Don't look to economists to warn us about the damage that's being done; most of them are in the pockets of big-money interests. They work for banks, insurance companies, and universities funded by corporate grants; they work for people who don't want you to change the system. They have it running pretty much the way they want it to.
Plutocrats have gamed America's tax system by filling it with benefits and rewards for themselves, disguised as charities and homeowner incentives. They've propagated the myth that their corporations shouldn't have to pay taxes and that capital investment is what drives the economy. They promote the egregious inequality they've brought about as an ideal entrepreneurial meritocracy. The plutocracy is dangerous to the country, its people, and even to itself as it pushes its advantage beyond the point of stability.
Plutocrats, through the Republican Party, have long controlled the narrative of American capitalism and the free market economy. But their narrative is false - it's merely a justification for the opulent excess of the rich and the struggle of the working class. They've defined a brand of capitalism with capitalists in control of public policy. That's repugnant to a republic committed to the ideals of democracy. It's time to reclaim the narrative in the name of the people. But who is up to this task?
The Democratic Party might be the only thing standing between the people of the United States and an economy headed for increasing inequality, social unrest, and apocalyptic instability. If the Party fails to act, our path will lead us into a dystopian future that nobody wants. What's a party to do?
Tax Reform for Donkeys has answers.
First, Democrats must embrace free market capitalism and redefine it as it should be - subject to the will of a democratic republic. Capitalism itself is little more than a way to facilitate the formation, aggregation, and deployment of resources for the production of goods and services. For as long as goods and services have existed, so has capitalism! So whether we call ourselves corporate Democrats, centrists, moderates, progressives, or democratic socialists, we'll be living with capitalism anyway. Private ownership of the means of production has its place in the American economy, so let's just say it. We're capitalists.
That doesn't mean we'll let the plutocrats keep running the country. No, we can be good capitalists and still understand that free markets require an arbiter - the federal government - to keep them free and fair. That's what's missing in the perverted plutocratic capitalism we see today. We must examine the role of regulation together with taxation to restore symmetry in markets for goods and labor.
We don't need to soak the rich - much less eat them - to correct the fundamental imbalances in the economy. Our economic inequality was brought about by tax policy, and tax policy can rein it in. But the patches and fixes we've used in the past don't work - we need to finally address the root causes.
But how? The Democratic Party must for the first time in nearly a century, start from scratch and imagine a brand new system of federal tax revenue. Some of us realize that the present system rewards capital at the expense of labor, of course. But even more destructively, the present system penalizes the employment of labor, causing under-employment and keeping wages low.
Here's a radical new proposal that would eliminate the federal deficit, give every worker a 7.65% raise, reduce unemployment, and provide a progressive tax schedule with a top rate of 36% and a uniform standard deduction. It would simplify the system, and it's actually GOOD for the largest corporate employers. And it would permanently eliminate the most important structural causes of economic inequality. Skeptical? Good - but you should take a look for yourself, just in case I'm right.
A deep dive into the numbers in the federal budget proves that we can create a much fairer system that yields tremendous advantages to working people, the economy as a whole - and even the plutocrats who created the old system.
So join me in my appeal to our one last hope - the Democratic Party - for careful consideration of these proposals. Oh, and if you're an OEN reader who can't afford to buy a book, send your e-mail address to me here techcfo|AT|yahoo.cwithin a week and I'll send you the book in the electronic format of your choice.
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