Why Does Congress Do Nothing?

Because they already have everything they want. Or, those who control them already have everything they want. Tax cuts for the rich have been accomplished. Deregulation of industry has already been accomplished. Entitlement programs have already been cut. The voice of the regular middle class American has essentially been rendered mute.

Oh, I suppose they still have to destroy Social Security and the other safety nets of society and fight some more wars that appeal to them. But essentially they have gotten everything they want.

I wonder what the country would look like had that not happened. What if Reagan had never been elected? Or Bush had not had his two terms? I think the country and the world would be much different.

Note: At this point I confused myself in trying how to figure out how to run the numbers to support my theory. Fortunately Paul K. came to my rescue and just pointed out that we should compare average incomes to medians incomes. Brilliant! Average income is taking the total national income divide it by the population (by household.) the Median income is just what most folk get as an income. I’ll just insert his figures at this point:

In 1975, the average was 1.168x the median.  In 1980 it was 1.189x.  By 1982 it was 1.205x and in 2010 it had climbed to 1.366x.

2010 average (i.e. mean) household was $67,530.  So assuming the same total national income, if income distribution were the same as it was in 1975, median income would be $57,816 (dividing by 1.168x).  If it were the same distribution as 1982 it would be $56,041 (dividing by 1.205x).  But instead it's $49,445.  So most American households are well below 'average'.

So there you have it. If we hadn’t decreased the taxes for the wealthy, made them regressive instead of progressive, if we hadn’t lifted government restrictions on business, if we had whacked entitlement programs and the lot, most folk would have $6,596 more dollars in our pockets this year. Or should that be $18,085 more dollars in our pocket? Either way, the rich have managed to move money into their pockets and out of ours.

And this is what the right has called progress over the last 35 years. Go figure.

Paul says it this way, “Yeah the Right is suffered from what I would call 'catastrophic success'.  We're pretty much living in the neoconservative economic paradise now - low regulation, low wages, low taxes.  We're living the dream here!”

Great statement! You can hear the sarcasm drip in his last line.