Howard Dean is trying to tear down the American wall of economic apartheid.

Economic Apartheid

Like the Afrikaners who believed they belonged to a superior race, the Republicans believe that business people are superior to workers.

By Paul Siegel

Like the old South African system of apartheid that segregated the white Afrikaner minority from the local black majority, today in the U.S. the Republicans are building a wall of apartheid separating the business minority from the working people majority. Like Mandela in South Africa, Doctor Howard Dean is trying to tear down the American wall of economic apartheid.

Between the 1940s and the early 1990s, the South African apartheid wall was solid and strong. On the bright side of apartheid was a minority of white people who were opulent, privileged and running the country for their own benefit. On the dark side of the wall was a majority of local blacks who were desperately poor, distressed and living as serfs.

Of course, the white masters felt they were morally correct. They were members of a superior race and thus were resposible for making all the tough decisions.

This was the situation until Nelson Mandela was freed from the prison he had been thrown into for daring to challenge apartheid. After years of intense international pressure, the apartheid wall crumbled, Mandela was released from prison, and in 1994 became the first black president. He then began a program to make South Africa one nation with equal oportunities for whites and blacks.

Now let's look at the U.S. of 2004 under President George W. Bush. Ever since he was sworn into office he has been taking care of big business. He has offered a slew of subsidies to businesses in the health field when Congress passed the recent Medicare legislation. The energy bill, with giveaways to oil, gas and other energy companies, did not pass yet. But Bush is pushing.

However, the most egregious example of partiality towards business is his series of tax cuts. If you have an economic problem, the solution according to Bush is always tax cuts. His tax cuts have been many. All of them favored the rich. Yes, he threw a few bones to the middle class. But the BIG DEAL he gave to the rich.

The Citizens for Tax Justice analyzed how the 2001 tax cuts would play out for 10 years. Here is a conclusion about the rich:

"By 2010, when (and if) the Bush tax reductions are fully in place, an astonishing 52 percent of the total tax cuts will go to the richest one percent—whose average 2010 income will be $1.5 million. Their tax-cut windfall in that year alone will average $85,000 each."

And a conclusion about the middle class:

"For the four out of five families and individuals making less than $73,000 this year [2001], three-quarters of the tax cuts—averaging about $350 this year—are already in place."

For the poor who make a lot less than $73,000 a year, the tax cuts are nil or insignificant.

President Bush stated that his tax cuts would revive the economy. And they did. He stated that businesses would invest this money. And they did. He stated that his actions would revive jobs. And they DID NOT!

The Dow has zoomed past 10,000, indicating a business boom. However, in December of last year only 1,000 jobs were created, not the 150,000 that had been forecasted. This indicates a worker bust.

Bush's tax cuts revived the economy on the bright side of the economic apartheid wall. Business is chugging along at a fast clip. Businesses did establish new businesses - in China, Vietnam and Bangladesh. Since they could get workers overseas at a fraction of the wages they paid American workers, they fired their American workers.

When businesses fire workers they are applauded for keeping inflation down and making the bright side of the enconomic apartheid wall brighter.

All the indexes are up - for the bright side. On the dark side of the economic apartheid wall, jobs are disappearing. Those who have jobs are not getting raises. Some are asked to take pay cuts. All workers, both blue-collar and white collar, are worried that their jobs may fly overseas.

Like the Afrikaners who believed they belonged to a superior race, the Republicans believe that business people are superior to workers. Businesses manufacture the jobs, so if you help businesses you help workers. Though the first part of the sentence is correct, the second part does not necessarily follow.

Nevertheless, Bush has many disciples, among whom is Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California. Unfortunately, California is in such dire economic straits, he cannot say "tax cuts." So he says the next best thing: "No tax increases." To avoid increasing taxes on the rich, he has introduced many reductions in services to - you guessed it - the poor and sick.

Again, those rich people living on the bright side of the economic apartheid wall praised Schwarzenegger profusely. But Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, speaking for the poor on the dark side of the wall, said:

"They certainly managed to put an undue burden on the poor. Those who can least afford it are asked to pay the most."

Like the previous apartheid system in South Africa, our current political system encourages economic apartheid. It pays for a president or a governor to take care of the rich. They get the money for future campaigns from the rich. No point in antagonizing them. Instead cut services for the poor. Many of the poor do not even vote.

Along comes Dr. Howard Dean who is trying to tear down the economic apartheid wall. He is inspiring those on the dark side of the wall to contribute small amounts to his campaign, and he is succeeding. He is arousing the poor, the workers and the neglected citizens.

Dean calls his a grass-roots campaign. But truly it is a campaign to destroy American economic apartheid. Dr. Dean is the current American economic Mandela.