Recession, not overpaid public sector employees to blame for state and local budget woes

Income Gaps Between Very Rich and Everyone Else More Than Tripled In Last Three Decades, New Data Show

By Arloc Sherman and Chad Stone

“The gaps in after-tax income between the richest 1 percent of Americans and the middle and poorest fifths of the country more than tripled between 1979 and 2007 (the period for which these data are available), according to data the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued last week. Taken together with prior research, the new data suggest greater income concentration at the top of the income scale than at any time since 1928.”

2008 Nobel Prize winner for economics Paul Krugman, who has authored 20 books and more than 200 papers on the subject, offered an enlightening viewpoint on another aspect of spoon-fed fear in The New York Times in February.

In a sudden hysteria that could be likened to swine flu on many levels, Washington now has a chorus of hand-wringing-fear-filled politicos belting out a song of despair. And it now appears this choir has warbling voices from all corners of political ideology.

This unlikely acapella emanates from a bizarre belief that there is no time like the present to lower budget deficits. While I am no Krugman (who is?) a simple checkbook balancing approach and a look into the past while analyzing the present could reel in these Nervous Nellies if they just take the time to stop and think.

Checkbook: If my wife Karen and I are out of a job and private sector jobs are stymied, where can we hope to find relief? As bad as the budget deficit choir hates to admit it; government. But if government stops creating jobs by cutting spending through deficit reductions, well, I think you get the picture: How Now Brown Cow?