Bush's Empathy Squeeze

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Thu, 23 Jun 2005 16:09:27 -0700 (PDT)

Bush's Empathy Squeeze

 

 

 

 

Bush's Empathy Squeeze

Arlie Hochschild

June 23, 2005

 

Arlie Hochschild is a professor of sociology at University of

California, Berkeley, and the author of The Commercialization of

Intimate Life as well as The Time Bind and The Second Shift. This

article was co-published by TomDispatch.com and The American Prospect

and appears here by permission.

 

Let's consider our political moment through a story. Suppose a

chauffeur drives a sleek limousine through the streets of New York, a

millionaire in the back seat. Through the window, the millionaire

spots a homeless woman and her two children huddling in the cold,

sharing a loaf of bread. He orders the chauffeur to stop the car. The

chauffeur opens the passenger door for the millionaire, who walks over

to the mother and snatches the loaf. He slips back into the car and

they drive on, leaving behind an even poorer family and a baffled

crowd of sidewalk witnesses. For his part, the chauffeur feels real

qualms about what his master has done, because unlike his employer, he

has recently known hard times himself. But he drives on nonetheless.

Let's call this the Chauffeur's Dilemma.

 

Absurd as it seems, we are actually witnessing this scene right now.

At first blush, we might imagine that this story exaggerates our

situation, but let us take a moment to count the loaves of bread that

have recently changed hands and those that soon will. Then, let's ask

why so many people are letting this happen.

 

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On average, the 2003 tax cut has already given $93,500 to every

millionaire. It is estimated that 52 percent of the benefits of George

W. Bush's 2001-03 tax cuts have enriched the wealthiest 1 percent of

Americans (those with an average annual income of $1,491,000).

 

*

On average, the 2003 tax cut gave $217 to every middle-income

person. By 2010, it is estimated that just 1 percent of the benefits

of the tax cut will go to the bottom 20 percent of Americans (those

with an average annual income of $12,200).

 

*

During at least one year since 2000, 82 of the largest American

corporations—including General Motors, El Paso Energy, and, before the

scandal broke, Enron—paid no income tax.

 

In the meantime, the poor are being bled. Long-term unemployment has

risen while the Bush administration has cut long-term unemployment

benefits. Most American cities are looking at 15 percent cuts in

already bare-boned budgets, which will close more libraries, cancel

more after-school and English As A Second Language programs, and limit

access to health clinics.

 

Proposed budget cuts beginning in 2006 are threatening the funding

given to low-income programs. According to the Center on Budget and

Policy Priorities, with these cuts in place, low-income programs will

be significantly reduced over the next five years. By 2010, elementary

and secondary education funding will be cut by $4.6 billion, or 12

percent; 670,000 fewer women and children will receive assistance

through the Women, Infants, and Children Supplemental Nutrition

Program; Head Start, which currently serves about 906,000 children,

will serve 100,000 fewer children; and 370,000 fewer low-income

families, elderly people and people with disabilities will receive

rental assistance with rental vouchers. Bush proposes to cut housing

and community-development aid by more than 30 percent in 2006 alone.

 

It's not hard to understand why the millionaire, with the power to

satisfy so many desires, might want to claim another's bread. But why

does the chauffeur open the door? Why do about half of lower- and

middle-income Americans approve of tax cuts that favor the rich and

budget cuts that deprive the poor?

 

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Read the rest at:

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050623/bushs_empathy_squeeze.php