David Brooks’ Utter Ignorance About Inequality
Saturday, January 18, 2014
by Robert Reich
Occasionally David Brooks, who personifies the oxymoron conservative thinker better than anyone I know, displays such profound ignorance that a rejoinder is necessary lest his illogic permanently pollute public debate. Such is the case with his New York Times column last Friday, arguing that we should be focusing on the interrelated social problems of the poor rather than on inequality, and that the two are fundamentally distinct.
Baloney.
First, when almost all the gains from growth go to the top, as they have for the last thirty years, the middle class doesnt have the purchasing power necessary for buoyant growth.
Once the middle class has exhausted all its coping mechanisms wives and mothers surging into paid work (as they did in the 1970s and 1980s), longer working hours (which characterized the 1990s), and deep indebtedness (2002 to 2008) the inevitable result is fewer jobs and slow growth, as we continue to experience.
Few jobs and slow growth hit the poor especially hard because theyre the first to be fired, last to be hired, and most likely to bear the brunt of declining wages and benefits.
Second, when the middle class is stressed, it has a harder time being generous to those in need. The interrelated social problems of the poor presumably will require some money, but the fiscal cupboard is bare. And because the middle class is so financially insecure, it doesnt want to, nor does it feel it can afford to, pay more in taxes.
http://robertreich.org/post/73764746576