-Caveat Lector-
Mr. Sowell is engaged in a rather clever campaign of disinformation.
Please read "America: What Went Wrong" by Barlett and Steele. Sowell's
points are refuted by the statistical evidence compiled by these two
Philadelphia Inquirer researchers. Their study is based on US Census and
OMB statistics which show that the bottom half of American society is
worse off than they were in the halycon days of Jimmy Carter.
Sorry. The facts do not support Sowell's position.
On Sun, 6 Jun 1999, M.A. Johnson wrote:
> -Caveat Lector-
>
> Income, taxes and demagoguery
> by Thomas Sowell
>
> WHEN YOU HEAR POLITICIANS and intellectuals talking -- often
> very loudly -- about "the rich," do you ever wonder who they
> are talking about and how much money those "rich" people make?
> And do you ever wonder why those who are making so much noise
> about the rich don't just come right out and tell us what kind
> of money they are talking about?
>
> Instead, we hear about the top 10 percent or the top 5 percent.
> But why so squeamish about saying how much money that represents?
>
> There is a reason for all this noise about the rich ---- and
> for all the silence about how much money is involved. Talking
> about the rich is politically very useful for whipping up envy
> and getting support for heavy taxes. But the incomes of most
> people in the top 5 or 10 percent are a lot less than most
> Americans would consider rich.
>
> If the incomes of all the people in an American household adds
> up to $72,000, that puts them in the top 10 percent of all
> households. But, when a husband and wife make $36,000 apiece,
> most of us would not consider them rich. Nor would we be likely
> to think that putting heavy taxes on them would be a good
> idea.
>
> Any attempt to lower the taxes of such a couple is guaranteed
> to bring out the noisy demagogues in Congress, denouncing "tax
> cuts for the rich" because people in the top 10 percent would
> benefit. But the only people whose taxes can be cut are the
> people who are paying taxes -- mostly people in the upper
> brackets, who are not rich.
>
> Even the top 5 percent of households do not usually fit what
> most of us would consider to be the rich. If all the incomes in
> your household add up to $127,000, then you are one of those top
> 5 percent who are so rich that the government thinks it should be
> taxing you like mad.
>
> That's $63,500 apiece if husband and wife are both working ---- about
> what mid-level civil servants would make. Or, if only one person
> is working and earning the whole $127,000 alone, that is about the
> average salary of a college president -- and much less than the
> average income of a college athletic coach. It is nowhere in the
> ball park compared to the incomes of top lawyers, corporate executives
> or professional athletes.
>
> What about the really rich people --- the ones with their own private
> jets and mansions here and there? There are such people but there are
> not enough of them to affect the statistics very much. Moreover,
> genuinely rich people usually have tax accountants to go with their
> jets and mansions, so that they can keep their jets and mansions.
>
> The people who really get hit hard by taxes that are supposed to be
> aking the rich are ordinary people who happen to be at the stage of
> their lives where they are earning more than they did in years past
> and more than they will be earning in the future. These are largely
> people in their 50s or early 60s who have worked their way up to a
> decent income and are seeing much of it drained away by politicians
> who proclaim that "the rich" ought to pay "their fair share."
>
> This "fair share" is as completely undefined as "the rich" themselves.
> The demagogues don't dare talk specifics in either case or people
> will start to see through them.
>
> If we look at wealth instead of income, it becomes even more obvious
> that "the rich" are not a different class of people but largely
> people in older age brackets who have accumulated some money in a
> pension fund, paid off most of their mortgage and put a little money
> aside to see them through retirement and the illnesses of old age.
>
> The average net worth of households headed by someone 65 years old
> or older is more than 10 times the net worth of households headed
> by someone under 35 years of age. But these aren't different classes
> of people, because everyone who is 65 or older was once 35 or younger.
>
> Many of the statistical "poor" are just as fictitious as the
> statistical "rich." For most Americans, being in the bottom 20
> percent of the income distribution is strictly a transitional
> phase. More of them rise to the top 20 percent than remain at
> the bottom, and the rest of them are scattered all in between.
>
> Most Americans are likely to have incomes in the top 10 percent at
> some point or other during their lives. So when politicians start
> talking about taxing the rich, send not to know for whom the bell
> tolls. It tolls for thee.
>
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DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic
screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters
and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright
frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects
spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
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