I was reading Robert Reich’s thoughtful column this morning and was struck by this sentence:
“In the late 1970s, the richest 1 percent of American families took in about 9 percent of the nation’s total income; by 2007, the top 1 percent took in 23.5 percent of total income.”
Let me repeat: Only 1 percent receive almost a quarter of U.S. income.
How does this income imbalance affect South Carolina working families?
Less money is spent on products and services. The rich tend to buy more stocks, invest in businesses … and not necessarily in the United States. They invest where the profit is the best, which can be anywhere on the globe whether it’s Switzerland or China.
There’s nothing wrong with that in itself, but this does not create jobs.
And, right now, American businesses are sitting on their profits, not hiring our people either.
The income imbalance and American businesses’ reluctance to hire are why today’s infrastructure initiative to fund $50 billion for 15,000 miles of better roads, 4,000 miles of stronger railways, 150 miles of re-built airport runways is so critical to creating new jobs now.
These will be jobs that not only give opportunities for working families in the short term, but also will provide businesses better and more efficient transportation for years and years to come.
Remember President Eisenhower’s initiative in the 50s to build our federal highway system? We all drive these highways every day!
And, while we might complain about all that truck traffic, can you imagine if I-85 or I-20 didn’t exist?
Investing in infrastructure is a smart plan to give South Carolina’s working families jobs now … and to provide a powerful tool for businesses to build on for the long-term.