It seems that we don't just have a wealth gap between the haves and the have-nots in this country, but also between the elderly and the young. Turns out that in 2009 adults over the age of 65 are financially better off that adults under the age of 35. This is a shift from previous generations. In 1984, it was the other way around. According to the Pew Research Center, "In 2009, the median net worth of households headed by adults aged 65 and older was 42 percent more than the same age group in 1984. In contrast, the net worth of households headed by an adult under 35 in 2009 was 68 percent less than the same age group in 1984." So older Americans are wealthier than they were in 1984, while younger Americans are poorer than they were in 1984. This is, at least to my mind, yet another example of how the "trickle-down" theory of economics 
did not work. In case you're one of those people who have been living under a rock fro the past thirty years, the trickle-down theory states that if you put more money into the hands of wealthy people, that it will trickle down to the poorest people and - like that infamous rising tide raising all boats - improve the lifestyle of everyone. But it never worked. What we have seen instead is that if you put more money into the hands of wealthy people, they invest it in stocks and bonds and such not and make more money for themselves. When Ronald Reagan came into office, he cut taxes on the wealthiest Americans by 90%. Every succeeding president except Barak Obama has also cut taxes on the wealthy, until is some cases the super-rich pay a lower tax rate than people who make considerably less. Over the past thirty years, while America has been engaged in this failed economic policy, the wealth has not trickled down. Quite the opposite, in fact. Poverty has trickled up. The middle class in America is shrinking at an alarming rate, not because more people are moving up the economic ladder, but because more people are moving down it. Meanwhile, the rich keep getting richer. If we keep going at this rate, soon there will be no middle-class in America - just the wealthy and the poor. And with the increase in poverty will come all of the myriad problems that we know are associated with poverty, much of which we are seeing today. Don't get me wrong now. I'm glad that more senior Americans are able to live out their retirement years in comfort. I just wish that the disparity in wealth between seniors and younger Americans wasn't so appallingly huge, and I wish that younger Americans hadn't fallen so far behind their counter parts of 30 years ago. One thing's for sure in all of this - the problems that our country is facing today are not the result of wealthy people not having enough money.
did not work. In case you're one of those people who have been living under a rock fro the past thirty years, the trickle-down theory states that if you put more money into the hands of wealthy people, that it will trickle down to the poorest people and - like that infamous rising tide raising all boats - improve the lifestyle of everyone. But it never worked. What we have seen instead is that if you put more money into the hands of wealthy people, they invest it in stocks and bonds and such not and make more money for themselves. When Ronald Reagan came into office, he cut taxes on the wealthiest Americans by 90%. Every succeeding president except Barak Obama has also cut taxes on the wealthy, until is some cases the super-rich pay a lower tax rate than people who make considerably less. Over the past thirty years, while America has been engaged in this failed economic policy, the wealth has not trickled down. Quite the opposite, in fact. Poverty has trickled up. The middle class in America is shrinking at an alarming rate, not because more people are moving up the economic ladder, but because more people are moving down it. Meanwhile, the rich keep getting richer. If we keep going at this rate, soon there will be no middle-class in America - just the wealthy and the poor. And with the increase in poverty will come all of the myriad problems that we know are associated with poverty, much of which we are seeing today. Don't get me wrong now. I'm glad that more senior Americans are able to live out their retirement years in comfort. I just wish that the disparity in wealth between seniors and younger Americans wasn't so appallingly huge, and I wish that younger Americans hadn't fallen so far behind their counter parts of 30 years ago. One thing's for sure in all of this - the problems that our country is facing today are not the result of wealthy people not having enough money.
No comments:
Post a Comment