My 1st KOS dairy,: 3 pillars holding up the middle class. Progressive taxes, labor & education.

[FogerRox]

At a recent meeting of progressives in NJ, a fellow progressive professed astonishment when I told him the top tax rate used to be 92%, in fact he did not believe me. This incident motivated me to get my ducks in a row and the result is what you see below.

A Middle class is a rare thing, occurring only 3 times thru-out history. The first rising of a middle class occurred as a result of the Black Plague. The Black Plague killed about 30% of the worlds population, creating a labor shortage. This allowed that Trades & Craftsman to command a higher wage, which trickled down to the common yeoman, much as the unionization of US labor in the middle 1900's allowed non union labor to command wages akin to union labor. Some have written that the renaissance, without a middle class that had the liesure time to even consider art & music, let alone the time to paint, sculpt, write & perform music, would have never occurred.

The second rising of a middle class occurred in the US colonies in the middle 1700's. Once a few Indians were driven away from an area, there was free land available for farming. In an agrarian society this was a big deal in that you could own your own land, grow & sell your own crops & keep the profits, much as a family owned business does today.

The third rising of a middle class occurred during the Great Republican Depression of the early 1930's. FDR's New Deal brought forward tax progressivity, as well as labor rights earned thru the union movement, such as the Child Labor laws passed in 1937 & 1938, (Kids do belong in school afterall). But I've gotten ahead of myself, let me backtrack a bit.

More at KOS

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/24/185917/30

[The Straight Story]

1. You have a DAIRY there? Cool, can I get some cheese :) (nt)

[Warpy]

2. The opening of the West allowed another middle class to arise

because once again there was ample farmland available to anyone who was willing to claim it and improve it under the Homestead Act. The more successful farmers were able to enlarge their holdings by buying out the less successful. That one didn't come to an end until the Dust Bowl, something that finished off what depression of grain prices had started a few years before.

A middle class has to be created by policy in order to arise in the modern world. There is no more arable land to steal from indigenous people, so other means must be used to foster a strong and stable middle class.

The reason a strong and stable middle class is desirable to modern nations is that it confers a great deal of political stability. The middle class knows it has a good deal and doesn't want to entertain any sort of radicalism.

Perhaps the movers and shakers who thought they wanted all the wealth will come to that conclusion again. I am not sure I particularly want to live through the economic and political disasters that will force them to come to that conclusion.

[FogerRox]

3. Robber Barrons have to be fit in there

1870 to 1900.

[Warpy]

4. Yes, they do

but it was almost as if the country had been split, with robber barons on each coast and a burgeoning middle class in the agricultural heartland.

People who didn't have land or who'd lost it were falling into serfdom.

[FogerRox]

5. Kickin for some DU love....

[FogerRox]

6. Afternoon kick

[dae]

7. Your diary at DK is a great read. You've had a good

number of posts as well, congrats. :toast:

[FogerRox]

8. thank you.