Widening gap

May 21, 2009 06:15 am

— Have you noticed that whenever there is a wide gap between the incomes of the rich and the poor there is also a high unemployment rate, and that when this gap is narrow, there is a low unemployment rate?
It's true!
There is a direct correlation between the gaps in incomes and the unemployment rates, and it has existed every year since 1920.
What does this mean?
This means that tax cuts for the wealthy will lead to high unemployment rates. Cutting taxes for the rich has been called "trickle-down economics," and it doesn't work to create jobs. One former Republican president once called it "voodoo economics."
What else does it mean? It also means that raising the minimum wage, cutting taxes for the middle class and raising taxes for the rich will lead to lower unemployment rates by narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor.
Will a recent increase in the minimum wage and a tax cut for the middle class, along with a future tax increase for the wealthy work to lower unemployment? Time will tell.
David L. Faust,
Selinsgrove