The Big Sell-Out Must Stop Now

A Strategist For John Edwards Says Democrats Must Emphasize Economic Fairness

(CBS)  This column was written by Dave "Mudcat" Saunders, the Rural Liaison for John Edwards' presidential campaign. A longtime Democratic strategist, Saunders served as the personal adviser to Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., in his successful 2006 campaign and as rural strategist for Democrat Mark Warner's 2001 gubernatorial campaign in Virginia.

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As I get ready to head to Manchester, N.H., for this weekend's second Democratic presidential debate, I am already agitated at the thought that this one will mirror the first, with no talk of the "economic inequality" that is threatening to take down this country.

It is becoming painfully apparent that many of the Democratic candidates want to simply turn their back on the old Andrew Jackson staple of the Democratic Party — economic fairness.

It doesn't seem to matter that both the numbers and the leading economists are screaming that "economic disparity" will put this nation in the toilet much quicker than a nuke from Iran or North Korea.

Our not-so-far-off future is in grim danger unless "economic fairness" is restored to the American capitalistic system. Yet none of the top-tier candidates, other than John Edwards, seem to want to deal with it in strong fashion.

If you want to see what the shelving of economic fairness has already done to this country, get in a car and drive through rural and small town America. Edwards' own hometown has been creamed by job loss and funding cuts.

The economy of rural American and small towns and the once-attainable
"American Dream" have already been savaged by the cold-hearted realities of Republican deregulation, plundered with unfair trade treaties, and pillaged by big corporations operating under the immoral idea that nothing (or nobody) matters but their individual stock and dividend performance.

If the news this week that housing prices are beginning to drop makes the building boom (due to insane lending practices) come to an end, many of you in the middle-class will get a close look at the realities of a system "where democracy is subservient to capitalism, and not the other way around." Economic disparity will be coming to a suburb or exurb near you. What is a 20 percent to 25 percent drop in your home equity going to look like on your financial statement?

The economic numbers pointing to a calamity are endless. Income inequality has become a runaway train. For example, in 1980, the top 1 percent earned 8 percent of the country's income. Today, it's up to 21.8 percent. The richest 1 percent of U.S. households now own 34.7 percent of the nation's private wealth, more than the combined wealth of the bottom 90 percent. In a nation where each generation used to do better than their parents, this is no longer the case.

Last week, a study was released by the Brookings Institute, the Pew Charitable Trusts, and other think tanks, which said that men in their 30s are now making (adjusted to inflation) 12 percent less than their fathers did in 1974.

What is even more alarming is that middle-class Americans can no longer afford to save. The personal savings rate declined from 11.2 percent in 1982 to a negative 1.1 percent in 2006. There are literally thousands of other numbers and affirmations from leading economists that serve as undeniable proof that "economic disparity," if not dealt with, will take us down. As Casey Stengel once said, "You can look it up."

The most mind-boggling political aspect of the lack of Democratic debate on "economic fairness" is that the Republicans actually concede the reality of the possible catastrophe they (with the help of a few Democrats) have created.

"Income inequality is where the capitalist system is most vulnerable. You can't have the capitalist system if an increasing number of people think it is unjust." — Alan Greenspan, March 13, 2007.

Note: According to the Pew Research Center, nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of Americans now agree with this statement: "Today it's really true that the rich get richer while the poor get poorer."

"If we did not place some limits on the downside risks to individuals affected by economic change, the public at large might become less willing to accept the dynamism that is so essential to economic progress." — Benjamin Bernanke, Feb. 5, 2007.

Even "43" is saying it …

"The fact is that income inequality is real — it's been rising for more than 25 years." — President George W. Bush, Jan. 31, 2007

"And we're not kicking the Republicans' butts for it?" — Mudcat, May 31, 2007

It is well-documented that since the dawn of time the big boys have kicked the little boys if nobody was watching. For years, the Democrats watched out for the little boys (and the middle-sized boys for that matter), but this is no longer the case.

Why is John Edwards the only top-tier Democratic candidate even talking about the grim dangers of economic inequality?

(Note: Of course, when Edwards does bring it up, which is often, he gets bashed — expensive haircuts and a fine house and how a poor guy who lived the American Dream and got rich is "disingenuous" if he talks about economic fairness. You've got to be kidding me. If only the poor can talk about economic fairness, then only the uneducated should talk about education, and only the unhealthy should talk about healthcare.)

Many Democrats, buoyed by our successes in 2006, think that our success last year was due to something we did. While we did do better, I honestly believe that history will give the Republicans a lot of credit for it.

Not surprising, these are the same Democrats who still believe in the insanity of an 18-19 state presidential strategy that has been proven "wrong" and "wrong again" in the last two Presidential elections.

[bill1fj]

We, the people, need to decide if these professional politician in both parties and at all levels are really representing us.
If they are not representing us and are not doing there jobs lets vote them out of office.
I believe most of them have not been doing there jobs.
Just look at the mess we are in with millions of illegal aliens here and our borders open to anyone no matter what our laws say.
Look at the mess we are in in the middle east.
Look at our health care and education systems.
Its time to throw these rascals out and get some fresh representatives of the people, at all levels.

[ubrew12]

I support a redistribution of wealth, such that the wealthiest 10% of the country don't own more than 60% of the countries wealth (based on our history in the 20th century). Within that broad directive, capitalisms 'invisible hand' is free to operate. If you think that would be bad for competition, consider the game of football. After each game, the wealth is redistributed; each new game proceeds as though the previous had never happened. Is this bad for competition? Far from it. If instead you allowed teams to ACCUMULATE points, like the accumulation of wealth in capitalism, the game would soon be a farce, with neither team particularly interested in showing up to play. That is what happens in our society when wealth concentrates too acutely. And it HAS been concentrating:
Income bracket_____% Change in income* (1970-2000):
Bottom 90%________-22.5%
90-95%______________0.4%
95-99%_____________19.5%
99-99.5%___________47.0%
99.5-99.9%_________90.0%
99.9-99.99%_______227.0%
Top 0.01%_________412.0%
*as a share of ALL U.S. income. Source: 'Perfectly legal' by David Cay Johnston

[bill1fj]

We, the people, need to vote out these professional politicians that have screwed up the system. Lets get them to simplify the tax laws, and other laws. Lets deport the illegal aliens and fine and/or jail any company or idividual that hires them. This should open up millions of jobs that should pay better once the illegals are not here to drive wages down.
Then lets each one of take more responsibility for our actions. Take care with what we spend. Learn to become more self sufficient. Teach our children about being self reliant, respectful, and able to deal with lifes ups and downs.
I don't believe its either political party to blame for this mess, but its the professional politicians of both parties that are driving this country down.
Thank You

[caldwellptr]

There is an American Dream ????

[sparks224]

The gutting of the middle class continues.
It won%u2019t stop until we reach neo-con Utopia (1% of the population owns 99%of the wealth).

[cantshutup]

BRIANBWB wrote: "Planting Gardens; on what land? Who will tend it? how will the harvest be used? will a garden in the inner-city even produce anything edible?
Renting; no gardens, no return for your hard earned money, no closer to ownership of anything, just more hard earned money going to the already well off landowners, who, history shows, don't bother to maintain the rented property, which, over time, become tenements and slums."

Brian, my landlord lives in a victorian mansion right behind me. He's got a perfectly landscaped yard, huge pool, nice suv, and all the luxeries I can't stand to see over his 6' privacy fence. He is in essence a slum lord. He took care of his own property during last winters ice storm. I had no electricity, heat, nothing for 12 days while I heard his generator warming his mansion. I DO have a garden and I live right downtown in my city. I grow lettuces, spinache, tomatoes, cucuumbers, squash, corn and watermelon. I TEND IT,I plan on eating it. I work a 40 hr week at only 20,000 a yr and I'm a single parent. Life is hard, we go without a lot, the garden helps defray some costs and this summer I hope to build up more spaces for planting. If you are hungry and can't afford tomatoes, grow your own. It doesn't take a lot of brains to figure out how...google it. In my case I grew up on a self-sufficient farm...I sure miss it. As for the state of our country...it is the saddest and most unbelievable nonsense I've ever witnessed.

[peacock5]

Mudcat is right on the mark!
Anyone who is in doubt as to what John Edwards stands for, can just look at his policy statements at johnedwards.com.

[neobrian-2009]

Huey Long pegged " Income Disparity " many years ago. Maybe some of his ideas were a bit radical. But the fact remains,this trend has to stop. Republicans have long fueled this economic tendency. It`s grossly unfair to the working people of our country.This real problem has sky-rocketed under our most corrupt administration ever assembled.
Justice must prevail over greed. Common sense is needed at every level of our government.Let`s get started,everyone needs to do their part. Remember one snow flake may melt,but look what happens when millions unite. Come on people,wake up !

[r9119111]

monkfellow:

There is a happy medium and that has been lacking recently which forces people into extreme positions. Compromise has been lacking. We are too far to the right. America is in sad need of repair.

[monkfellow]

some of these comments about government decision-making in our free market have that soviet union-style ring to them and it's scary.
I prefer to make my own decisions about what to buy(and I happily buy a vehicle with a domestic nameplate;it's such a joke anyway.It's a Chevy Tracker, made by Suzuki in Japan,with drivetrain assembled in China and vehicle assembled in Canada-that's it-Edwards' new campaign slogan:close the Canadian border to imports!!!)Actually,the whole foreign vehicle ruckus smacks of racism towards the Japanese.I don't hear the big bad AFL-CIO complaining about BMWs and Land Rovers, so I have to presume the leadership is simply pro-white and anti-Japanese,which I thought ended after World War II.
But,I digress.
Forced unionism is the underlying goal for all Democrats,and that WILL be our undoing. The Soviets had unions and it was required for workers, under pain of shunning. I will stop working before I am forced to support an organization at odds with my individual beliefs.

[r9119111]

With the Republicans in control, it is every man for himself. What the consumer hasn't recognized yet is that they have a say in it also. Corporate advertising has made us all want more even if we don't need it. What you have isn't right and not enough, what you need is new, larger, bigger and better -- and we have all fallen for it. We live way beyond our means. Since our jobs are all being sent over-seas. We have been played for suckers.

The solution: Stop spending on unnecessary items.
economize in every way just like the corporations. Live within our means. Stop letting corporations suck the life blood right out of us. Demand more affordable homes.
Refuse to take out large mortgages. Don't accumulate high interest rates. Put savings in the bank. Refuse to elect people who will ignore the wishes of the people in favor of corporations. We do have a say in this. Demand that the rich and powerful pay their fair share of taxes. I'm sure you can think of more -- so go ahead and do it.

[toddpw01]

Right now we have government by, of, and for the Rich -- with very few exceptions. This really got underway about 30 years ago when Commercial Free Speech enabled the bacterial explosion of lobbyists on K Street.

I think the analysis in the book about the FairTax proposal makes one very good point -- we have accumulated so many taxes now, that it is very hard to understand the true distortions they cause in our economy.

For example, you wouldn't need minimum wage so much if your Rent wasn't inflated by your Landlord's property taxes, or if your food bill wasn't inflated by Fuel Ethanol incentives inflating the price of corn and many other crops.

You wouldn't be so worried about a deflationary Depression (like the 1930's) if you didn't have a 30-year mortgage whose cost would remain after the prices of everything (including your salary) had dropped.

The national savings rate wouldn't be so *** low if the Federal Reserve wasn't forcing interest rates down in an attempt to prevent a repeat of the 1930's. Of course, once they fix that you still have to pay full income tax on the bank interest, which punishes the upper-middle class for not tithing to Wall Street by investing in stocks, bonds, or funds.

[brianbwb-2009]

to Mr. BobEBenson

Your ideas, while useful, have problems of their own, for example;

Living within our means; ever hear of the "employed homeless", those who work at minimum wage jobs that cannot afford the deposit for an apartment? Should a laid off but willing worker simply give up and die because they cannot find work?

Saving; when ones' paycheck just almost covers hostelry and food, what is there left to save?

Carpooling: would you add two or more hours to your drive time to pick up co-workers? Assuming your minimum-wage job lets you afford a car, but still living within your means

Planting Gardens; on what land? Who will tend it? how will the harvest be used? will a garden in the inner-city even produce anything edible?

Renting; no gardens, no return for your hard earned money, no closer to ownership of anything, just more hard earned money going to the already well off landowners, who, history shows, don't bother to maintain the rented property, which, over time, become tenements and slums.

Like I said your ideas do have some merit, but how do you address the inherent weaknesses of each?

[brianbwb-2009]

to lorinkundert

Your argument rests on pure unsubstantiated, often-repeated jingoism, since when are the migrant harvesters unproductive, or the minimum wage workers? Or the unemployed, who are not jobless because of laziness, but because unemployment is maintained by the federal reserve chairman as tool used to moderate inflation?

When is a mother unproductive, who stays at home to raise her kids, while the father, even though working overtime, makes barely enough to pay for it? Unproductive?

The truly unproductive are trolls such as yourself, who have no ideas to contribute to finding solutions, but rather try to escape responsibility by "blaming the victims" of economic corruption...

[sparks224]

"... when you steal from the productive to give handouts to the unproductive you destroy incentive for the productive individuals to continue to be productive."
Posted by lorinkundert

You mean like when you give away the money in the Treasury in the form of cost-plus no-bid contracts to corporate welfare recipients.

[lorinkundert]

"economic inequality" that is threatening to take down this country. That will not take down the country, Socializing everything will take this country down, when you steal from the productive to give handouts to the unproductive you destroy incentive for the productive individuals to continue to be productive.

[bill1fj]

You know I hear a lot of talk from Edwarda, and the other professional politicians, but no action.
We are in a mess in the middle east that seems to have no end in sight. We have 15 million illegal aliens here and all the politicians want to do is grant them amnesty, when over 75% of the legal citizens want them out. Education and health care access is getting worse, not better. Waste and "pork" in the government grows every year.
What you gonna do John Edwards, or any of you people running for office?

[ubrew12]

"Why don't people who want to live in a "European style democracy" move to Europe rather than forcing this on people who don't want to live in such a society?" Posted by davidlar2 at 06:37 PM : May 31, 2007

That giant sucking sound you hear is the sound of your dollars being deposited in Europe (dollar down by 35% against the euro in the last 5 years and YOU KNOW its going to get worse). Why should the rich move to europe? They'll just put their wealth there while America slips into decline. In Europe that wouldn't be allowed. But I guess that's socialism and we can't have that.

Regarding economic freedom, ask yourself if the stock market is an example of a free market, or one that is FORCED BY LAW to be open and fair to all investors. Your answer should tell you all you need to know about whether economic 'freedom' is really what you want.

[redwilma]

I hate the huge economic divide in the U.S.

I hate myself for staying on the dreary stressful treadmill so that I can have a house that is larger than I need or even want, buy the kids stuff they don't need (or even want), etc., etc., etc.

Changes must be made. From within and without.

[walt1944-2009]

Edwards was the only Democrat talking about the disappearing middle class in 2004, and the only one talking about it now. Everyone's priority is getting out of Iraq, before addressing anything else and restoring the middle class is at the bottom of the list.

There is only one answer to bringing back the middle class and that is bringing MEANINGFUL JOBS back to this country. Not jobs working part-time at Wal-Mart or Dunkin Donuts, but real manufacturing jobs. Look at India and China; their economies are booming because of manufacturing jobs and the growth of a strong middle class. But Bush and company won't have that here, as they are too busy making money from the "free trade" policy that Bush Senior started.

So get rid of "Free Trade", NAFTA, CAFTA, impose a stiff tarriff system, and levy penalties that can't be passed on to the consumer against companies farming out their manufacturing overseas. "Look for the union label" and the "Made in America" signs, or we will be wearing buckskin and hunting rabbit and possum for our supper with flintlocks.