As readers of A taxing matter are aware, inequality has been rising in this country since Reagan instituted government policies that cut back on anti-trust enforcement and regulation of the big corporations(especially of financial institutions), grew the military-industrial complex, and privatized many government functions (from student loans to soldiering in US wars abroad). The militarization, privatization and deregulation of the Reagan GOP resulted in a significant boon for the wealthy who own the vast majority of the financial assets. As Leonhardt put it in a recent Times article:
Over most of that period, government policy and market forces have been moving in the same direction, both increasing inequality. The pretax incomes of the wealthy have soared since the late 1970s, while their tax rates have fallen more than rates for the middle class and poor. Leonhardt, In Health Bill, Obama Attacks Wealth Inequality, Mar. 23, 2010.
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For most of the last three decades, tax rates for the wealthy have been falling, while their pretax pay has been rising rapidly. Real incomes at the 99.99th percentile have jumped more than 300 percent since 1980. At the 99th percentile — about $300,000 today — real pay has roughly doubled.
The laissez-faire revolution that Mr. Reagan started did not cause these trends. But its policies — tax cuts, light regulation, a patchwork safety net — have contributed to them. Id.
The health care reform will ask the rich to pick up some of that burden that they have set aside since Reagan by increasing payroll taxes and cutting Medicare subsidies.That's a reasonable move in the right direction.
But making sure that everybody can have affordable access to basic health care is a truly significant change for the better, in spite of the imperfections of the bill. Our legislators have now spoken, and what they have said is that the country has an obligation to each of its citizens, to see that they can get access to basic health care that allows them to lead decent lives, without the fear that a sudden severe illness or injury may leave them homeless and helpless. Why don't you call your Congressperson and thank them for helping this country move towards universal health care, so that Americans can enjoy the kind of care that every other developed nation already has.
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