Cherishing the Right to Get Rich

By Hugh Sidey

That compelling American purpose of getting rich (or at least richer) and enjoying it is a key point in this fall's political argument.

While Jimmy Carter has settled most of his indignation on getting rich unfairly--on tax loopholes and the lobbyists who preserve and enlarge them --his fervid campaign cries often have biblical overtones suggesting that the wealthy are vaguely evil. Gerald Ford, on the other hand, eagerly indulges in the resort rituals of the rich and some-tunes seems more enamored with White House luxuries like Camp David and Air Force One than his job. Ford's love of the golf circuit back in his congressional days could cost him crucial support, since it has been revealed corporations footed some of the bills.

Both Carter and Ford, however, seem to be searching nervously for some firm political ground between the overstatements of American poverty, which, in the view of Carter foes, sometimes smack of demagoguery, and a voluptuous embrace of materialism.

It is not easy. For 75 years this nation was possessed by what Lord Beaverbrook called "the money brain . . . the supreme brain." Calvin Coolidge updated it by croaking, "The business of America is business." Those notions were set back by the bust of 1929, and Franklin Roosevelt chose to pick up the pieces by assaulting "economic royalists." Since then the rich have once again been a prime political target.

The picture today is complicated by the fact the Democratic candidate, who affects a plain-folks style, is a man who left public service to take over a faltering family business. He then pursued its enlargement with relentless skill. With the help of tax preferences and Government props, he created a million-dollar concern, made $137,000 last year, on which he paid just under 13% federal income tax. A million dollars does not, of course, mean what it used to, but the magical figure still inspires the notion that a fellow has done pretty well. The Republican contender, while moving pleasantly and obediently through the world of wealth, has been a salaried officeholder virtually all his adult life and has accumulated only a modest estate. He paid almost 38% of his $252,000 income last year in federal income taxes.

It appears that America's perception of itself economically has taken a subtle but significant shift. Carter seems to have the most adjusting to do, having already taken back some of the promises made in his acceptance speech, still clarifying his ideas about taxes. It turns out from the evidence being mined by pollsters and politicians that a lot of Americans are rich or so close it hurts and a lot more have got the fever from them.

There are an estimated 240,000 millionaires in the country, an infinitesimal sample when compared with 215 million people, but not so insignificant when held up against the 56 million families. It means that if a person is acquainted with about 200 families, one of those is apt to be worth a million or more. More Americans are brushed by such riches than ever before in history. If an annual income of $50,000 per family is considered the start of wealth, then 1 family out of 70 has reached that goal. If $20,000 a year can be considered enough to keep the dream of being rich alive, then 1 out of every 4 families has not only the urge but perhaps the hope.

What all this suggests is that a great body of Americans still cherish the right to get rich. Indeed, the desire may even have been enlarged in these past years.

One evident political result is that the fear of inflation and concern about new taxes and tax loopholes, long considered the exclusive worries of the well-to-do, are concerns of a majority of the population. Way back in 1972 when George McGovern proposed a 100% inheritance tax on all holdings over half a million dollars, the most vehement opposition came from blue-collar workers. A bemused McGovern asked, "What do they think--that they are all going to win the state lottery?" Apparently so --that enduring American lottery, which offers tempting odds that a lot of plain old boys can get pretty rich--like Jimmy Carter did.

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