Pay No Attention To The Little Man Behind The Curtain

A new book by Matthew Desmond, Poverty By America, is the latest book about the topic of why poverty persists in the richest country on Earth.  In it, he discusses what he feels is the root cause of poverty's persistence, namely all of the ways that the non-poor benefit at the expense of the poor by keeping them poor.  It is true that it is not always enough to comfort the afflicted, sometimes you need to "afflict the comfortable" as well, to paraphrase the famous author and filmmaker Michael Moore.  

While there is a great deal of truth to what he says, and he makes some great points, the TSAP feels that the author is unfortunately 1) engaging too much in zero-sum game thinking, where in for one person to win, someone else has to lose, 2) largely ignoring the "little man behind the curtain", that is, the oligarchs of the big banks and Wall Street who fundamentally rig the game, and the FERAL Reserve that they own and control.  By focusing on all of the ways that the middle class and somewhat rich benefit at the expense of the poor, it also has the effect of ignoring what the billionaire class has done and is continuing to do to the broader working class, which includes the poor, the near poor, and the ever-shrinking middle class as well.  In contrast, David DeGraw back in 2014 wrote Peak Inequality, that really sheds light on the "little man behind the curtain":  the top 0.01%.  And it applies a fortiori to 2023, as inequality has only gotten worse.  If reading that doesn't make you feel RIPPED OFF, check your pulse 'cause you might be dead!

While there a number of things that need to be done to solve these massive intertwined and synergistic problems of poverty and inequality, keep in mind that we can mathematically end poverty overnight with a Universal Basic Income (UBI).  And also another that our tax code is actually regressive at the very top, where thanks to numerous loopholes, the top 0.01% often pay only a fraction of what those below them pay, if anything at all.  Aside from closing loopholes and greatly hiking the top marginal tax rates for those making over $10 million per year, another idea that has yet to be tried is a financial transactions tax on stocks, bonds, derivatives, and stuff like that. Alternatively, essentially all taxes could be replaced by a tiny 0.1% or less Universal Exchange Tax (UET) on all electronic transactions, period.  With a tax base of most likely $5 quadrillion or more, a 0.1% rate would raise $5 trillion per year, enough for the entire federal budget and then some.  It would actually be quite progressive in practice, since the rich make far more transactions than the non-rich.  And such a tax would still be quite painless for literally everyone except perhaps speculators and money launderers.

And of course, we need to nationalize the private FERAL Reserve, and restore the power of money creation back to its rightful creators, Congress, who would then authorize the Treasury to do so.  Such power is far too important to leave to the big banks and they sycophantic lackeys and technocrats. 

So what are we waiting for?