I was thinking about the banking fiasco and near-financial collapse, the economic malaise that is strangling so many families and communities, and the Republican demands for austerity last night. It's been a tough time everywhere. Three years ago we were mesmerized by a powerful advocate for change and hope. We were convinced that we could rise above petty partisanship and join in a common effort to combat the interests of greed and corruption which divide us. I was inspired, and I believed that sentiment.
Today, though, I'm having a hard time holding on to hope.
There is something happening when people vote not just for the party they belong to but the hopes they hold in common - that whether we are rich or poor; black or white; Latino or Asian; whether we hail from Iowa or New Hampshire, Nevada or South Carolina, we are ready to take this country in a fundamentally new direction. That is what's happening in America right now. Change is what's happening in America.
Change is what we want, and what we need, but the only change that I can see from the ground here, is that the man who promised to bring it has sided with the power and money interests who are actively preventing it. When the top contributors to your 2008 campaign include individuals from Goldman Sachs, Citigroup Inc, JPMorgan, Chase & Co, UBS, Morgan Stanley, and General Electric,, and you're courting the very people you publically criticize, well, I have a hard time holding on the hope you raised just three years ago.
While Wall Street executives still complain about the president’s name-calling and pressure for a regulatory overhaul, many say privately that his bark has been worse than his bite.
"Obama hasn’t been too bad to banks. He could have been worse,” said a top executive at one of the nation’s largest banks, a big supporter in the past who decided against attending the dinner because he did not want his colleagues and clients to see him supporting the president. (emphasis mine)
“His rhetoric was obnoxious,” he added, referring to the “fat cat” comments, “but since the midterms, he’s turned it off.”
The banks are too big, as a direct result of the Gramm-Leach-Blily Act that tossed out decades of successful defense against the exact conditions that lead to the Great Depression. And they can legally undermine the very economies that they are supposed to serve. Add the new incarnation of corruption, that of corporations hiding their money overseas where it cannot be taxed; it's only making the problem worse. The burden of financially supporting government falls on those of us who don't own corporations, who keep our money at home.
And in theory that's not a bad thing. We all need to pay our taxes. The reality in American society is something entirely different. University of California at Santa Cruz professor by G. William Domhoff, in his article "Wealth, Income, and Power describes the flow of wealth, income, and power to the top.
Just 10% of the people own the United States of America.
In English, if income was $100 distributed among 100 people, the one guy at the top would get $21.30, the next nineteen guys would each get $2.11 and the remaining eighty would each get $0.48.
If you earn $1 million or more, you're the 1% guy. If you earn from $80k to $1 million, you're the net 19%. and if you earn less than $80k, you're the bottom 80%. (Wikipedia)
So how does that break down into taxes paid?
For example, the top 20% receives 59.1% of all income and pays 64.3% of all the taxes, so they aren't carrying a huge extra burden. At the other end, the bottom 20%, which receives 3.5% of all income, pays 1.9% of all taxes. So the best estimates that can be put together from official government numbers show a little bit of progressivity. ("Wealth, Income, and Power") But the details on those who earn millions of dollars each year are very hard to come by, because they can stash a large part of their wealth in off-shore tax havens in the Caribbean and little countries in Europe, starting with Switzerland.
We are not leaning into a new Gilded Age, we're already there. Bridges and roads are collapsing, schools are falling apart, and we can't afford to fix them. Today, Republicans are calling for austerity measures which would devastate programs like Medicare and Social Security that the lower income earners and wealth holders depend on, while refusing to remove the tax cuts on those top earners that have created the massive budget deficits that they claim the austerity measures demand. They enjoy the benefit of our society, but won't pay their fair share.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has called on you, President Obama, to stand with the working people against the corporations and very rich who are holding our economy hostage. I'm standing with him, and asking my friends to join with me. If you share the benefits, you must share the burden.
There are good people in government, Democrats and Republicans, who see it, who want to stop it, and I hope you're one of them.
I want to believe. I want to wake up tomorrow and discover that the too-big-to-fail banks are finally being broken down into pieces that can be understood and managed. I want to believe that my fortunate and successful neighbors will shoulder their share of the burden. I want to believe that if I fall sick, or get hit by a bus, that I will be able to find quality medical care that I can afford. I want to believe the bridge I drive across won't fall apart there's an earthquake. I want to believe that the schools in my neighborhood can turn out educated, thoughtful young people who are ready and eager to contribute to society. I want to believe that when I'm old, I will still be able to live in my home, that I won't be turned out because the money I saved over my career has vanished. I want to believe that we can work together and turn this thing around.
I'm still holding on to the hope.