"Wages, Wealth and Politics" (Paul Krugman, NYT 08/18/2006)

[swag]

http://select.nytimes.com/2006/08/18/opinion/18krugman.html?hp (subscription required)

excerpted (and worth a read) at

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2006/08/paul_krugman_wa.html

. . .

Finally, since 1980 the U.S. political scene has been dominated by a conservative movement firmly committed to the view that what’s good for the rich is good for America. Sure enough, the rich have seen their incomes soar, while working Americans have seen few if any gains. ...

Now, this chronology doesn’t prove that politics drives changes in inequality. There were certainly other factors at work... But it seems likely that government policies have played a big role in America’s growing economic polarization — not just easily measured policies like tax rates for the rich..., but things like the shift in Labor Department policy from protection of worker rights to tacit support for union-busting.

And if that’s true, it matters a lot which party is in power — and more important, which ideology. For the last few decades, even Democrats have been afraid to make an issue out of inequality, fearing that they would be accused of practicing class warfare and lose the support of wealthy campaign contributors.

That may be changing. Inequality seems to be an issue whose time has finally come, and if the growing movement to pressure Wal-Mart to treat its workers better is any indication, economic populism is making a comeback. It’s still unclear when the Democrats might regain power, or what economic policies they’ll pursue when they do. But if and when we get a government that tries to do something about rising inequality, rather than responding with a mixture of denial and fatalism, we may find that Mr. Paulson’s “economic reality” is a lot easier to change than he supposes.

[Nite Owl]

1. Krugman's always a good read

Why though do democrats fear being accused of 'class warfare'? There has been class warfare for decades now but its been by the repukes. They always turn the accusation around to us when it is them who are doing what they are accusing us of. Same with their 'patriotism' claim when they are the ones that tear apart the Constitution and the majority of them are chickenhawks. And then there is 'family values' something they don't have, they could care less about American families. There is a trend here.