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From: KathleenBombach@aol.com
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Subject: [NIFL-POVRACELIT:354] Re: Where We Stand: Class Matters, by bell hooks
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I'd like to post a response, not to bell hooks book, which I will have to
look for, but to the recent related discourse over the course of the
presidential campaign. Gore (perhaps because Nader was raising questions
about income distribution) brought up issues relating to the concentration of
wealth in the hands of a few. He attempted to shape the discussion of the
Bush tax cut in terms of who would benefit ("The wealthiest 1% would receive
over 50% of the tax cut"). He was quickly attacked for "class-baiting" and
Bush even included a statement in his stump speech about how good it was that
half the cut went to the top 1%--after all, they were paying those taxes
right now--it was only fair. He would get a roar of applause from his
audience. That was the level of class-based discussions--ridicule if someone
even approached a class-based analysis. And look at the support a flat tax
has received, or the reaction (at least in Texas) to a state income tax. It
is denounced as the most unfair tax of all, so instead Texas relies on truly
regressive taxes like the sales tax.
Kathleen Bombach
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