Do you have an ideal decade for the tag "Make America Great Again" ?

I would pick the 1950s - 1960 plus or minus a few years.  Honestly, what do you think?  Write it down now, before you look at the rest of this post.

What's wrong with the "now"?  Nothing!  But as always we are struggling to know how to deal with change or trends.

The last part of the following program brings out that our constant problem is intrinsically being human and that we like to "share" and we cannot always know everything - so we have to trust.  We have created a super highway of information flow and there are just as many bad drivers as ever.

HIDDEN BRAIN: Facts Aren't Enough: The Psychology Of False Beliefs

As a result of listening to the podcast I bought the book -

The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread


Now for the IRONY !  Let's take just one look at the decade that I chose.  They were great economic times, war was over, GI Bill was putting people through college, employment was good, you would be able to put your kids through college, etc.

I put forward a major character of the times that I think most of us have forgotten or never knew.  A little Wikipedia History lesson - follow the money.



History of taxation in the United States (mostly gov doc)

For tax years 1944 through 1951, the highest marginal tax rate for individuals was 91%, increasing to 92% for 1952 and 1953, and reverting to 91% for tax years 1954 through 1963.^[36]

So am I to conclude that "good times" are associated with high tax rates.

For the 1964 tax year, the top marginal tax rate for individuals was lowered to 77%, and then to 70% for tax years 1965 through 1981. In 1978 income brackets were adjusted for inflation, so fewer people were taxed at high rates.^[37] The top marginal tax rate was lowered to 50% for tax years 1982 through 1986.^[38] Reagan undid 40% of his 1981 tax cut, in 1983 he hiked gas and payroll taxes, and in 1984 he raised tax revenue by closing loopholes for businesses.^[39] According to historian and domestic policy adviser Bruce Bartlett, Reagan's 12 tax increases over the course of his presidency took back half of the 1981 tax cut.^[40]

For tax year 1987, the highest marginal tax rate was 38.5% for individuals.^[41] It was lowered to 28% in revenue neutral fashion, eliminating many loopholes and shelters, along with in corporate taxes, (with a 33% "bubble rate") for tax years 1988 through 1990.^[42][43] Ultimately, the combination of base broadening and rate reduction raised revenue equal to about 4% of existing tax revenue^[44]

Read the book and read the document in Wikipedia.


WI 1848 Forward: Do you have an ideal decade for the tag Do you have an ideal decade for the tag "Make America Great Again" ? #MAGA #FakeNews If only our memories were as good as reality in telling us how it really was?!

Do you have an ideal decade for the tag "Make America Great Again" ? #MAGA #FakeNews If only our memories of the depression were as good as reality in telling us how it really was?! So think "great recession" times 100!