--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu <noozg...@...> wrote:
>
> I've read the first few chapters of the book so far and all I can say is
> they had the same kind of fathead conservatives back in the 1930's as we
> do today who didn't want the rich taxed. And of course many these "so
> called" conservatives aren't rich but just useful idiots for the rich.
> Worth a read and you even should be able to find a copy at a used book
> store (I had to ask as they put it in the "classics" section).
>
Bhairitu,
Thanks for your recommendation of Sinclair Lewis's 1930's book, and your take
on the rich then and now. The dismantling of the progressive taxation system
over the past 45 years is destroying the Middle Class in America, which is
dimming the hopes of the 3rd world for America as a model to emulate.
Last May, as hearings were planned on Health Care Reform, I called the office
of Senator Baucus, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, to object to the
concept of paying for health reform through revenue generated from taxes on
existing "Cadillac" health plans. I was referred to a Senate Finance Committee
staffer who kindly spent considerable time hearing my opinion (this was
well before the subject hit a fever-pitch level of the late Summer).
At one point in the conversation, I inquired of the Senate Finance Committee
staffer's knowledge of America's 20th century personal income rates.
Although the Finance committee staffer know of the concept of a Progressive
Tax system, he was surprised to learn of the Progressive Taxation rates on
personal income from the 1930s to the 1960s. Progressive Taxation is so far
removed from the awareness of even our best and brightest. This must change,
and the Progressive Tax system must return fully to prevent America's descent
back into the historical norm of either extreme wealth or extreme poverty, and
a scant few middle class.
