Quick thought after listening to Tom Ashbrook’s “On Point” today about the estate tax:
Any system, as a coordinated set of actants and relations, will disproportionately favor those of its members who know how to work it for their own benefit. A pragmatic egalitarianism will attempt to minimize the opportunities for such disproportionate favoritism, without creating worse problems in the process.
As a system oriented toward the monetization (commodification) of things, i.e.,the conversion of things into capital, and the accumulation of such capital through the means made available for that, capitalism disproportionately favors those who know how to squeeze money out of things. Progressive taxation, estate taxes, and other such means of regulatory management work to reduce such systemic favoritism so as to better support socially valued goals (such as social cohesion, equal opportunity, fairness, etc.).
The question is whether we want to live in a capitalist society characterized by vast discrepancies in wealth and power, or a democracy in which capitalist and/or market relations have a place but do not dominate all relations. In 1900, 1% of Americans controlled 50% of the wealth in the country. By 1970, as a result of progressive social and economic policies brought in by the presidential administrations of Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and others, that percentage had declined to 20% and a large middle-class had emerged. Today the percentage controlled by the wealthiest 1% is back up to 33%, and climbing.
Obama’s bad deal is a $70,000 gift for every millionaire, financed by a gigantic hole in the federal budget that will put on the cutting board education, infrastructure, and everything else most other Americans need and want.
Some Dem apologists say the deal is a $900 billion stimulus. Not true. The rich spend a smaller share of their incomes than everyone else, so the huge benefits going their way will barely stimulate the economy. (Their savings will move around the world wherever they can get the highest return.)
Enthusiasts on the right want to shrink government, and the deal sets them up nicely. Most Democrats, many Independents, and everyone else who still sees government as our last bulwark against privilege and power, are aghast by the deal.
There’s are some great analysis of the systemic reasons for this — the BBC covered the contractions of consumerism and David Harvey covered capital accumulation brilliantly. I’ve put them together with some musings of my own at:
http://lougold.blogspot.com/2010/12/course-on-consumerism-how-why-where-and.html
I hope you can check it out.
Good forest vibes to you from Amazônia.
lou