FIXING ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL INEQUALITY

Since President Teddy Roosevelt took on the mantle of trust buster at the turn of the 20^th century, government regulation through anti-trust laws and other regulatory mechanisms has been recognized as the only way to counterbalance corporate power and individual wealth.

However, since the 1980s, the corporate and financial elite of the country has increasingly exercised influence and control over our federal and state governments and their policy making and regulatory functions. This has undermined government as the counterbalance to the power of the elite. The tools they use to gain influence and control are campaign contributions and spending, lobbying, and the revolving door.

As a result of their economic and political power, the rules of our economy have been shifted to favor wealthy corporations and individuals. This has undermined the middle class and led to growing inequality in incomes, wealth, and opportunity. [1] (See my post Economic Inequality is Due to Shifts in Political and Marketplace Power for more detail.)

A return to the policies of the 1950s and 1960s would go a long way toward stopping runaway inequality and beginning to rebuild the middle class. A return to these policies is clearly not radical, although some may argue that it would be based on the current landscape of politics and power. Key elements of the post-World War II policies that led to broadly beneficial economic growth and decreasing inequality were:

• A truly progressive tax system;
• Workers with bargaining power, primarily through unions, who were better able to balance the power and interests of employers;
• Financial regulation that prevented speculation, manipulation, and international or offshore transactions that hurt or destabilized our economy; and
• Fair corporate and estate taxes that required payment of a reasonable share of taxes by these entities.

In addition, we need to create new policies to address newly emergent factors that have shifted power in our economy and politics:

• Full disclosure and stricter regulation of campaign contributions and spending;
• Trade agreements that actually benefit US workers and our economy; and
• Strict regulation and disclosure of lobbying and the movement of personnel through the revolving door between private sector jobs and government positions.

Institution of these seven policies would enhance economic equality and bolster the middle class. They would also reverse growing political inequality that is undermining our democracy. This would shift power away from wealthy individuals and corporations and back to average Americans.

I encourage you to contact your representatives in Congress and/or in your state government to let them know what you think needs to be done to address the economic and political inequality in the U.S. today.

[1]       Kuttner, R., 1/14/16, “The new inequality debate,” The American Prospect (http://prospect.org/article/new-inequality-debate-0)