Did Lowering Taxes for the Rich Destroy the Middle Class?

I wonder if it did.

Back in the days when the top marginal tax rates were in the seventies to nineties, there wasn't the incentive to screw the last dime out of everyone else. Sure, you might be able to get more profit my sticking it to those who were bringing home paychecks, but after a certain point, the government was reaping far more of a reward from that than the businessmen.

But then the tax rates started falling. It came to pass that if a businessman was able to wring more profit out of treating workers shabbily, let alone closing the factories and off-shoring them, then he got to keep most of it.

And so things started stagnating for those who were of the non-rich persuasion. Those who took home a paycheck, but not those who were paid in investment income of some kind or another.

And greed took hold. Companies began to see that if they paid their workers really low wages, then some of the costs of having workers would be foisted upon the government. And those who won Lucky Sperm Lotto could get even richer.

Sooner or later, it starts to fall apart. Low paid workers in companies that offer no career growth potential have no incentive to do more than the barest minimum to keep their jobs. In some of those businesses, especially certain one with blue signs, you can see the Soviet attitude of "they pretend to pay us and we pretend to work" on full display.

If there is a fix that can be done inside of the system, I don't know what it is. Our government at almost all levels, and in all three branches, is firmly in the grasp of the Oligarchs.

Keep your head down and your powder dry. I fear that the Day of the Pitchforks is coming. May not be soon, but it's coming.