We’re in a recession because people aren’t spending enough. People aren’t spending enough because they’re not making enough. They aren’t making enough because working- and middle-class wages have stagnated while executive pay has dramatically increased.1 Corporations are making record profits2, and the money isn’t trickling down.
The gap between the rich and everyone else is wider than ever and increasing.3 It makes sense to raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires and redistribute that money to services that help the lower and middle classes. Those services will create jobs. People will spend more money. The economy will improve.
Consider the alternative: spending cuts. What ends up being cut? Public services such as healthcare, education, and fire departments. These kinds of cuts lower the quality of life for the majority of this nation’s citizens.
I’ll take the first option.
