we are
Taxed
Enough
Already" they are paying less in taxes that ever in post WWII America in terms of marginal tax rates:
This chart also destroys the
deadbeat myth that less tax on the rich produces more jobs. When the rich have more discretionary income they invest it to obtain capital gains taxed at a ridiculously low rate of 15%, or buy luxury goods such as art, collectibles, mansions, or boats and cars:
Tea party
agitators are correct to say the rich pay the most taxes on absolute terms, but in comparison to the rest of the developed world, that is not saying much:
The United States is well below the OECD average and Europe for the amount of tax revenue collected as a percentage of GDP and is right there with bankrupt Greece. The equitable principle of progressive taxation has been accepted in this country since the institution of the federal income tax in 1913. The rich
should pay more as a matter of social justice. But the middle class is increasingly being left behind in socio-economic terms. This chart shows the increasing cost of sending a child to college, a traditional route for upward mobility:
Young people not able to afford college often enter the military as a means of advancing themselves. It is well recognized that in periods of economic recession, military recruitment levels rise (R.
Moffet). But should that avenue be closed, or volunteers come home from imperial expeditions maimed or mentally disturbed there is a path that leads completely downhill, namely prison. The United States has the world's highest incarceration rates for men, particularly minorities and mostly for drug crimes:
However you want to slice or dice, a massive underclass is being created in the United States without jobs, burden by indebtedness, and or opportunity for "the pursuit of happiness" The Horatio Alger myth was created when this country still had a frontier into which it could economically expand. Historically when conditions of class oppression prevail, there ultimately is social upheaval. Tsarist Russia is the leading modern example, but something similar is going on now in Greece. The latest standoff over social justice in the United States continues. Whether the current social condition is one created by economic misfortune or the conscious efforts of economic elites to preserve their unfair advantage is the question still to be answered. The history of the Agrarian Revolt at the end of the 19th century suggests the latter. Americans commemorate their independence on July 4th, but their knowledge of their deep history is famously fuzzy. Yes, Paul Revere "rode those horses and rang them bells" (sort of). However, the American colonies' revolt against the English monarchy was motivated primarily for trade and taxation grievances, led by the colonial elite composed of southern landed gentry and northern merchants. Their noble rhetoric inspired less fortunate colonists to fight for independence. Their guiding Enlightenment principles were worthy save for the
backward compromise with slavery. But it was not a revolt of the laboring masses. Perhaps that revolution is yet to come.
