The present entry into our 2016 presidential race of Bernie Sanders brings back memories for me. He speaks in a way that reminds me of my past. I was a little kid back in the 1940s when America jumped into World War Two in an effort to defeat Hitler, the Nazis, and their fellow travelers. I was aware of my uncle being in the navy and fighting for us. I was aware of my dad taking me out to the neighborhood Victory Garden where so many volunteers worked to grow crops that would help us as we sent so much of what we grew abroad for our military.
We need to teach our children that back in the 1940s, 11% of our population joined the military to fight for us. We need to teach our children that back in the 1940s, the wealthy among us were called upon to actually share in the cost of the challenges before us with progressive income tax rates reaching to 88%, and eventually, under President Eisenhower, to 91%, so that in the 1950s, America could revamp our national roads and bridges. Through all of this, we met our goals while the wealthy remained rich, the middle class rose as never before and even the poor were better off.
Today, less than 1% of our American citizens are required to, and actually do, stand up and fight for us, and the cost of our many recent wars falls far heavier on the poor and the middle class as a result of continuing decreases in our progressive tax rates which were at 91% in 1951 and are now around 35% with tax loopholes that allow American millionaires to pay less than 15% of their full earnings for taxes while the average middle class person is probably paying well over 20% in the end.
It's time for all Americans to pay attention to our history and to learn from it.
We need to teach our children that back in the 1940s, 11% of our population joined the military to fight for us. We need to teach our children that back in the 1940s, the wealthy among us were called upon to actually share in the cost of the challenges before us with progressive income tax rates reaching to 88%, and eventually, under President Eisenhower, to 91%, so that in the 1950s, America could revamp our national roads and bridges. Through all of this, we met our goals while the wealthy remained rich, the middle class rose as never before and even the poor were better off.
Today, less than 1% of our American citizens are required to, and actually do, stand up and fight for us, and the cost of our many recent wars falls far heavier on the poor and the middle class as a result of continuing decreases in our progressive tax rates which were at 91% in 1951 and are now around 35% with tax loopholes that allow American millionaires to pay less than 15% of their full earnings for taxes while the average middle class person is probably paying well over 20% in the end.
It's time for all Americans to pay attention to our history and to learn from it.
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