Eat the Rich? No Thanks, We’re American.
The headlines these days are filled with populist attacks on the wealthy. From President Obama’s “shameful” comment on greedy bankers to the $500,000 salary caps to John Thain’s $35,000 commode, America seems to be casting aside its time-honored celebration of wealth to become more like Czarist Russia circa 1917.
But do Americans really hate the rich right now? Or is there something else going on?
Americans have never had much of an appetite for open class warfare. Sure there have been bouts of populism, like Huey Long’s “Share Our Wealth Society,” but they have rarely resulted in permanent changes to our “let’s-all-get-rich” culture.
Conservatives have long argued that Americans dislike class warfare because they hope to get rich themselves someday. Liberals argue that Americans just don’t understand how unequal or unfair the economy has become, and that if they only understood how they were getting shafted, middle-Americans would take to the streets, if not the guillotine.
A recent study, however, suggests that America’s attitude toward wealth isn’t so black and white. According to a poll by political scientists Benjamin Page and Lawrence Jacobs, Americans aspire to wealth, but support higher taxes on the rich to create more opportunity for others. More than three quarters of respondents agreed that it is “possible to start out poor in the country, work hard and become rich.”
Half of them say differences in incomes in America are too large, and two thirds say wealth should be more evenly distributed, but most disagree with the statement that “it is the responsibility of government to reduce the differences.” (At the same time, about half believe the wealthy should pay a larger share of their incomes in taxes).
In other words, Americans understand that disparities are needed in a free-market, knowledge-based economy, but they believe those differences should be mitigated by tax policies. Mr. Page and Mr. Lawrence, whose study will be published in an upcoming book called “Class War?,” say Americans could be labeled “conservative egalitarians.” They support wealth creation, but not to the exclusion of broader opportunity.
Of course, their study was conducted in 2007 and much has changed since then. Yet despite the recent populist resentment over bailing out bankers and Wall Streeters, I would guess that America’s conservative egalitarianism — rather than “eat the rich” class warfare — still prevails.
What do you think Wealth Report readers? Are we on the verge of a class war?
By Robert Frank
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