May Need Disruption
In a brilliant analysis of the economic realities of the past eight years, Harry Bernstein (“Economic Recovery Hasn’t Helped the Average Worker,†July 16) destroys the popular myth that the policies of the Reagan Administration have produced a better life for the average American worker.
Bernstein documents that the earning power of workers has plummeted since 1978, and that only a few professionals and corporate executives are richer today than they were eight years ago.
The only point not made by Bernstein is that this is exactly the way the President and his associates have wanted the economic picture to turn out since taking office.
From his 25% tax cut, to his drastic reductions of the maximum tax rate, to his “radical†tax reform plan, which all but eliminate progressivity of the tax structure, Ronald Reagan has successfully altered government economic policy to reward the wealthy and burden most (other) Americans.
Bernstein concludes that some economists fear this growing economic gap could lead to the type of political and social unrest that occurred in the 1930s. My view is that such disruption might be the only way to save this nation.
RALPH S. BRAX
Lancaster
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