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Give Us Your Lavishly Rich, Your Xenophobic
Jul 22, 2010
Immigrants. Taking our jobs and public assistance. The cause of all
our problems.
But it's not true. We're blaming people who are struggling day-by-day
to survive on their own or support their families, while we applaud a
system that allows a financial expert to make enough money to pay the
salaries of 50,000 police officers.
Here are some facts:
The Census Bureau and the World Wealth Report 2010 both report
increases for the top 5% of households even during the current
recession.
Based on Internal Revenue Service figures, the richest 1% have TRIPLED
their cut of America's income pie in one generation. In 1980 the
richest 1% of America took one of every fifteen income dollars. Now
they take THREE of every fifteen income dollars. That's a TRILLION
extra dollars a year.
Some ultra-rich individuals, like hedge fund managers David Tepper and
John Paulson, made $4 billion in a year (on most of which they paid
only a 15% capital gains tax rate). This is enough to pay the salaries
of every public school teacher in New York City.
But we blame the immigrants instead of the people taking unimaginable
amounts of money from society.
Howard Zinn wrote about the petty thieves who go to jail for crimes
averaging $1000 per offense, while sophisticated financial insiders
get probation for swindling millions from the system. The only
difference now is that it's "legal" to use financial trickery to
divert funds from education and infrastructure to a few
well-positioned money managers.
The way it's supposed to work, say the free-market tax-me-not
supply-side trickle-down tea-party advocates, is that the rich will
create jobs and stimulate the economy by investing in new production.
But the richest 1%, who used to take $7 of every $100 of America's
income, have increased that to $20 of every $100 in just one
generation.
To put it another way, if the bottom 90% had shared in America's
prosperity at a level consistent with 1980 incomes, the average
middle-class family would be making $45,000 a year instead of $35,000.
And it's not just the rich individuals, but also the corporations that
are taking money meant for jobs and public needs. Fareed Zakaria noted
in Newsweek that the 500 largest non-financial companies are sitting
on $1.8 trillion in uninvested cash.
Zinn said change will occur only through direct action by the people,
as occurred in the 1960s and 1970s. The poor foreigner is not the
enemy. It's the person or corporation who siphons money away from the
rest of us while supporting our irrational fears through the media and
the military.
Give us your tired, your poor.
Give us your manipulator of finances.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Paul Buchheit
Paul Buchheit is an advocate for social and economic justice, and the author of numerous papers on economic inequality and cognitive science. He was recently named one of 300 Living Peace and Justice Leaders and Models. He is the author of "American Wars: Illusions and Realities" (2008) and "Disposable Americans: Extreme Capitalism and the Case for a Guaranteed Income" (2017). Contact email: paul (at) youdeservefacts.org.
Immigrants. Taking our jobs and public assistance. The cause of all
our problems.
But it's not true. We're blaming people who are struggling day-by-day
to survive on their own or support their families, while we applaud a
system that allows a financial expert to make enough money to pay the
salaries of 50,000 police officers.
Here are some facts:
The Census Bureau and the World Wealth Report 2010 both report
increases for the top 5% of households even during the current
recession.
Based on Internal Revenue Service figures, the richest 1% have TRIPLED
their cut of America's income pie in one generation. In 1980 the
richest 1% of America took one of every fifteen income dollars. Now
they take THREE of every fifteen income dollars. That's a TRILLION
extra dollars a year.
Some ultra-rich individuals, like hedge fund managers David Tepper and
John Paulson, made $4 billion in a year (on most of which they paid
only a 15% capital gains tax rate). This is enough to pay the salaries
of every public school teacher in New York City.
But we blame the immigrants instead of the people taking unimaginable
amounts of money from society.
Howard Zinn wrote about the petty thieves who go to jail for crimes
averaging $1000 per offense, while sophisticated financial insiders
get probation for swindling millions from the system. The only
difference now is that it's "legal" to use financial trickery to
divert funds from education and infrastructure to a few
well-positioned money managers.
The way it's supposed to work, say the free-market tax-me-not
supply-side trickle-down tea-party advocates, is that the rich will
create jobs and stimulate the economy by investing in new production.
But the richest 1%, who used to take $7 of every $100 of America's
income, have increased that to $20 of every $100 in just one
generation.
To put it another way, if the bottom 90% had shared in America's
prosperity at a level consistent with 1980 incomes, the average
middle-class family would be making $45,000 a year instead of $35,000.
And it's not just the rich individuals, but also the corporations that
are taking money meant for jobs and public needs. Fareed Zakaria noted
in Newsweek that the 500 largest non-financial companies are sitting
on $1.8 trillion in uninvested cash.
Zinn said change will occur only through direct action by the people,
as occurred in the 1960s and 1970s. The poor foreigner is not the
enemy. It's the person or corporation who siphons money away from the
rest of us while supporting our irrational fears through the media and
the military.
Give us your tired, your poor.
Give us your manipulator of finances.
Paul Buchheit
Paul Buchheit is an advocate for social and economic justice, and the author of numerous papers on economic inequality and cognitive science. He was recently named one of 300 Living Peace and Justice Leaders and Models. He is the author of "American Wars: Illusions and Realities" (2008) and "Disposable Americans: Extreme Capitalism and the Case for a Guaranteed Income" (2017). Contact email: paul (at) youdeservefacts.org.
Immigrants. Taking our jobs and public assistance. The cause of all
our problems.
But it's not true. We're blaming people who are struggling day-by-day
to survive on their own or support their families, while we applaud a
system that allows a financial expert to make enough money to pay the
salaries of 50,000 police officers.
Here are some facts:
The Census Bureau and the World Wealth Report 2010 both report
increases for the top 5% of households even during the current
recession.
Based on Internal Revenue Service figures, the richest 1% have TRIPLED
their cut of America's income pie in one generation. In 1980 the
richest 1% of America took one of every fifteen income dollars. Now
they take THREE of every fifteen income dollars. That's a TRILLION
extra dollars a year.
Some ultra-rich individuals, like hedge fund managers David Tepper and
John Paulson, made $4 billion in a year (on most of which they paid
only a 15% capital gains tax rate). This is enough to pay the salaries
of every public school teacher in New York City.
But we blame the immigrants instead of the people taking unimaginable
amounts of money from society.
Howard Zinn wrote about the petty thieves who go to jail for crimes
averaging $1000 per offense, while sophisticated financial insiders
get probation for swindling millions from the system. The only
difference now is that it's "legal" to use financial trickery to
divert funds from education and infrastructure to a few
well-positioned money managers.
The way it's supposed to work, say the free-market tax-me-not
supply-side trickle-down tea-party advocates, is that the rich will
create jobs and stimulate the economy by investing in new production.
But the richest 1%, who used to take $7 of every $100 of America's
income, have increased that to $20 of every $100 in just one
generation.
To put it another way, if the bottom 90% had shared in America's
prosperity at a level consistent with 1980 incomes, the average
middle-class family would be making $45,000 a year instead of $35,000.
And it's not just the rich individuals, but also the corporations that
are taking money meant for jobs and public needs. Fareed Zakaria noted
in Newsweek that the 500 largest non-financial companies are sitting
on $1.8 trillion in uninvested cash.
Zinn said change will occur only through direct action by the people,
as occurred in the 1960s and 1970s. The poor foreigner is not the
enemy. It's the person or corporation who siphons money away from the
rest of us while supporting our irrational fears through the media and
the military.
Give us your tired, your poor.
Give us your manipulator of finances.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.