The Center for American Progress is a progressive, liberal organization that generally champions liberal ideas, including wealth transfer and government involvement. Interestingly, if you read its policy statement there is not much to argue about. However, its policy ideas are counter to its actions. As far as nonpartisan goes, that’s questionable.
The Center for American Progress is an independent nonpartisan educational institute dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through progressive ideas and action. As progressives, we believe America is a land of boundless opportunity, where people can better themselves, their children, their families, and their communities through education, hard work, and the freedom to climb the ladder of economic mobility. We believe an open and effective government can champion the common good over narrow self-interest, harness the strength of our diversity, and secure the rights and safety of its people. And we believe our nation must always be a beacon of hope and strength to the rest of the world. Progressives are idealistic enough to believe change is possible and practical enough to make it happen.
Interestingly, the liberal left has been telling us for years that opportunity in America is dead.
In any case, here are some highlights from their recent position paper. You can read the whole thing at the link below. Reading some of this it sounds like quite an indictment of the liberal policies of the last five and a half years.
I find the Center’s critique in items 9, 10 and 11 most interesting. While they champion hard work, opportunity and climbing the economic ladder, they want to penalize those who do just that.
Look at number eleven below. Corporations are spending money keeping shareholders happy … well duh? Guess what? That’s what they are supposed to do, that’s why shareholders invest their money. That’s shareholders like retirees who depend on dividends, workers who depend on growth in their 401k plans and IRAs. It’s union and employer and public pension funds who are betting the financial security of their members and employees on the growth in value of American corporations.
Ironically some on the left critical of Social Security believe the Trust should be invested other than in government bonds so the benefits can be increased. Guess where it would be invested … in those very corporations focused on keeping shareholders happy‼️
Look at how many things they criticize are the direct result of the actions or inaction by this Administration and Congress; slow growth, declining competitiveness of American companies, poverty, and decline in employee benefits all directly impacted by uncertainty, overregulation, a dysfunctional tax code, ineffective government spending, still growing federal debt and more. Hey, it’s like who’s in charge here? Where is the strategy, the plan? Who is sitting at the table trying to resolve all this?
As far as investments by corporations go, they will invest when it means added value for their shareholders; they are not stupid, they don’t need more regulation to show them how to better run their businesses. And they are not naive like our progressive friends.
1. Despite modest gains, economic growth continues to lag behind previous recoveries. Economic growth lags behind similar points in prior business cycles. Gross domestic product, or GDP, increased in the second quarter of 2014 at an inflation-adjusted annual rate of 4 percent. Domestic consumption increased by an annual rate of 2.5 percent, and housing spending rose substantially by 9.5 percent, while business investment growth also increased at a rate of 5.5 percent. Exports increased by 9.5 percent in the first quarter, and government spending fell by 0.8 percent. The economy expanded by 10.3 percent from June 2009 to June 2014—its slowest expansion during recoveries of at least equal length. Policymakers need to strengthen growth, as the economy’s momentum is still too low to end the struggles of America’s middle class. Policies could include investments in infrastructure and education to overcome lackluster private business investments.
2. Improvements to U.S. competitiveness fall behind previous business cycles. Productivity growth, measured as the increase in inflation-adjusted output per hour, is key to increasing living standards, as it means that workers are getting better at doing more in the same amount of time. Slower productivity growth means that new economic resources available to improve living standards are growing more slowly than would be the case with faster productivity growth. U.S. productivity rose 6.6 percent from June 2009 to June 2014, the first 20 quarters of the economic recovery since the end of the Great Recession. This compares to an average of 13.4 percent during all previous recoveries of at least equal length. No previous recovery had lower productivity growth than the current one, and policymakers need to strengthen education, research and development, and infrastructure investments as important first steps to lay a foundation for faster future productivity growth.
7. Employer-sponsored benefits disappear. The share of people with employer-sponsored health insurance dropped from 59.8 percent in 2007 to 54.9 percent in 2012, the most recent year for which data are available. The share of private-sector workers who participated in a retirement plan at work fell to 39.4 percent in 2012, down from 41.5 percent in 2007. Families now have less economic security than in the past due to fewer employment-based benefits, which requires them to have more private savings to make up the difference.
9. The rich continue to pull away from most Americans. Incomes of households in the 95th percentile—those with incomes of $191,000 in 2012, the most recent year for which data are available—were more than nine times the incomes of households in the 20th percentile, whose incomes were $20,599. This is the largest gap between the top 5 percent and the bottom 20 percent of households since the U.S. Census Bureau started keeping records in 1967. Median inflation-adjusted household income stood at $51,017 in 2012, its lowest level in inflation-adjusted dollars since 1995. And the poverty rate remains high—at 15 percent in 2012—as the economic slump continues to take a massive toll on the most vulnerable citizens. Higher minimum wages, an improved Earned Income Tax Credit and the closure of tax loopholes for the rich would be critical first steps for policymakers to address income inequality.
10. Corporate profits stay elevated near precrisis peaks. Inflation-adjusted corporate profits were 100 percent larger in March 2014 than in June 2009. The after-tax corporate profit rate—profits to total assets—stood at 3.4 percent in March 2014—higher than any profit rate recorded since September 1979. Corporate profits recovered quickly toward the end of the Great Recession and have stayed high since then. Addressing income inequality that arises from the rich receiving outsized benefits from their wealth through tax reform is a crucial policy priority.
11. Corporations spend much of their money to keep shareholders happy. From December 2007—when the Great Recession started—to December 2013, nonfinancial corporations spent, on average, 97 percent of their after-tax profits on dividend payouts and share repurchases. In short, almost all of nonfinancial corporate after-tax profits went to keep shareholders happy during the current business cycle. Nonfinancial corporations also held, on average, 5.3 percent of all of their assets in cash—the highest average share since the business cycle that ended in December 1969. Nonfinancial corporations spent, on average, 167 percent of their after-tax profits on capital expenditures or investments—by selling other assets and by borrowing. This was the lowest ratio since the business cycle that ended in 1960. U.S. corporations have prioritized keeping shareholders happy and building up cash over investments in structures and equipment, highlighting the need for regulatory reform that incentivizes corporations to invest in research and development, manufacturing plants and equipment, and workforce development.
12. Poverty is still widespread. The poverty rate remained flat at 15 percent in 2012—the most recent year for which data are available—which is an increase of 0.7 percentage points over the three years of the recovery, 2009 to 2012. The poverty rate has fallen, on average, by 0.7 percentage points in previous recoveries of at least equal length. Moreover, some population groups suffer from much higher poverty rate than others. The African American poverty rate, for instance, was 27.2 percent, and the Hispanic poverty rate was 25.6 percent, while the white poverty rate was 9.7 percent. The poverty rate for children under age 18 stood at 21.8 percent. More than one-third of African American children—37.9 percent—lived in poverty in 2012, compared with 33.8 percent of Hispanic children and 12.3 percent of white children. Strengthening economic security by adopting measures such as the Universal Savings Credit and the expansion of social safety net programs—such as SNAP and Medicaid—can help us reduce poverty and provide opportunities to Americans who need them most.
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