----- Original Message ----- From: Robert Weissman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, August 16, 2000 4:39 PM Subject: [corp-focus] The Billionaire Mindset and Wealth Inequality > The Billionaire Mindset and Wealth Inequality > By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman > > Surely one of the most amusing developments of the 2000 presidential > election campaign is the emergence of Billionaires for Bush (or Gore). > > With chants and slogans like "Vote for Bush (or Gore) Because Inequality > is Not Growing Fast Enough" and "Who needs day care, hire an au pair!" the > Billionaires have highlighted not only the big money corruption of > politics, but problems of growing income and wealth inequality in the > United States. > > (For more on the Billionaires for Bush (or Gore), a project of the > Boston-based activist group United for a Fair Economy, see > www.billionairesforbushorgore.com) > > Far less entertaining, but somewhat more surprising is a recent report > from the Conference Board that also highlights how the current economic > boom times have left low-wage workers behind. > > The Conference Board's answers the question in its report title, "Does a > Rising Tide Lift All Boats?" with a telling subtitle: "America's Full-Time > Working Poor Reap Limited Gains in the New Economy." > > The report is important for two reasons. > > First, it shows that distribution of the gains from the information > economy have been extremely skewed, with benefits heavily concentrated > among the wealthy and not shared among the bottom of the income and > distribution curve. > > "Poverty has risen in both the number and share of those employed > full-time and year-round since 1973," the report finds. While the number > of full-time workers making poverty wages declined dramatically in the > 1960s and early 1970s (from just under 5 percent in 1966 to 2 percent in > 1973), there have been no gains since then. In fact, the proportion of > full-time workers making poverty wages rose to 2.9 percent in 1998, the > most recent year for which such data is available. > > The number of full-time workers earning poverty wages does not indicate > the number of people in poverty, because it does not register the poverty > rate among those without full-time work, nor does it take into account the > effects of taxes, tax credits (including the important Earned Income Tax > Credit) or government assistance for poor people. > > But by focusing on wages rather than ancillary government support and > taxation programs, the Conference Board offers a unique insight into the > failure of the current wage distribution to enable families to escape from > poverty. (The numbers would appear far worse had the analysis focused on a > living wage level, which is significantly above the artificially low > poverty level.) > > The second reason the Conference Board report is important is because of > what the Conference Board is. > > The New York-based organization is a business-backed research enterprise > best known for its monthly Leading Economic Indicators and Consumer > Confidence Index. It is viewed as a dispassionate research agency, not a > front group for the corporations that fund it. > > Its trustees and officers represent a segment of the enlightened corporate > class, those who are aiming to protect corporations' long-term interests. > Among those corporations represented: Bestfoods, Phillips Petroleum, J.C. > Penney, Excel, Texaco, Martha Stewart Living, Fidelity Management and > Research, Goldman Sachs, British Airways, Unisys -- and yes, we know many > of these may not seem "enlightened." But the point is that in their > concern to head off social unrest before it develops, they may be willing > to make significant concessions in an attempt to quiet social movements. > > In a description of its historical origins, the Conference Board says it > "was born out of a crisis of industry in 1916" when "declining public > confidence in business and rising labor unrest had become severe threats > to economic growth and stability." > > The decision to focus a report on the failure of the new economy to > provide above-poverty wages to millions of full-time workers suggests that > there may be, perhaps, an emerging concern with income and wealth > inequality among foresighted business leaders. > > "For too long, we've only counted our money, but today we stand up and > count ourselves. Billionaires, stand up and be counted!" proclaimed Phil > T. Rich at the Million Billionaires March outside the Republican > convention in Philadelphia on July 30. > > The Conference Board may not be ready to join such mocking efforts, but > these and other stirrings of discontent do seem to be worrying the > Conference Board's corporate members. > > Are the Conference Board members ready to support unionization and living > wage regulations, among the obvious solutions to the problems highlighted > in the organization's recent report? > > Without a bit more of the "unrest" which led to the Conference Board's > founding, probably not. But the publication of the report, the emergence > of the Billionaires for Bush (or Gore) and aggressive union organizing of > low-wage workers by some U.S. unions may in different ways signal that > such unrest is now, slowly but finally, growing. > > > Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime > Reporter. Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based > Multinational Monitor. They are co-authors of Corporate Predators: The > Hunt for MegaProfits and the Attack on Democracy (Monroe, Maine: Common > Courage Press, 1999). > > (c) Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Focus on the Corporation is a weekly column written by Russell Mokhiber > and Robert Weissman. Please feel free to forward the column to friends or > repost the column on other lists. If you would like to post the column on > a web site or publish it in print format, we ask that you first contact us > ([EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED]). > > Focus on the Corporation is distributed to individuals on the listserve > [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to corp-focus, send an e-mail > message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the text: subscribe > > Focus on the Corporation columns are posted at > <http://www.corporatepredators.org>. > > Postings on corp-focus are limited to the columns. If you would like to > comment on the columns, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or > [EMAIL PROTECTED] >
