Their "Reaganism" sales pitch was effective, and we've now had 42 years of the so-called Reagan Revolution: It's time to say out loud that it hasn't worked.
The 1970s were a pivotal decade, and not just because it saw the end of the Vietnam War, the resignation of Nixon, and the death of both the psychedelic hippie movement and the very political (and sometimes violent) SDS. Most consequentially, the 1970s were when the modern-day Republican Party was birthed.
Prior to that, the nation had hummed along for 40 years on a top income tax bracket of 91% and a corporate income tax that topped out around 50%. Business leaders ran their companies, which were growing faster then than any time in the history of America, and avoided participating in politics.
Democrat Franklin Roosevelt and Republican Dwight Eisenhower renewed America with modern, state-of-the-art public labs, schools, and public hospitals across the nation; nearly free college, trade school, and research support; healthy small and family businesses; unions protecting a third of America's workers so two-thirds had a living wage and benefits; and an interstate highway system, rail system, and network of new airports that transformed the nation's commerce.
Read more at
HartmannReport.com.
-Thom
