When the rich abandoned America -- and what that has to do with defense

Foreign Policy Magazine ^ | Friday November 19, 2010 | Thomas E Ricks

[Cronos]

In 1974, the military became all volunteer. In the 1980s, the Reagan tax cuts began a huge transfer of wealth to the already wealthy, top 1 percent of American society. Normally we don't connect these two events, but with the passage of time, I suspect we may come to see them together as the moment when the wealthy checked out of America and moved into physical and mental gated communities.

I've already talked about how over the last 30 years, the proportion of wealth going to the top 1 percent has gone from 10 percent of annual national income to almost 25 percent, a greater share than in the Roaring '20s. And many of the readers of this blog have contributed thoughts about the All-Volunteer Force, especially how many American parents no longer have a sense of skin in the game.

[Cronos]

Good take -- bring back the draft. 18months of service to your country, whether in the military or in civil service will help engender a sense of pride in your country and will really enable you to say "this is my country" -- I only want to add that for the third, libertarian approach,they should not be allowed to vote -- no service for your country (whether military or civil service0, no vote, clear and simple.

[Cronos]

Bringing back a draft does not mean bringing back the draft we saw in the 1960s. Rather, I think we design a new deal that offer a three-part set of options:

The military option. You do 18 months of military service. The leaders of the armed forces will kick and moan, but these new conscripts could do a lot of work that currently is outsourced: cutting the grass, cooking the food, taking out the trash, painting the barracks. They would receive minimal pay during their terms of service, but good post-service benefits, such as free tuition at any university in America. If the draftees like the military life, and some will, they could at the end of their terms transfer to the professional force, which would continue to receive higher pay and good benefits. (But we'd also raise the retirement age for the professional force to 30 years of service, rather than 20 as it is now. There is no reason to kick healthy 40-year-olds out of the military and then pay them 40 years of retirement pay.)

The civilian service option.Don't want to go military? Not a problem. We have lots of other jobs at hand. You do two years of them -- be a teacher's aide at a troubled inner-city school, clean up the cities, bring meals to elderly shut-ins. We might even think about how this force could help rebuild the American infrastructure, crumbling after 30 years of neglect. These national service people would receive post-service benefits essentially similar to what military types get now, with tuition aid.

The libertarian opt-out. There is a great tradition of libertarianism in this country, and we honor it. Here, you opt out of the military and civilian service options. You do nothing for Uncle Sam. In return, you ask for nothing from him. For the rest of your life, no tuition aid, no federal guarantees on your mortgage, no Medicare. Anything we can take you out of, we will. But the door remains open -- if you decide at age 50 that you were wrong, fine, come in and drive a general around for a couple of years.

[Cronos]

In a nutshell:

Wikimedia Commons

(The chart shows inflation-adjusted percentage increase in after-tax household income for the top 1 percent and the four quintiles, between 1979 and 2005.)

I bring all this up again because when I think about the Tea Party and the broader national mood of anti-incumbency, I suspect it all is part of a growing national distrust and dislike of elites. If Washington is getting whupped today, Wall Street can't be far behind on the hit parade. While I have problems with the Tea Party, I do think it is correct to suspect that the elites are not doing their part. So where I think this winds up is probably a sharp populist backlash, in five or 10 years, when all the national bills really start coming due. Ireland today may be America soon. Get ready for increase in income tax rates. But, as the wealthy will tell you after a few drinks, occupational income is really for the little people. The real game is capital gains taxes, and the rate there is just 15 percent. I suspect it will double sometime down the road.

And while we are at it, let's have a parallel debate about national service, OK?

[Arthur McGowan]

Bring back slavery, you mean?

BTW: If you were in the bottom quintile in 1981, you were more likely, in 1989, to be in the TOP quintile, than to be still in the bottom quintile.

The notion that “the rich” are a permanent elite, grinding the faces of the poor decade after decade, is a Marxist fantasy.

So, you’re in favor of bringing back slavery, and you hate Reaganomics (which is just another name for REAL economics).

[John Leland 1789]

" . . .,they should not be allowed to vote -- no service for your country (whether military or civil service0, no vote, clear and simple."

You would want the same required of women?

[J Edgar]

“Good take — bring back the draft. 18months of service to your country, whether in the military or in civil service will help engender a sense of pride in your country and will really enable you to say “this is my country” — I only want to add that for the third, libertarian approach,they should not be allowed to vote — no service for your country (whether military or civil service0, no vote, clear and simple. “

---

Ok, then add to that list, Only Voters can contribute directly to a candidates campaign. The PACs and lobbyist can run their own issue ads, if and only if, they truthfully identify themselves and their interests.

Of course this is a tad bit late, since Hank Paulson, Goldman Sachs, and The Federal Reserve (a foreign owned, private bank) have already emptied the treasure of Trillion of dollars which the Republic will never be able to recover from.

[HiTech RedNeck]

The notion that “the rich” are a permanent elite, grinding the faces of the poor decade after decade, is a Marxist fantasy.

You can say that again. As much as I may envy rich people from time to time, I've never gotten a job from a poor person.

[Misterioso]

Is this one of The Pope’s ideas?

[NTHockey]

This article smells of “social justice”. Another plea for redistribution of wealth. Maybe the argument would have some merit if the top 1% was a static class, with no movement. But it is not.
Sir, have you ever served in the military? It appears not. Eighteen months in the military is little time besides basic training, assignment to a school (cooks and bakers, and some actual work. Four years should be the minimum. And retirement after 30 years? Try getting a civilian job at age 50. Tuition aid is fine - but only one semester per year of service. Otherwise, it becomes a boondoggle. Let the military do its job; they don’t need armchair generals or admirals.

Civilian “service” can in no way equate to military service. This is just another WPA project to spend more money to accomplish nothing. It is so subject to abuse by government and civilians that it will become a massive spending plan and a voting bloc for RATs.

The Libertarian approach should be an option for everybody. No service, no benefits. I’d go futher and say that, if you run for office, you can’t vote. Why should you be allowed to vote yourself into office?

And what problems with the TEA Parties? It’s thrown out there without explanation. Is this a “I’ve always been a Conservative, but..” article?

[John Valentine]

Capital gains ought not be taxed at all. It is not income, it is merely a market reassessment of the value of assets a person already owns.

Moreover, the increase of asset value is in part the result of the government’s own inflationary policies. In other words a good part of an assets so-called increased value isn’t an increase at all in terms of real purchasing power value.

It’s just another government scam to confiscate assets to fund its own implacable appetite for control.

[John Leland 1789]

"The notion that “the rich” are a permanent elite, grinding the faces of the poor decade after decade, is a Marxist fantasy."

I am actually bewildered at this junk piece of writing actually getting any commendation or support at all on FR.

I didn't have to finish the first paragraph to notice, with you, the latent Marxism in it.

Further, . . .

such a scheme in our day would force::

1. our children to serve in close quarters with known sodomites (some still call these perverts "homosexuals for some reason); and

2. our daughters and even wives out of our homes, even if we have a biblicist Christian conviction about a woman's place in the home. My wife believes she is serving her country by raising a generation of godly, respectful, and patriotic children . . . a commodity we need in America desperately.

3. more children into day-care centers, because many mothers will be forced out of the home.

4. many home schooling families to disrupt their home schooling, because parents will be forced out of the home.

Imagine that! It is suggested in the article that those not wanting to serve in the military to serve as a teacher's aid in a poor inner-city school. I suppose men can be teachers' aids, but the inference was most likely to women. Imagine a mother, trying to raise a generation for Jesus Christ, home schooling her own children, being forced to stop home schooling, her children drug out of the home to a public school, and Mom forced to work for pittance in an inner city public school. I mean, they were home schooling to keep their children OUT of the public schools! IMAGINE IT!!

Cronos says, "to get to vote." I really don't think he has thought this through.

[Leisler]

I agree. I’m nearing the point where this welfare/racket/Federal Reserve state isn’t worthy of my kids service.

More and more what I think of as America is drifting off into a long past time.

I don’t trust Republicans or Democrats. ( Actually, I trust, but hate, Democrats more. They seem to be more honestly socialists. There is something creepy, false about the GOP. Thinking of them as little but Democrat Lite Party, or just hack, fake opposition, as in some WWF tag team, explains more of their behavior, better, then any freedom/liberty/small gov palaver they espouse.)

[cgbg]

The unintended consequences of such a plan would be a great topic for discussion.

Would the government be tempted to engage in bloody no win ground wars to reduce future benefit recipients?

Or—maybe the opposite—military service could turn into a big welfare program with few skilled recruits ready to meet defense needs.

The problem with any attempt to do social engineer people is that the social engineer is never as clever as the average Joe Q Citizen who will find a hundred thousand ways to “game the system.”.

That is why pragmatism never works!

[metesky]

Slavery? Please, Arthur!

The draft was called Selective Service for a reason, sir, because it was simply selectively calling up of members of the unorganized militia.

You know that that is the law and has been since the late 18th century, so cut the slavery crap.

[kingu]

Class warfare benefits no one. What's your agenda here? Make everyone equally poor? How about dumping a lot of the wasteful programs in government that are causing so many problems?

Financial Aid: Artificial inflation of college tuition under the guise of ‘helping’ people afford college. This doesn't help anyone in the long run except for the colleges to dump more money into staff, unneeded facilities, and wasteful campus programs. And the student just, in the long run, gets to pay for college over a much longer time. ‘working your way through college’ is becoming a decade long experience.

Food stamps: A great idea that has really started to fall apart in recent years. Giant signs: We accept EBT! Like your local quickie mart is where a family in need should be hunting for groceries. And Walgreens, and CVS, these signs are everywhere, typically on overpriced junk food. A multibillion dollar support program for junk food manufacturers. I don't care what you buy on your dime, but if you're using mine, you can get some flour, sugar, raisins and rolled oats and make your own cookies.

The really dangerous elitism in this country are those who make broad sweeping changes, and never bother to investigate what they've done to society, but move on to the next broad sweeping change.

I'm less worried about a ‘permanent’ super rich and far more worried about multigenerational federal welfare dependents living in government supported housing. Idle hands are always the devil's tools.

[kittymyrib]

One giant tax loophole for the rich is their “foundations,” that allow generations of Fords and Kennedys to live off great-grandfather’s money without paying taxes. At the same time, they use their wealth to promote Socialism here and abroad.
Non-profit foundations should be abolished by the next
Congress and we would see how many Democrats, who whine about the “rich” not paying their fair share of taxes, would object to having to pay taxes for the first time.

[ari-freedom]

“I only want to add that for the third, libertarian approach,they should not be allowed to vote — no service for your country (whether military or civil service0, no vote, clear and simple.”

You have GOT to be kidding.

[ari-freedom]

“Non-profit foundations should be abolished by the next Congress “

sounds like something Obama already tried to do. He wants the govt to be the charity of no choice.

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

Eighteen months in the military is little time besides basic training, assignment to a school (cooks and bakers, and some actual work.

That should be enough for people who do not intend to make a career in the armed forces. They could then form part of the reserves to be called up if and when they are needed (i.e. in a situation were the numbers required are too much for the regulars to cope with). I think it is a good idea for every able-bodied person to have military training or some other form of training that could be useful in a national crisis...

[ari-freedom]

“Financial Aid: Artificial inflation of college tuition under the guise of ‘helping’ people afford college. This doesn’t help anyone in the long run except for the colleges to dump more money into staff, unneeded facilities, and wasteful campus programs.”

Don’t forget all of the phony degrees in gender studies and journalism. If you want financial aid, you should at least minor in some kind of math or science so that we know you’re learning something real.