Donald Trump’s campaign motto from the beginning in 2016 has been “Make America Great Again”. The red MAGA ball cap symbolizes his movement and identifies his followers.
But the
questions remain unanswered and rarely asked. When was America great? In what
ways was it great? And for whom was it great?
I want to
suggest answers to these questions and another one: how can we really make
America great again?
I propose that
America was “great” during the 1950s, 60s and 70s when it had the largest and
most prosperous middle class anywhere in the world and at any time in human
history. It was “great” for the middle class working people, most without a
college degree. It was “great” in that an adult without a college degree, by
working hard and spending wisely, could buy a house, marry, raise children, go
on family holidays, and send the kids to college, all with a single income. As
anyone can tell you now that is no longer possible. What was different then and
what would we need to do to bring it back?
·
Tax
the wealthy. The highest personal tax bracket in 1960 was 91%. High taxes
allowed America to pay down the national debt from WWII (which was similar in
ratio to GDP to todays) while building infrastructure like schools, libraries,
highways and bridges. A 90+% tax rate puts a ceiling on top management salaries
forcing companies to invest their profits back into the business by paying
workers more and doing more research.
·
Tax
businesses. This includes closing all loopholes.
·
Consider
adding or increasing capital gains, estate and wealth taxes
·
Make
college free or at least affordable for all. The GI Bill that gave veterans a
free college education was a huge factor in creating the prosperous middle
class of those decades. College was funded about 90% by government, 10% by
tuition. Those ratios have flipped.
·
Enforce
antitrust laws to prevent or break up monopolies to make an even playing field
for small and middle sized businesses to thrive
·
Make
share buy-back illegal like it used to be. This business practice enriches the
remaining shareholders while doing nothing to improve the business or its
workers.
· Unions need to be strong and supported by the government
·
Minimum
wage needs to be sufficient for a single person to live on
·
Labor
laws need must be strong and enforced.
· Women, people of color, and other minorities need equal opportunites in the workforce
The MAGA Republicans
are of course doing the exact opposite of what actually would make America
great again (though arguable Trump is making America great again for billionaires,
at least temporarily).
In order to
achieve this, Americans will have to wrest power back from the oligarchs, and
it won’t be easy. That’s a topic for another day, but here are a few of the
things that would have to be done:
·
Make
bribery of politicians illegal again so their allegiance is to the voters back
home, not the billionaires who funded their campaign
·
Make
elections free and fair (see yesterday’s post for problems to fix)
·
Clean
up the corruption in the Supreme Court
·
Tighten
the laws limiting executive authority
One factor
making the goal I listed for a middle-class family (to buy a house, go on
vacations etc.) more difficult is that expectations have risen and along with them the cost.
Compare the size of houses built in the 1950s with new ones today. And houses
are now filled with expensive appliances. Vacations were more modest at that
time compared with today – camping in a tent or small trailer at a lake a few
hours’ drive away, not a resort in Acapulco.
I just
wrote all this off the top of my head so am likely missing some points. Please add
your thoughts in the comments. I’ll add more links to relevant articles as I come
across them.
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