Eat the Rich？ No Thanks, We’re American.

这些天的报纸头条充斥着民粹主义者对富人的攻击之词。从总统奥巴马(Obama)痛斥贪婪银行家“无耻”，到50万美元的企业高管年薪上限，再到美林前首席执行长约翰•塞恩(John Thain)35,000美元的马桶，从一条条消息来看，美国人似乎摒弃了历史悠久对财富的推崇，而变得更像是1917年左右的沙皇俄国。但美国人现在真的仇视富人吗？还是另有其他原因？Photo credit: Wikipedia法国大革命时期处决投机商人的情景美国人从未对公开的阶级冲突有什么兴趣。的确，美国也曾出现过辉•龙(Huey Long)高举“分享财富”大旗这样的民粹主义，但它们都很少给美国“共同富裕”的文化带来什么持久变化。保守派人士长期认为，美国人不喜欢阶级冲突，因为他们希望有朝一日自己也能致富。自由派人士则认为，美国人只是不了解美国经济已经变得多么的不平等和不公正；只要他们知道自己受到怎样的欺骗，美国中产阶级就会走上街头抗议，如果不是采取暴力行动的话。不过，近期的一项调查显示，美国人对富人的态度并不是那么黑白分明。根据政治学家佩奇(Benjamin Page)和雅各布(Lawrence Jacobs)进行的一项调查，美国人渴望财富，但支持对富人加税以为其他人创造更多机遇。超过四分之三的受访者表示，他们认同”白手起家，通过艰苦奋斗致富”是可能的。半数受访者说，美国人的收入差距太大了；三分之二的受访者认为，财富应该更为平均地进行分配；但多数人不赞同“缩小差距是政府的职责”的说法。（与此同时，大约半数的受访者认为富人应该支付更高比例的所得税。）换句话说，美国人明白自由市场基于知识的经济需要贫富差距，但他们认为这种差距应当通过税收政策予以调节。佩奇和雅各布将在即将出版的《阶级战争？》一书中公布他们的研究。他们表示，美国人可以被打上“保守平等主义者”的标签。他们支持创造财富，但这不能影响到更为广泛的机遇。当然，两人的研究是于2007年进行的，此后环境发生了诸多变化。不过，尽管近期有民粹主义者对救助银行家和华尔街人士表示了愤恨情绪，我猜测美国人还是更支持保守平等主义，而不是“劫富”的阶级冲突。Robert Frank


The headlines these days are filled with populist attacks on the wealthy.From President Obama’s “shameful” comment on greedy bankers to the $500,000 salary caps to John Thain’s $35,000 commode, America seems to be casting aside its time-honored celebration of wealth to become more like Czarist Russia circa 1917.But do Americans really hate the rich right now？ Or is there something else going on？Americans have never had much of an appetite for open class warfare. Sure there have been bouts of populism, like Huey Long’s “Share Our Wealth Society,” but they have rarely resulted in permanent changes to our “let’s-all-get-rich” culture.Conservatives have long argued that Americans dislike class warfare because they hope to get rich themselves someday. Liberals argue that Americans just don’t understand how unequal or unfair the economy has become, and that if they only understood how they were getting shafted, middle-Americans would take to the streets, if not the guillotine.A recent study, however, suggests that America’s attitude toward wealth isn’t so black and white. According to a poll by political scientists Benjamin Page and Lawrence Jacobs, Americans aspire to wealth, but support higher taxes on the rich to create more opportunity for others. More than three quarters of respondents agreed that it is “possible to start out poor in the country, work hard and become rich.”Half of them say differences in incomes in America are too large, and two thirds say wealth should be more evenly distributed, but most disagree with the statement that “it is the responsibility of government to reduce the differences.” (At the same time, about half believe the wealthy should pay a larger share of their incomes in taxes).In other words, Americans understand that disparities are needed in a free-market, knowledge-based economy, but they believe those differences should be mitigated by tax policies. Mr. Page and Mr. Jacobs, whose study will be published in an upcoming book called “Class War？,” say Americans could be labeled “conservative egalitarians.” They support wealth creation, but not to the exclusion of broader opportunity.Of course, their study was conducted in 2007 and much has changed since then. Yet despite the recent populist resentment over bailing out bankers and Wall Streeters, I would guess that America’s conservative egalitarianism ─ rather than “eat the rich” class warfare ─ still prevails.Robert Frank