[Peace-discuss] Right to wealth

[C. G. Estabrook]

[From Doug Henwood's excellent new book, After the New Economy (New Press,
2003).  --CGE]

"The amount of money it would take to bring all officially poor households
up to the poverty line is amazingly small: .5% of GDP, or just over 3% of
the income of the richest fifth of households. It would take a bit more
money to bring the poor up to a civilized standard, but not that much.
Doubling the incomes of the poorest 20% of households -- from an average
of $10,136 (in 2001) to $20,272, which is still less than half the median
-- by taxing the richest 20% would require the affluent fifth to sacrifice
less than 7% of their income, bringing it down from an average of $145,970
to a mere 135,834. That would reduce their share of the national pie to
late-1980's levels, hardly a period when the upper orders were suffering.
But clearly it's much more important that the affluent be able to buy
Hummers than to accomplish this bleeding-heart goal." (p. 111)