Re: Let’s all place our well-appointed ridicule of Tea Baggers here.
Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 10:55 am
stahrwe wrote:Interbane wrote:Raise taxes on the rich first, back to the same percentage it had been for the majority of this century.
For the majority of THIS century it has been what it is now, therefore your argument, while awkwardly phrased is to make the Bush Tax cut permanent.
Glibness aside, let’s look at how tax rates have compared to the workings of the economy over the last “century”.
Early 1900’s- The age of the Robber Barons, obscene polarization of wealth, class violence…… but a low top tax rate.
Early 1920’s- There is a surge in taxes for the rich, followed by a boom decade.
Late 1920’s- Taxes for the rich plummet. A huge speculative bubble develops, causing a run on banks, and the great depression.
1930’s and 1940’s- Taxes on the top end gradually increase. The economy gradually recovers.
1950’s and 1960’s- Highest top tax rates ever, reaching 91%. Most sustained economic boom ever, with a rapidly expanding middle class, and general affluence that comes to be taken for granted, despite the repayment of massive wartime debt.
1980’s to the Present- Taxes on the top income brackets drop sharply. Speculative bubbles form in the Savings and Loan industry, in high tech stocks, and then in real estate. A crisis develops as social programs become unfunded, and infrastructure becomes neglected. Class distinctions reappear, polarization of wealth increases.
I’ve been put off drinking tea lately, but today I may have a shot of whisky, depending on the outcome of today’s show.