ECONOMIC INEQUALITY

Findng a solution is not so simple

Re: “Economic inequality is Public Enemy No. 1,” Sept. 17 Jon Caldara column.

Jon Caldara’s opening sentence, “A warning to my friends on the political right,” in his Sunday column was enticing. Citing facts contributing to a stagnating economy as a fundamental cause of polarizing economic inequality with both liberals and conservatives, he made a strong case for his argument.

But looking for Caldara’s suggested fix to the problem left much to be said when he indicated that the solution was lowering tax regulations. I guess that the top 1 percent taxpayer decrease and the following trickle-down bonanza would be a proven, appropriate start to boost the economy? Yeah, right.

Bruce Huey,

Caldara identifies the right problems, income inequality and low gross domestic product growth, but prescribes the wrong solution, lower taxes.

In fact, there is a positive correlation between both the the top marginal individual and corporate income tax rates and GDP growth rate over the period from 1950 to 2014. Furthermore, if we look at the actual average tax burden, including all federal taxes, as calculated by the Congressional Budget Office for the years 1979 to 2013, there is also a positive correlation with GDP growth rate.

As far as income inequality goes, the before-tax income share of the top 1 percent of households held quite steady, between 9 percent and 13 percent, for the thirty years before the “Reagan Revolution” of the ‘80’s. Then, with that administration’s tax cuts and deregulation, that income share has risen rather steadily from 1982 until the present: estimated at 22 percent in 2015.

What has not worked for the last 60 years or so, probably won’t work now either.

Gary Waldman,

I agree with Jon Caldera that economic inequality is a serious issue for our country and must be addressed. However, I strongly disagree that excessive taxes and regulations are the main cause of economic stagnation.

In the 1950’s when taxes were much higher than they are today, our growth rate was also high. We came out of a war and our assembly lines were humming with manufactured goods and plentiful jobs. Trade unions were active advocates for blue collar workers’ pay and benefits. Coal was king with highrisk well-paying jobs. None of that is true today.

In today’s world automation along with out-sourcing has replaced a big chunk of those wellpaying, benefits rich jobs. Unions have been more or less phased out. We now live in the information and technological age. We’re shifting our shopping online causing the decline in retail stores and the jobs that go with them. Grocery stores are using automated check out machines instead of people.

Retraining programs and a free or lower cost education, at least for an associate degree would have a more beneficial outcome for our economic doldrums than lowering taxes and loosening regulations, especially those that are concerned with banking, public health and safety, and environmental degradation.

Jeannie Dunham,

I am not sure if the title to the article, “Economic inequality is Public Enemy No. 1,” was selected by the editorial board or the author. However, it does not reflect the content of the article. The article, which is actually quite good, suggests that stagnation is the problem, not economic inequality.

I am not a fan of a lot of things going on in our country right now, but placing incorrect titles on articles seems to me to be akin to false news. As we all know, most people read titles and rarely read the articles. Please take the time to know and understand your articles and title them properly. Incorrect titling can be subversive and intentional. Truth and justice need to prevail in all we do.

Mark A. Smith,