Editor's Page

Readers of small left-wing magazines will no doubt be surprised to learn of dramatic growth in economic inequality and the mounting impact of social class in America. Readers of larger, not-so-left sources may be really surprised. The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal(!), and the American Political Science Association have all weighed in anxiously in recent months. The Times writes that "the 400 taxpayers with the highest incomes"—people who earn $87 million and up—"pay income, Medicare and Social Security taxes amounting to virtually the same percentage of their incomes as people making $50,000 to $75,000." If your revenues are less, the Bush tax policies will, I suppose, make it easier to buy bootstraps. But if social democracy is distant from contemporary America, you might still contrast the social and economic priorities—and logic and perspective—of today's Washington to those suggested by Sean Butler's article in this issue. It advocates the idea of a guaranteed basic income (whose supporters are not solely on the left).