In "Losing the Fight for a Better Life," I quoted from an interview with renowned economist Thomas Piketty: "You write that inequality is not the result of economics or technological change, but is rooted in ideology and politics".[1] Now let's look at how politics have been the way in which inequality was decreasing in the U.S. before 1980 and how it has been increasing since then. The rich have gotten richer, and the poor have gotten poorer, in real dollars, since 1980!
Some of the evidence is shown in "Why There's So Much Anger and Despair"[2] This figure (shown previously and here) from Piketty's book shows the trends for inequality from 1900 to 2020. 1980 was a turning point.
A Brief History of Equality by Thomas Piketty (2022) [^3] p. 153
As Piketty points out in his books, these changes were the result of changes in progressive taxes, regulatory changes, opposition to labor unions, and global economic changes.
In the United States, since the end of World War II, the Republican Party has sought to undo the FDR New Deal. They have opposed poverty programs, have reduced taxes on wealth and high income, and fought labor unions and regulation, particularly of business and finance.
A short history of U.S. taxes is found at A Concise History Of Changes In U.S. Tax Law. A more detailed listing of income taxes[4] is shown as follows:
Income tax in the United States - Wikipedia
During WWII, during the Presidency of FDR, top tax rates reached 94%. During the Vietnam war, during the Presidency of Kennedy, top rates were reduced from 91% to 77%, and gradually to 70%.[^5] The biggest changes were made during the Reagan Presidency, reducing top rates from 70% to 28%.
The impact of the Reagan tax cuts on the federal deficit and the national debt is shown by the following charts.[^6]
US National Deficit and Debt History with Charts
During the Clinton Presidency, top tax rates were increased, from 28% to 39.6%,[7] [8] resulting in a budget surplus, and beginning to pay down the debt. Also, the 1996 Welfare Reform Act, passed by the Republican Congress with Newt Gingrich as Speaker of the House, was signed by Clinton.[9]
During the George W. Bush Presidency, top rates were reduced from 38.6% to 35%.[10] Top rates were increased from 35% to 39.6% during the Obama Presidency.[11]
Republicans again cut the top tax rates to 37% during the Trump Presidency.[12] Democrats during the Biden Presidency set a selective minimum tax rate of 15% for corporations with annual income over $1 billion, and made other changes, but did not increase the top tax rate of 37%.[13]
The differences between the Republican Party[14] and the Democratic Party[15] could not be more clear: the Republicans want to reduce top tax rates (and have), and to skew even more in favor of extremes in economic power; the Democrats want to lift up the poor and middle classes and to increase equality of opportunity.
The history of Republican and Democratic control of the Congress and Presidency is shown here:[16]
Divided government in the United States - Wikipedia
The Republican Party has been successful for most of the past 40 years in their agenda. They have also managed to stack the U.S. Supreme Court with six conservative Justices.[17]
In the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, they convinced about 47.7% of those who voted to vote for the Republican, Donald Trump, as they had done in the 2016 election. Trump and Republicans used race, religion and immigration, along with anger about diminishing quality of life, to hide the reality that Republican policies are at the core of the economic cause of the dissatisfaction of the middle classes and the poor.[18] "It was all a lie."[19]
Why There's So Much Anger and Despair - by Patrick McNamara↩︎
US National Deficit and Debt History with Charts - a www.usgovernmentspending.com briefing↩︎
"If the goal was to get rid of poverty, we failed": the legacy of the 1996 welfare reform↩︎
Federalist Society’s Leonard Leo is helping Trump make courts more conservative - Washington Post↩︎
It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump: Stevens, Stuart: 2020↩︎