This is my first diary, so any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated.
I have been meaning to write about this since I saw the November-December 2007 issue of Foreign Policy magazine.
A small article entitled "Leveling the Battlefield" asserts "Countries with greater economic equality are far more likely to emerge victorious in conflicts with less egalitarian ones..."
The article cites over a hundred wars going back to 1816.
This is ironic since the side of the political spectrum that usually advocates for war also usually opposes efforts to reduce wage disparities, feeling that any such laws are an infringement on freedom.
It makes perfect sense to me though. What after all makes a soldier jump off a landing craft and slog through the sand at Omaha beach or fly a B-17 on bombing raids over Germany? Will he fight as hard for a country that he feels treats him unjustly? Will he fight to allow a few people to enjoy vastly disproportionate wealth?
Following are some quotes from "Wealth Inequality Destroys US Ideals." The article was written by Don Monkerud and was posted on July 4th at Consortiumnews.com
"Since the national rise of Ronald Reagan three decades ago, the United States has been on a deadly course for a Republic, with wealth rapidly concentrating at the top and average Americans sinking or struggling to stay afloat.
During eight years of the Bush Administration, the 400 richest Americans, who now own more than the bottom 150 million Americans, increased their net worth by $700 billion.
In 2005, the top one percent claimed 22 percent of the national income, while the top ten percent took half of the total income, the largest share since 1928.
In 2007, the ratio of CEO pay to the average paycheck was 344 to one,...In the 60s, 70s and 80s, the average ratio fluctuated between 30 and 40 to one."
Robert Reich, the Labor Secretary under Clinton, recently pointed out on the Bill Moyers show that the reduction in income and wealth in the middle class was one of the causes of the current economic downturn. According to Reich business needs a prosperous middle class to buy goods and services in order to make the whole economy healthy.
So we see that we need to reduce disparities in wealth to be powerful militarily and we need to increase the buying power of the middle class in order for the economy to function at a high level.
And yet since Reagan we have pursued policies in this country that have increased the proportion of wealth that the wealthiest enjoy. The main change has been reductions in the effective rate of taxation on those in the highest bracket. Quoting from the same article linked above,
"In 1955, the richest tier paid an average 51.2 percent of their income in taxes under a progressive federal income tax that included loopholes. By 2006, the richest paid only 17.2 percent of their income in taxes.
In 1955, the proportion of federal income from corporate taxes was 33 percent; by 2003, it decreased to 7.4 percent. Today, the top taxpayers pay the same percentage of their incomes in taxes as those making $50,000 to $75,000, although they doubled their share of total U.S. income."
So it turns out that selfish policies on the part of the rich causes us to be a weaker nation and ruins the economy that made the rich wealthy to begin with.
Ironic isn't it?