How Do You Tackle a Big Idea?
It has long been believed that Capitalism is the last economic system. It has triumphed over its rivals, socialism and communism, and has now come to define modern society. Many believe that the religion of Adam Smith was the culmination of all of our economic experiments. To many, not only is Capitalism the best economic system that humanity has ever devised, it is the best that it will ever devise.
Over 20 years ago, long before the experts caught on, the writers Mark Zepezauer and Arthur Naiman zeroed in on the upward redistribution of income in the United States. They called it “wealthfare,” and used the term to open their 1996 book Take the Rich Off Welfare. Here’s the first sentence: “Wealthfare—the money we hand out to corporations and wealthy individuals—costs us at least $448 billion a year.”
In 1996, making good on a shrewd political promise, President Clinton ended “welfare as we know it”. In 2017, battered by election losses, the Democratic Party should double down on a far bigger reform: ending “wealthfare” as we know it.
The mission couldn’t begin at a worse time, or a better time. The triumphant GOP, trifecta in hand, is off in its usual direction. The party is giddy at the prospect of handing another huge tax cut to the rich, including the elimination of an estate tax that affects less than one-third of one percent of all Americans.
