Richard Schwab Writes

Prosperous Middle Class is Essential

Who shops at small businesses?

Who buys millions of products everyday?

Who keeps our free market economy rolling?

The answer: American middle-class consumers.

In an economy where consumer spending is nearly two-thirds of the nation's GDP, it is the middle-class consumers who are the true job creators. Real job growth stems mainly from the actions of the average American consumer. Ultimately, it is the everyday consumers who create the economic environment for job growth.

An entrepreneur or venture capitalist can start a business based on a great idea, and initially hire dozens or hundreds of people, but if no one can afford to buy the products for sale, the business will fail and all the jobs will evaporate.

Henry Ford paid his auto workers higher than normal wages. Why? Because he wanted them to be able to buy his cars. Henry Ford understood that his assembly line consumers had the power to set in motion a cycle that would allow his company to survive, thrive and hire additional workers.

Our current tax policies are upside down. When Republican lawmakers defend a system in which the lion's share of benefits accrue to the richest, all in the name of protecting the job creators, all that happens is the rich get richer.

Corporate profits are at an all-time high. Where are the jobs? The rich don't magically create jobs. They don't hire additional workers simply because they have more money to spend. They will expand and hire if they know there are consumers out there who can afford to buy their products.

The shrinking middle-class needs a break. Putting purchasing power back in their hands is the surest way to get our consumer-driven economy gaining more momentum.

Since 1980, the share of the nation's income for the wealthiest top 0.1 percent has increased a shocking 400 percent, while the share for the bottom 50 percent of Americans has declined 33 percent.

At the same time effect tax rates on the wealthiest fell to 16.6 percent in 2007- the lowest they've been in decades.

If average American families still received the same share of income they earned in the 1980s, they would have an astounding $13,000 a year more in their pockets. It is worth pausing to consider what our economy would be like today if middle-class consumers had that additional income to spend.

It makes no sense to have a trillion dollars in annual tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans offset by cuts to public jobs and programs that help build and strengthen our middle-class.

Let's protect the actual job creators.

It makes sense to increase taxes on those who make millions so we don't have to gut programs or eliminate jobs that middle-class Americans desperately need.

This isn't about class-warfare or income redistribution. This is about strengthening our middle-class, the true job creators, and the economy.

Richard O. Schwab was formerly associate head of school, and middle school head, Cincinnati Country Day School. He is currently neighborhood team leader, Glendale Organizing For America Community Team (www.gofact.blogspot.com)