While I believe it is true that if everything remains as is in our country, eventually, the costs of programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will damage our society, the missing piece to this puzzle, in my opinion, is the action our America took back in the early 1940s and through the 1950s in response to Japan's attack on us and our being drawn into World War Two.
Given that our military was not nearly as strong as needed for our entry into a major war, our country raised the top federal tax bracket to 88% in order for us to be able to expand our military strength. What did this rise in a tax bracket mean for our nation? It meant that our federal tax money would be substantially increased as a result of the wealthy in our nation being required to increase the amount of taxes they paid, not to a total of 88%, the number used for the top tax bracket, but to a total of somewhere in the neighborhood of 37% to 40% of all of their earnings. As a consequence of this new tax policy, we expanded our military, defeated within four years our World War Two adversaries, the wealthy remained wealthy despite the increase in the amount they paid in taxes and the middle class did well.
My fellow Americans should also take some time to look at our country's history during the mid 1950s when our President Eisenhower caused our top tax bracket to increase once again to 91% in order for us to be able, as a country, to repair and expand our federal highway system of roads and bridges. Once again, the wealthy remained wealthy, our federal highway system grew to be as good as ever and our American middle class prospered in ways far better than ever in the past.
Since that time in our nation's history, we've taken hard steps backward by reducing our top tax brackets and creating a financial world in our country that has allowed for the wealthy to remain rich while a growing gap between the rich and the lower and middle classes has only continued to expand over decades that has created struggles for those at the bottom of the financial world that is making it so much worse for so many of our fellow Americans.
For me, the answer is for us all to remind ourselves that we are the United States of America, that we are a community designed by our founding mothers and fathers for us to be here for all of us. We can do this without destroying the ability for anyone to become rich and wealthy. During the 1940s and 1950s, we were the perfect match of a mix of Capitalism with socialistic aspects, a match that never diminished the ability for our people to work hard, be creative and experience the success of becoming wealthy. I believe we need to return to this form that has worked so well for us in our past.
Given that our military was not nearly as strong as needed for our entry into a major war, our country raised the top federal tax bracket to 88% in order for us to be able to expand our military strength. What did this rise in a tax bracket mean for our nation? It meant that our federal tax money would be substantially increased as a result of the wealthy in our nation being required to increase the amount of taxes they paid, not to a total of 88%, the number used for the top tax bracket, but to a total of somewhere in the neighborhood of 37% to 40% of all of their earnings. As a consequence of this new tax policy, we expanded our military, defeated within four years our World War Two adversaries, the wealthy remained wealthy despite the increase in the amount they paid in taxes and the middle class did well.
My fellow Americans should also take some time to look at our country's history during the mid 1950s when our President Eisenhower caused our top tax bracket to increase once again to 91% in order for us to be able, as a country, to repair and expand our federal highway system of roads and bridges. Once again, the wealthy remained wealthy, our federal highway system grew to be as good as ever and our American middle class prospered in ways far better than ever in the past.
Since that time in our nation's history, we've taken hard steps backward by reducing our top tax brackets and creating a financial world in our country that has allowed for the wealthy to remain rich while a growing gap between the rich and the lower and middle classes has only continued to expand over decades that has created struggles for those at the bottom of the financial world that is making it so much worse for so many of our fellow Americans.
For me, the answer is for us all to remind ourselves that we are the United States of America, that we are a community designed by our founding mothers and fathers for us to be here for all of us. We can do this without destroying the ability for anyone to become rich and wealthy. During the 1940s and 1950s, we were the perfect match of a mix of Capitalism with socialistic aspects, a match that never diminished the ability for our people to work hard, be creative and experience the success of becoming wealthy. I believe we need to return to this form that has worked so well for us in our past.
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