Negating the Proposition: Why Does Income Inequality Matter (Closing Statement)?

The fundamental point about income inequality remains: All income groups have made solid economic gains over the past few decades, and nothing in Mr. Mitchell’s arguments indicates otherwise.

In the opening paragraph of his rebuttal, Mr. Mitchell states that questioning why income inequality matters if all income levels are gaining is “a poor way of framing the argument as it makes magnitude irrelevant. Indeed, following Mr. Weinberger’s logic, the top 1% could be taking home $0.99 of every dollar the entire country earns, essentially turning our society into an oligarchy, yet Mr. Weinberger would ask what the problem is.”

Negating the Proposition: Why Does Income Inequality Matter (Rebuttal)?

In his post arguing that income inequality is a problem, Mr. Mitchell charges that “most American households have seen little gain in income in the last three decades despite rising productivity growth.” He contends that from 1947-1973 there was “broad-based prosperity” because “incomes of virtually all Americans grew at around 2.5% annually.” Furthermore, he asserts, “income growth in the 1970s and 1980s was hardly noticeable and was actually negative for 60% of the population during the Bush years.”

Negating the Proposition: Why Does Income Inequality Matter? (Opening Statement)

When it comes to income inequality, the left argues that since 1979 the top ten percent of taxpayers are making an unfairly large portion of total U.S. income. This narrative is advanced by the widely accepted work of Thomas Piketty and Emanual Saez, showing that “the top 1 percent of Americans now receive 15 percent of all income, up from about 8 percent in the 1960s and 70s.” 

About David Weinberger

David Weinberger is a conservative from Washington, D.C. He holds a B.A. in Business and Spanish from The University of St. Thomas and is the Communications Coordinator at The Heritage Foundation. His views, however, are his own, and do not necessarily reflect those of The Heritage Foundation.