The current academic and political obsession with inequality
is like crabgrass taking over a pristine lawn of Kentucky bluegrass. Inequality has become the cudgel of professors
and politicians to blame every social, economic, meteorological, political,
educational, unemployment, racial, ethnic, religious, military, dietary, and
behavioral problem afflicting the United States and the rest of the world.
The scourge of inequality is the greedy, selfish, lucky 1%,
which has too much income and wealth.
Their success, claim the professoriate, deprives everyone else from
achieving their dreams. Never mind that
most of the rich and wealthy made it into the 1% through hard work and
risk-taking, not from their parents or trusts, and created jobs for others in
the process.
Who are the academic members of this complex? They are professors in the humanities, social
sciences, and law that enjoy incomes placing them in the top 2-5%, with job
security, high social status, and excellent working conditions. They are advisors to politicians and
government officials. They are critics
of successful entrepreneurs, whose donations to their institutions ironically
help underwrite their salaries and research centers on inequality.
The salience of inequality has forced conservatives to argue
the finer points of its exact degree, to show it’s not quite as bad as
portrayed. But defending the 1%, even
the working 1% while excluding the hereditary 1%, is regarded as beyond the
pale of acceptable discourse in the academy.
Federal, state, and local governments love the tax revenue
that is collected from the 1%, who funds a disproportionate share of government
activity, but loathe and demonize the 1% who pay the taxes.
The academic political inequality industrial complex wants
higher tax rates on the rich and wealthy to reduce the gap between the 1% and
99%. It also wants more government
spending on education, job training, and infrastructure to boost the 99%.
Remember “Joe the plumber?”
He was the object of then presidential candidate Barack Obama’s vitriol
for not wanting to pay more in taxes to help those less fortunate in life. Instead of praising Joe for supporting his
family and employing others, he told Joe that it was more important to “spread
the wealth around.”
Let’s talk about one of the core programs on which the
academic political inequality industrial complex wants to spend more: inner-city education in poor communities,
ostensibly to provide greater opportunity to climb the ladder of success. High school and college graduation rates in
inner cities are appalling, and have been so for decades, despite ever higher
per pupil expenditures. Until and unless
studious behavior becomes the norm, no amount of money will make a difference. But the academic political inequality industrial complex
will not take on the interest groups that block efforts at improving
educational outcomes in inner cities.
Study after study of the 1% documents that most of the 1% is
of the current generation. They have
worked 60-70 hours a week and have to be available on weekends and holidays. They pay up to 50% or more of their earnings
in federal, state, local, and employment taxes, yet are accused of not paying
their “fair” share. They fight their way
through morning and evening traffic to work to produce the goods and services
that everyone, including welfare recipients, consumes while being blamed for
global warming, excessive consumption, and contempt for the downtrodden. They support charities that help those with
medical and financial difficulties.
Then there is the entrepreneurial 1% that works 70-80 hours
a week with no job security whatsoever.
In the process of becoming successful, they provide part-time and
full-time jobs to 10, 20, 50, or more individuals who pay taxes. Instead of being thanked for their
contribution to the local community and the country at large, they are
criticized for not paying their “fair” share in taxes. They are guilty of blocking social justice.
Meanwhile the political academic class goes through the
revolving door of government jobs, lucrative lobbying positions, corporate
directorships, and distinguished professorships, often the presidency itself,
of the most prestigious universities.
Let’s put the blame where it belongs, on the academic political inequality industrial complex, not those who produce the goods and services,
provide jobs, and pay the taxes that sustain our lives.