The American Dream of the middle class imploded under Nixon/Reagan.
President Johnson made the mistake of thinking he could win the Vietnam War with one huge, swift punch. When that plan devolved into a long, messy quagmire he had to print tons of paper money to pay for the mess without raising taxes.
Nixon was elected on a peace platform, but instead he dragged out the war and kept the money machine rolling. The war mean a lot of jobs in the steel industry because America was dropping about three Hiroshimas a day on the jungle.
The Oil Boycott of 1972 tripled energy prices overnight. This meant a lot of small companies were wiped out or had to move overseas to stay competitive. Housewives had to get jobs to keep the homes going. And American industry took a giant hit, because the newer steel mills and auto factories in Germany and Japan could make cars much more cheaply than Detroit.
By the time Ford became President, things were so bad that he had to ask people to wear ‘Whip Inflation Now’ buttons, because he had no idea what else to do.
Carter and Volker had a plan that worked, but Carter was out by the time it began to gain traction. Reagan kept Volker and pretended it was all his idea.
Reagan cut taxes for the rich, pretending that this would ‘trickle down’ It didn’t work.
In 1968, when Nixon was elected ‘Middle Class’ was defined as one good Union job supporting a family of four with a house and money to send the kids to college. By the time Bush Sr. was done ‘middle class’ was two jobs to keep a house going.
While Fink correctly identified a key problem, his proposed solution wasn’t to bring back pension plans. It was a new BlackRock product that helps people better manage their retirement spending. In other words, it’s a way for BlackRock to likely make more money.
Bring back tax rates of 90% again for the obscenely rich - it was that way up until the late 1900s. Back when the US actually funded things that benefit most people not just tax breaks for already rich people.
It was 50% before Reagan reduced it to 38%. The tax brackets aren’t nearly as large a contributor to inequality as the loopholes in tax law. Accelerated depreciation, tax credits, and the expensing rules for employee stock options are largely to blame for corporate tax evasion.
You could tax them at 100% but it wouldn’t fix the problem. There are simply just not enough of them. While wealth inequality is a problem, this alone don’t fix it. It is just a crutch.
And this would somehow cause a significant number of houses to be built? And if people have more money thru distribution of some sort, would they work harder to build more houses? If they don’t, how does this help?
after perusing your other comments, I’ve come to the conclusion that you’re a disingenuous right wing troll. I don’t care to educate you on something you’ll more than likely ignore.
One way to spot a troll is that they quickly change arguments to avoid accountability. Like how you start by saying that taxation can’t fix the problem and when someone disagrees instead of pulling out data and digging into why, you instead randomly pivot to housing availability, which is currently also a problem related to finances, but distinctly separate from taxation strategies.
I don’t blame this person for not wanting to waste time engaging with you.
So if it’s not a perfect solution it shouldn’t be done?
You may be right that a 90% tax on certain amount of wealth may not solve all the problems but that is a ton of money this country is leaving on the table that could really help people that need assistance.
If you read my post, I did say wealth inequality is an issue. Bit to directly answer your question, if everyone suddenly recieved more money, would they differently be motivated to build more houses or create more cogs to make it lives better? And if they don’t, how does this help us?
It’s weird that you think that tax money goes directly into the pockets of individual citizens…
But when the government gets more income it can be used to fund public programs like WIC, CHIPS, Free lunch program for children, help the homeless, improve infrastructure, etc. You know, government working to support it’s population and not let the country become a shit hole.
If you don’t like how the government is spending the tax money then that is an election argument (vote someone in that supports your views). My way of seeing things is that if this country has given someone the ability to make a 3 comma amount of wealth then arguing that paying back into that system is evil then that person really doesn’t care about anyone but themselves.
Federal Tax Rates 2024 Tax Rate | For Single Filers
<span style="color:#323232;">10% $0 to $11,600
</span><span style="color:#323232;">12% $11,600 to $47,150
</span><span style="color:#323232;">22% $47,150 to $100,525
</span><span style="color:#323232;">24% $100,525 to $191,950
</span><span style="color:#323232;">32% $191,950 to $243,725
</span><span style="color:#323232;">35% $243,725 to $609,350
</span><span style="color:#323232;">37% $609,350 or more
</span>
I wasn’t disputing your point—just throwing in a little extra info since I literally had that table open in a different tab (it’s April in America). I honestly doubt changing those rates would impact things much though. I think we need an asset tax (like the one that exists in most states for houses and that we call property tax) that impacts stocks. Probably a massive change in estate taxes too.
You’re talking about income tax rates, and I agree that the top tax rates should be higher, but this won’t fix the problem because billionaires don’t make their money from salaries. Most of their money is theoretical and tied up in ownership of shares of a company.
They can sell shares or earn dividends to make money, so capital gains should also be taxed at a much higher rate. But billionaires often choose not to sell shares either because they have a better option…
They take out low interest rates loans using their shares as collateral. The interest rates they are charged are generally going to be far lower than the interest on their stocks that stay invested,. This is where most of their liquidity comes from, because loans aren’t taxed, and in some regard is almost an infinite money glitch for billionaires.
I think we need to make it illegal to use financial holdings as collateral for loans, at least for starters.
I would really like this to be true. At least in my country the younger population (e.g. under 25s) is moving extreme-right instead of anti-capitalism. The amount of Andrew Tate fans that apparently do not even oppose human trafficking is insane.
I was libertarian right put of high school. I was rightfully upset with what the government does. It wasn’t till later I realized it was the 1% controlling it, and that was a nig problem.
These days I just want to self select into a 2000ish person commune. (Studies shoe that peoplestart viewing each other as strangersonce you approach 2000 population)
Who needs a state? Oh wait, the need is that other nation states will assault you instantly if they sense weakness. Must be a cultural issue that we cannot live in “peace” without having a massive authoritarian nightmare hovering over every aspect of our lives.
I’m nearly fifty, now. Why am I disillusioned by capitalism? Because the illusion is thin and flimsy. I really hope the disillusionment of millennials isn’t just because they don’t have a good enough retirement plan, or anything else that can be easily fixed. I hope that they are waking up to realize that giving unelected, unaccountable, private owners of capital control over the production and distribution of goods, services, and information, is an extremist, antidemocratic idea, that is driving the global climate crisis, and the slide toward fascism.
I love this comment. You put into words what I’ve been trying to convey to others. Thank you.
I believe that all concentrations of power are potentially dangerous because you never know into what hands that concentration of power is being put. Too often it’s concentrated in the hands of those personality types of the dark triad: narcissists, machiavellians, psychopaths. Those people should never have any authority or control over any human beings, and they should be prohibited from being in powewful positions. They are far too dangerous, and I believe that most of our world problems derive from these personality types.
I’m describing Cluster B personality disorders. The science is there and it’s real. All these people should never be in ANY positions of power or over people. That is my point. They are too dangerous.
Ah… so I struck a nerve. Maybe I found one in the wild?
This isn’t personal to you, so don’t take offense. If you do belong to this group, I’m sorry to say, you’re not well. If you don’t, I don’t know why you’re trying to deny that this is real science. It’s not hard to verify for anyone who does simple research. Heck, you could go to a public library and find plenty of scientific sources.
For everyone else reading this, Cluster B: A person with this type has difficulties regulating their emotions and behavior. Others may consider their behavior dramatic, emotional, or erratic. There are four cluster B disorders: antisocial, borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic personality disorders.
This is the dark triad I was talking about. I believe that people with this disorder should never be allowed to hold any positions of power whatsoever. They have proven to be too dangerous. If you read about the symptoms, it’s pretty easy to understand why.
Some weekend researcher talking to someone who is in this field, so maybe ask yourself if you really know what the hell you are talking about.
Yea it is personal to me because I get to see the damage people like you that parrot uninformed bullshit that hurts real human beings, vilifying people they have no qualifications to speak about.
The dark triad is pop science of the worst kind helping fund the personality test market. You can also find sources on the contrary, and you can learn the background of the two people who created it. Do you think psychiatrist are using things like the dark triad questionnaires or the 16 personality test to help diagnose a patient? No.
I’m not even going into the positions of power, my point stick with the usefulness of the dark triad.
I was wondering who I’m dealing with and I read some of your comments. You admitted in one that your autistic. You wrote: “As an autistic person who struggles…”.
Yeah… you’re in the field… as a patient!
Again, my comment is backed by plenty of medical science. I know, because I am studying this, and it’s super easy to find just doing a Google search. There are a ton of academic papers on this.
Whoever you are, you’re a shining example of what is bad about social media, and you’re exactly the kind of person that I was talking about in this tread. May you never hold any power over anyone.
My guy do you think being autistic precludes me from this? You know I was misdiagnosed as BDP and a few years later it finally diagnosed with the right thing. I work both sides you fucking dork, I now work with the people that helped me. I know more than you, period. I lived it, I studied it. I now work in it.
You lack the empathy you accuse others of. Sad really. Incredible Detective work, ace. You might want to read your own words. 😬 Talk to one working clinical psychiatrist, seriously.
And holy shit, “admitted” I was autistic. What do you think ASD is? Seeing your complete misunderstanding of Cluster B personalities I’m gonna guess not a whole lot. 🙄
Edit - I had to come back to this comment because holy shit it’s funny. Like at least finish the quote “as an autistic person I struggle with taking things too literal” though you know that your comment is performative bullshit and you don’t care one way or another. You’re not a serious person and I can’t believe I’ve wasted my time with such a silly person. Hedonistic as in a self centred prick. Good luck with your Cheeto covered research. Ableist cunt.
UBI would be a fucking godsend for WAY more people than anyone is willing to admit at this point. It’s insane. It’s an absolutely trivial solution to wealth inequality. But of course, the wealthy don’t want to surrender the wealth they’ve accumulated and are just bogarting from the rest of us. Gilded age v2.0.
UBI saves capitalism from itself. Are we really sure we want to work and fight towards preserving this system that hurts us and our loved ones on a daily basis?
If we are bleeding in the streets, why reform capitalism? The reason I am bringing this up is that we already tried this.
Could you imagine getting a early 20th centruy labor movement going these days? Well let’s just imagine by some miracle we did and we reformed capitalism just like you want. According to the time line of the New Deal era to now, we would AT MOST, buy a ceasefire for 2-4 generations.
You see, you are trying to negotiate peace with putin. Yeah you got a peace deal… for now. The 1% will bide its time and slowly use the surplus labor value it steals from the working class to errode institutions and public will.
Reforming capitalism is only delaying end stage capitalism, not preventing it.
Eventually, we will be right back to the guided age (this time, its the 3.0 version!). Eventually your kids kids will be struggling working 3 jobs to make ends meet if not sooner.
Let’s not waste the blood sweat and tears of those willing to fight for a better tomorrow like we did in the past. Never again.
“Fink was refreshingly blunt that it’s not hard to figure out why millennials and Gen Z workers are economically anxious. “They believe my generation — the Baby Boomers — have focused on their own financial well-being to the detriment of who comes next. And in the case of retirement, they’re right,” he said.”
Yes!
“While Fink correctly identified a key problem, his proposed solution wasn’t to bring back pension plans. It was a new BlackRock product that helps people better manage their retirement spending. In other words, it’s a way for BlackRock to likely make more money.”
Fink correctly identified a key problem, his proposed solution wasn’t to bring back pension plans. It was a new BlackRock product that helps people better manage their retirement spending.
You motherfucker.
The advice for a “managing” a 401(k) is to just put money into it and ignore it- there’s literally no managing required. The problem is this was never good enough and you god damn parasitic leeches want to take even that pittance away.
This is basically the current stage of capitalism. If by the end by some miracle you accrued some wealth, they’ll make sure to grab it so there’s no inheritance left.
Sell your house and buy into a retirement community, then a retirement home, and after that poke and prod you in a hospital for months on end to extend your life for a few weeks.
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