Where Did the Jobs Go--And How Do We Get Them Back?: Your Guided Tour to America's Employment Crisis by Scott Bittle & Jean Johnson

Author:Scott Bittle & Jean Johnson [Bittle, Scott & Johnson, Jean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Public Policy, Social Policy, Immigration, Political Science, World, General
ISBN: 9780062096678
Google: RJhosILJVFQC
Goodreads: 13621508
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Published: 2012-01-31T00:00:00+00:00

PUNISH THE RICH OR REDUCE POVERTY?

Probably the most powerful argument experts in this group make is that trying to narrow the income gap is the wrong goal. The Cato Institute’s Michael Tanner writes that “income inequality is the wrong focus for government policy. After all, if we doubled the income of every American tomorrow, inequality would actually increase—but we would also lift a lot of Americans out of poverty.”38 That, Tanner says, should be the objective: “not punishing the rich, but reducing poverty.”39 The way to do that, many would argue, is to encourage economic growth, spur job creation, improve education, and ensure that people can move up the economic ladder if they have the talent and the drive.

Throughout these pages, we’ve returned to the same question again and again: what are the best ways to rev up the jobs engine and get the economy back to where we want it to be? We can’t do everything; we have to make choices. Maybe curbing executive pay would prompt CEOs to focus more on the future. Maybe higher taxes on wealthier Americans are both fair and warranted. But if we choose to do these things, is it because they reduce the income gap? Or is it because they are good ideas that are likely to lead to good results for the job market?

Like many of the topics we’ve covered, there’s a subtle equation here. By itself, reducing the income gap may or may not be the best path out of our jobs problem. But even if there are other, better ways to stimulate job growth, that doesn’t mean that the income gap doesn’t matter at all.

In fact, the income gap matters for a lot of reasons. When we were researching this chapter, we were struck by this statement from the OECD, which looks at income trends internationally: “Growing inequality is divisive. It polarizes societies, it divides regions within countries, and it carves up the world between rich and poor. Greater income inequality stifles upward mobility between generations, making it harder for talented and hard-working people to get the rewards they deserve. Ignoring increasing inequality is not an option.”40

In the end, ignoring the income gap will probably come back to bite us. But that doesn’t mean that focusing solely on reducing the gap will pay off when it comes to getting the jobs we want.

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