The Reagan tax cuts doomed Americans' opportunity for a life of leisure

[HomerRamone]

Are We Going to Be the Flintstones or the Jetsons?

by Thom Hartmann

(Impossible to adequately summarize when his paragraphs are one sentence long. Please read the whole thing at

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/thom-hartmann/54288/are-we-going-to-be-the-flintstones-or-the-jetsons )

Back in 1966, everyone thought that by the year 2000, America would be "The Leisure Society."

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But that logic all hinged on the top marginal income tax rate remaining at 70 percent, where it was in 1966.

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That high income tax rate thus encouraged CEO's to keep money in their businesses, invest in new technology, pay their workers more, and hire new workers so their businesses could expand.

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But then Reagan came along, slashed income taxes, and everything changed. The idea of "The Leisure Society" blew up.

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Thanks to Reagan however, although businesses did become more profitable, there was less of an incentive to share the wealth. Because of historically low income tax rates, CEO's pulled profits out of their companies and filled their Swiss bank accounts, all at the expense of working-class Americans.

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Only when the Reagan Revolution is reversed will every American again reap the rewards of increases in productivity in technology.

[El_Johns]

1. Yep. The rich stole all the productivity gains and invested them overseas. It's what they do.