A Christian Liberal is NOT an oxymoron.

Posted by XT on July 9th, 2008 in Progressive Faith

Niko Karvounis has an interesting post (it’s a week or two old) over at Taking Note. Some snippets to tease:

Taken together, the numbers from Isaacs and Hertz make for a compelling one-two punch: the richest folks in America are no more self-made than their international peers, and our poorest citizens have less of a chance of moving up than their global counterparts. Now that doesn’t sound like socioeconomic mobility, does it?

snip

Yep, that’s right: hedge funds raked in almost $80 billion in fees in 2007. Talk about bringing in the bucks! Here’s a good question to ponder: how many of those making a mint off hedge funds–billionaires or no–do you think come from the lower income quintiles of America? My guess is not too many.

The concept of the Billionaire Society where individuals make obscene amounts of money is very sexy, but for those who value the principles of the American dream–entrepreneurial spirit, upward mobility, and societally productive means of wealth creation–it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

I wasn’t invited to the conference (sniffle, sniffle) where Karvounis got his data, but it’s interesting. And it has some fairly simple implications.

First of all, it’s still possible to become a billionaire. Second of all, if you start off with $999,999,999.99 and make a single penny – does that count as “self-made”? If not, then how far down do you have to start to get that designation?

More than that, I wonder how this fuels the “anyone can do it” myth. You’ve heard it. Someone will say, “Look, if that guy can do it, anyone can.” Tellingly, this is usually said by someone who has never “done it”. One must wonder why someone dispensing advice that anyone can be rich is not rich themselves – assuming, of course, that being rich is somehow desirable.

I’m also afraid that it will be a reverse-psychological punch towards those on the lower end. You can just hear some old white guy running for President saying, “Well, only twenty-five percent of the people in the bottom quintile of income in Denmark stay there – and I think Americans can do better than Denmarkians (/snark) so the only reason someone is not moving up here is that they don’t want to.” This assumes, of course, that being poor is somehow desirable.

More than anything, it shows me the insanity of topping out our income tax rates at slightly more than $300,000 a year. Someone who pulls down an eight figure salary simply doesn’t have the same lifestyle as someone who has a measly (gee, I wish it were me) $500,000 a year. Why should they be taxed at the same rate? It isn’t that the richer guy is somehow being punished for being rich – it’s that the half-millionaire is being punished for not being rich enough.

According to the data presented, there are 469 billionaires in America – more than three times as many as there were in the whole world in 1986. Now these folks don’t all make a billion per year, but they have to be making somewhere in the hundred million per year range. If they all made $100 million, that would be $469 billion in total group income. A ten percent surcharge on their income would yield $46.9 billion – and that’s not chump change. I’m thinking it would be easier to get this from this small group than to go after several hundred thousand people who earn less than $20,000 (you would need to find 23,450,000 people at this level to equal the income of the billionaires). I’m also thinking it would hurt the guys at the top a hell of a lot less.

But that’s just me.

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