America’s Deceptive 2012 Fiscal Cliff – Part 4

The ideological crisis underlying today’s tax and financial policy by Michael Hudson, New Economic Perspectives [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [This article] From antiquity and for thousands of years, land, natural resources and monopolies, seaports and roads were kept in the public domain. In more recent times railroads, subway lines, airlines, and gas and electric utilities were made public. The aim was to provide their basic services at cost or at subsidized prices rather than letting them be privatized into rent-extracting opportunities. The Progressive Era capped this transition to a more equitable economy by enacting progressive income and wealth taxes. Economies were liberating themselves from the special privileges that European feudalism and colonialism had granted to favored insiders. The aim of ending these privileges – or taxing away economic rent where it o...