Mnementh said:
Here's what I'll say: look at the results. The Gini-index is the measurement of distribution of wealth towards complete equality (0) or complete inequality (all wealth to one person, everyone else has nothing - 1 or 100 depending on the scale). So here is the development over time for the US: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/SIPOVGINIUSA So, the Gini-index was slowly going down (more equal wealth distribution) until 1980. That is Ronald Reagan and his new neoliberalism. Actually, let's look at power distribution for the two parties over time, including not only presidency but house and senate as well: https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2020/jun/25/control-house-and-senate-1900/ So Reagan's neoliberal politics had quite the effect and changed the distribution towards the rich. So far that aligns with your hypothesis and I would say back then you were right. But the thing is - with the change of power towards the democrats it didn't change. Bill Clinton mostly preserved the status quo Reagan and Bush had created. After that the effect of which party is in power has a negligable effect on wealth distribution. For instance you see a small decline in the Gini-index (meaning more equality) starting 2006 to 2010. That is the end of the George W. Bush era and the start of the Obama era. But the rise afterwards falls also into the Obama era. The biggest effect on the Gini in post-Reagan era we see with the pandemic. But 2022 the Gini index rises again - with Joe Biden in the White house. So yeah, for now 30 years neither party does anything substantial for the working class. Not anything that has an actual effect. The people don't notice superficial good looking policies (or maybe even well intended ones), what the see is that their life is not improving. Take notice that the Gini index isn't about recession or economic growth. However much wealth the economy produces, the Gini index is measuring how this wealth is distributed amongst the populace. So to speak about the fairness of the system. And that is the point here - after Reagan who clearly and strongly moved the needle towards more unfairness politics just kept keeping the status quo, regardless of party in power. Working class people noticed that, that despite all their words the Democratic party did little to really change anything. |
I agree that politics was dominated by conservative economics from about Reagan to Trump pt. 1. I think we started seeing a bit of a shift during the Obama era, but it wasn't significantly felt in broader economic policy. I think we really started seeing the change in economic philosophy during that first Trump term and it was felt in policy in Biden's term (I think everyone would likely agree that Biden's presidency in 2022, looked a lot different from what a Biden presidency would have looked like in 2010).
That said, I think reducing everything down to the GINI Index is simplifying things much too far. There is far more nuance to these discussions than one number can demonstrate.
