Medelklassens kris

Den amerikanska medelklassens kris kommer vara ett dominerande politiskt tema 2015 – dvs inför presidentvalet i november 2016. Från vänster kommer det att hävdas att lösningen är ”mer politik” och inte minst skatteskärpningar för ”de rika”.

Här fakta på den senare punkten:

Government raises most of its taxes from the upper middle class and the wealthy. In 2011, the richest 1 percent of Americans paid 24 percent of all federal taxes (income, payroll and excise) and the richest 20 percent, including the top 1 percent, paid 69 percent of taxes, says the Congressional Budget Office.

Robert Samuelson skriver intressant i Washington Post om de psykologiska faktorer som spelar en större roll än de rent ekonomiska:

We overestimated our ability to control the economic environment. What we have learned is that outside events — here, the financial crisis and Great Recession — can overwhelm collective protections and discredit conventional beliefs. The economy is more random, unstable and insecure than we imagined. It is less susceptible to policy engineering. The fact that the upper classes can better shield themselves against its upsets naturally breeds resentment.

The middle class is thinning. Belonging is a matter of self-identity, and fewer Americans buy into its defining presumptions. Whether an improved recovery begins to reverse these attitudes and restore traditional beliefs and confidence is a crucial question for 2015. But repairing the middle class won’t be easy, because it’s a matter of psychology as much as economics.

WP