The Pew Research Center has just published a report that most people in a large sample believe that inequality is increasing in the United States. There is some difference between Republicans, Democrats and Independents in the frequency of that belief, but in all cases more than two out of three respondents agreed that inequality was increasing.
Note then the difference in the following table, also from that report:
I believe that there is evidence that inequality of wealth and incomes decreases the rate of growth of per capita GDP. If the GDP is growing slowly, and most goes to the rich, then poverty will only slowly be reduced. If in fact, the GDP grows slowly and the rich take an ever larger portion of the GDP, the poor will benefit very little if at all. Even if that is not clear to Republicans, the effects of lowering taxes on the rich and on corporations should be clear, since they have not led to rapid growth.
Government aid to the poor, who include large portions of children, single mothers, the disabled, the old, and the working poor, seems obviously going to do a lot of good. I am not sure why so many Republicans think it will do more harm than good -- that is why they think these people without government help will become more independent, not just poorer.
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