Most American workers are confused
by economics. While they certainly know
when they are not doing well, working longer hours for less pay, it is the causes
of this inability to get ahead that are not easily explained.
This lack of certainty in economics
has given republicans great leeway in blaming the wrong social and economic
factors for lack of opportunity and frozen wages. Unfortunately, many in the working middle
class believe these unsupported theories that are circulated by conservatives.
The example that irks me the most
is the conservative high jacking of the Robin Hood myth, as brilliantly
described by James Meek in the London Review of Books (Robin Hood in a Time of
Austerity, LRB 18 February 2016). The
conservative version of the Robin Hood Legend has all the same players as the
original medieval tale but gives “robbing the rich to pay the poor” a whole new
meaning.
Under this conservative revisionist
story of Robin Hood the great mass of heavily taxed citizens who work hard for
little reward are identified as our disgruntled working class. All but the ultra rich (the one percent), are
included in this category including multi millionaires who work for a living. The profits from their labor and taxes they
pay go to support a number of arrogant lazy individuals who have no need to
work, now identified as anyone receiving public benefits. The vast liberal bureaucracy is identified as
the Sheriff of Nottingham. The ultra rich
become the absent monarch, King Richard, who are cast as a kinder, more
benevolent authority, insuring that capitalism, including inherited wealth,
survives in its purest form. Lastly,
conservative politicians set themselves up as Robin Hood figures, seeking to
right the wrong by knocking down the disabled, the single mothers, refugees and
other assorted chiselers and cheats.
The new mantra becomes:”take back from the not working poor to give to
working citizens, including the wealthy.”
While this economic model that excludes
give backs from rich Americans seems preposterous, there is a reason why
republicans are able to get away with it.
Many low and middle income working Americans prefer to align their
economic interests with wealthy workers than with those who do not work at all. How else to explain disgruntled American
workers and small business owners throwing in their lot with a multi
billionaire presidential candidate, who lives in the stratified air of
penthouses, private jets, yachts and country clubs rather than with the
progressive democrats seeking an end to income inequality from the top down.
In a recent cover story The Economist pushes back against this
republican economic myth from a different angle. (Why high profits are a
problem for America, The Economist
March 26-April1 2016). It becomes clear
that there are additional hard facts to explain why the one percent continues
to gather extraordinary wealth. This
probing comprehensive study finds that the profits realized by the largest
American corporations comprising the S&P 500 have been too large for too
long when compared with historical averages.
While these corporations employ fewer workers, now only one in ten, they
have amassed over-sized profits through consolidation, productivity, lobbying
for favorable regulations and arcane patent laws. These giants suck up all the air in many
sectors of the market economy leaving little room for small businesses and
startups. This places severe restrictions
on competition and the hiring of new employees.
This well documented article makes
clear that the enemy of the small and medium size employer is not the safety
net created to help the most disadvantaged among us. What are holding back new business ventures
and new employment is our largest corporations that are realizing returns on
equity 40% higher at home than abroad.
By in large these profits are not being reinvested, not used to increase
wages and not returned to consumers by lowering prices.
Before a Republican Congress
attempts to cut corporate tax rates, give amnesty to overseas profits, or
permit further consolidation of large business interests it needs to understand
this clear and convincing example of runaway corporate greed. Perhaps conservatives seeking a more
equitable America will even return the Robin Hood myth to its original intent: to take from the rich and give to the poor.
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