The data from Piketty, Saez, and Zucman is not divided among federal, state, and local taxes, so it is difficult to tell exactly how much the rich were paying in federal income taxes specifically during this period.
Even if this is true, does this have a deleterious effect or is it overall taxation that counts?
The technology that evolved from this era was nothing short of revolutionary: civilian nuclear energy, advanced jet engines that enabled civilian aviation, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), the transistor and semiconductor technology, computer languages, satellites, advanced radar, and ultimately space exploration, which culminated with one of America’s proudest moments with the moon landing in 1969.
Was this mostly accomplished by the private sector?
Oh no, gasp! The federal government remained a large part of US GDP.
Another oh no. I don’t believe that the private sector could have successfully funded these kinds of R&D projects that require decades of work without the federal government’s assistance
(NASA), which was once the technological envy of the solar system, confirm my view.
A program that was funded by the public sector. Not your heros of your free-market fantasies.
Perhaps, it could lead to something of a renaissance in health and medical sciences as the demand for improved medicine would rise as the population got older his may be true to an extent but will be muffled by the monopoly behavior of the healthcare industry.
So what does this tell us?
Inequality does matter, and measures to reduce it have a proper place in economic policy. But by promoting efficiency and raising living standards, a market economy has proved its worth. To argue that inequality is the fundamental weakness of modern capitalism, while ignoring capitalism’s achievements, may excite the well-heeled intellectual salons of Paris and New York, but most of us recognise that a market economy has served us well by creating growth and reducing poverty.
Is this true? Look at the inequality of the U.S.
The billionaires who make up the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans now have as much wealth as all African-American households, plus one-third of America’s Latino population, combined. In other words, just 400 extremely wealthy individuals have as much wealth as 16 million African-American households and 5 million Latino households.
Wow, what a great service Capitalism has accomplished.
You didn’t even change the font. Fucking clown. As if this matters and oh no you called me a name again.
And there are far more people today that would fit into the top tax bracket. Do you think that would make any difference? And there is a distinction between income and capital gains.
