By the way, I discussed this issue fully in my second book, and explained why this situation also enables the wealthy to determine where and how large amounts of money, which should rightfully go into the people's national treasury, should be spent. That is not how it should work, because we should ensure that the common wealth is used for the common good. That is, we should ensure that the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes so our government can do what good government should do -- ensure domestic tranquility; establish justice; keep the peace; promote the general welfare; provide for public safety, health, education and child care; provide for the common defense; build and maintain our infrastructure; and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.
As it is, the U.S. Government really does only one of those things adequately, which is to have mighty police and military forces to protect and gain more wealth for the wealthiest few. But, in far too many cases justice does not prevail, domestic tranquility is not ensured, our infrastructure is not maintained properly, the general welfare is not promoted, many cannot afford health care or higher education or child care, and the blessings of liberty are not enjoyed by all.
That's largely because most of the wealth of the nation has actually "trickled" UP to those who were already the wealthiest. There were forty-four new American billionaires joining Gates during the last year, and they now total 372, which means nearly half of all the billionaires in the world are Americans. Twenty-three of them are among the top fifty most wealthy people in the world.
But no wonder! Just in the decade of the 1990s the Reaganite Republican controlled Congress enabled or allowed the income of corporate Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) to rise 481 percent! The combined yearly income of America's five highest paid CEOs in 1999 was a staggering $1.2 Billion.
To show you the rate of increase, back in 1980 the average CEO of a major American corporation was paid 42 times more than an average American worker. By 1990, CEOs were paid 85 times more than workers. By 1999 (after Congress was controlled by Republicans for just five years), CEOs were paid 476 times more than the average worker. Now, many of them are paid even more, and it now amounts to over 500 times more than the average worker and about a thousand times more than their lowest paid employees, and sometimes much more. And it's only getting worse. In 2005 CEO pay rose 22 percent more, while the average worker's pay rose only 3 percent.
This is in stark contrast to the situation in other countries. For example, German CEOs make only 13 times what the average manufacturing employee makes. In Japan, CEOs make only 11 times more. Even in England, where class distinctions are sharp, CEOs are paid just 35 times more. It might make sense that the highest paid executives be paid ten times more, but there is no reason whatsoever for American CEOs raking in 500 times more than the average worker and a thousand times more than their lowest paid employees. That is absurdly unfair and unconscionable. There is absolutely no excuse for it.
Speaking of comparing the U.S. to other places, Americans should know that in Western Europe workers don't even have to collectively bargain for a lot of worker benefits. Whether they belong in a union or not, most Western European workers get from four to six weeks of paid vacation per year, free prenatal care, long maternity leaves, longer parental leave, free child care, free health care, and much longer sick leave than in America. Furthermore, such benefits are guaranteed by the government. They are not something that had to be fought for by labor unions. Of course, they pay taxes accordingly, but fairly and willingly, because they get what they pay for.
By contrast, because of Reaganism, Americans generally don't get what we pay for because all the cream is scraped off the top by the wealthy few. Because of corrupt politicians and their inequitable and unfair laws, American businesses and corporations have been enabled to indulge in price gouging and cut workers benefits, health insurance, and even pensions. America is going way backwards, while many other countries in the world are going forward because they realize that the better workers are treated, the better off everyone is.
Yet, in spite of that, George W. Bush has berated the European models, and said that America "doesn't want to be like Europe." Obviously, this is just one more way that he serves the interests of the wealthiest few Americans.
A big part of the problem, as I've mentioned, has to do with the fact that 80 percent of all political financial contributions are made by the wealthiest one percent of the population to politicians in both political parties. The politicians in turn create or expand business-friendly legislation, and they also cut taxes for the wealthiest few people and their large corporations who provide the most financial support to their political campaigns. To reciprocate and reward their supporters, the politicians create more subsidies, tax loopholes, tax shelters and government giveaways, which so obviously benefit the wealthy few that conscientious critics have called it "welfare for the rich."
The result is that tax revenue is sharply reduced for the federal and state governments, which ultimately results in drastic cuts in funding for human services for people most in need, and it doesn't stop there. Also sacrificed are vital public services having to do with health care, public safety, public schools, public infrastructure (roads, bridges, etc.) and many other badly needed things. Then, the resulting socio-economic decline is used to justify further tax cuts for the wealthy, on the misleading and deceptively false theory (previously called "Reaganomics") that their increased wealth will "trickle down" throughout the whole economy and benefit everyone.
The very wealthy few think that's great, of course, and their conservative Reaganite politician puppets claim that it shows how great the American system is. But they perpetuate the Big Lie. It's actually tragic and catastrophic, because while the rich keep getting much richer, the poor keep getting poorer and the middle class keeps shrinking because more and more workers are slipping into the working poor population.
Unfortunately, as I said at the beginning of this page, when anyone raises that point, the Reaganites accuse them of waging "class warfare" and claim that the political-economic system is fair and just. In fact, they are proud of the America they have created. They like to wave the flag and say "The USA is Number One," and "America is the richest country in the world." But, unfortunately, that's not really true. In fact, it is a lie.
The truth is that while America has been number one militarily and is certainly great in many respects, it ranks low internationally in many areas, such as education, health care, child care, workers rights, workers benefits, etc., and it has higher rates of child poverty, general poverty, hunger, and homelessness than most European countries.
In fact, it could easily be said that the number one country in that respect is Denmark, where most of the people enjoy a very high standard of living and far more freedom in their pursuit of happiness, and the child poverty rate is among the lowest in the world. Denmark is not perfect, of course, but in many respects it is far better than the U.S.A. where the child poverty rate is shamefully the highest in the world.
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