Taxes are not historically low once you take into account all levels of taxation:
I'm all for saying that we should have higher taxes. And that we should demand a higher standard of living than we had in the past, and our current rate of innovation and progress is something that should be cause for national concern. But I am very annoyed at the left's insistence that the past was every that much greater.
Social Security was created because most seniors were dying in poverty. The urbanization of the 1900's ended the easy ability for seniors to move in with their adult children to live out their last years. Most people did not have retirement, and even when they did, it was a relatively short time between the end of their working career and their death.
Health insurance didn't exist. And in the seventies, it certainly didn't provide for the most expensive treatments (many of which didn't even exist them), much less general wellness or mental health care.
Income mobility has always been an issue, and there's no evidence that the gap is widening. The only demographic that has been hurt by the last century is uneducated unmarried white males. And while that is of some concern, you have to wonder if that is simply evidence of some slow movement towards equalization between whites and minorities.
That's not to say that the job is done. I would easily say there's more to be done for the American people. But seriously. The rose-colored glasses don't help anyone's cause.
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Date: 22/3/12 19:01 (UTC)I'm all for saying that we should have higher taxes. And that we should demand a higher standard of living than we had in the past, and our current rate of innovation and progress is something that should be cause for national concern. But I am very annoyed at the left's insistence that the past was every that much greater.
Social Security was created because most seniors were dying in poverty. The urbanization of the 1900's ended the easy ability for seniors to move in with their adult children to live out their last years. Most people did not have retirement, and even when they did, it was a relatively short time between the end of their working career and their death.
Health insurance didn't exist. And in the seventies, it certainly didn't provide for the most expensive treatments (many of which didn't even exist them), much less general wellness or mental health care.
Income mobility has always been an issue, and there's no evidence that the gap is widening. The only demographic that has been hurt by the last century is uneducated unmarried white males. And while that is of some concern, you have to wonder if that is simply evidence of some slow movement towards equalization between whites and minorities.
That's not to say that the job is done. I would easily say there's more to be done for the American people. But seriously. The rose-colored glasses don't help anyone's cause.