Walton County does have Democrats!
- Thread starter rapunzel
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Careful with those online tests which tells you what you are. Next thing you know, Hillary will create one which says that everyone who takes the test is a Hillary Democrat.
90/30 -- Which it calls a Liberal, but that is only one square away from a libertarian.
I would probably be an economic libertarian if history didn't show us that economic libertarianism leads to no middle class within three generations. The large and strong middle class is what has historically made America great.
I would probably be an economic libertarian if history didn't show us that economic libertarianism leads to no middle class within three generations. The large and strong middle class is what has historically made America great.
Such claims deserve a citation to augment credibility.
When Reagan assumed the Presidency in early 1981, the top tax rate was 70% and he crafted a reduction in the rate to 28%. His approach was called many names by the opposition replete with declarations that the middle class would be squeezed and that the lone benefactors would be the rich. In fact, there were some surprising revelations as described in the Cato Blog article below.
Middle Class Squeeze?
New Census Bureau numbers released today on income, poverty and health coverage in 2005 are bound to fuel charges that the poor are getting poorer while the middle class continues to be squeezed. See what 25 years of tax cuts for the rich, globalization, and declining union membership have caused? But a look at the numbers inside the report tells a different story.
If we define the middle class as households earning between $35,000 and $75,000 a year, the middle class in America remains a huge demographic group. According to the Census report, Table A-1, the middle class made up 33.3 percent of U.S. households in 2005. That share is indeed somewhat smaller than in 1980, when 38.2 percent of households earned between $35,000 and $75,000 a year in real (inflation-adjusted) 2005 dollars.
Aha, so the middle class really is shrinking if not exactly disappearing, the alarmists might respond. But the Census numbers also show that over the past 25 years, the share of U.S. households earning less than $35,000 a year has also shrunk, from 44.5 percent in 1980 to 38.4 percent in 2005. Meanwhile, the share of households earning more than $75,000 a year has jumped from 17.4 percent to 28.3 percent.
In other words, if the middle class in America has shrunk, it is only because so many formerly middle-class households have moved to the upper-income brackets, while a significant number of households previously in the lower brackets have moved up to the middle class and beyond.
The solid economic growth of the past two decades has indeed lifted all kinds of household boats. By the most basic measure of real household income, a broad swathe of Americans are better off than they were 25 years ago—thanks to growth fueled in good measure by lower marginal tax rates, expanding trade, and a more flexible domestic economy.
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Such claims deserve a citation to augment credibility.
When Reagan assumed the Presidency in early 1981, the top tax rate was 50% and he crafted a reduction in the rate to 35%. His approach was called many names by the opposition replete with declarations that the middle class would be squeezed and that the lone benefactors would be the rich. In fact, there were some surprising revelations as described in the Cato Blog article below.
Middle Class Squeeze?
New Census Bureau numbers released today on income, poverty and health coverage in 2005 are bound to fuel charges that the poor are getting poorer while the middle class continues to be squeezed. See what 25 years of tax cuts for the rich, globalization, and declining union membership have caused? But a look at the numbers inside the report tells a different story.
If we define the middle class as households earning between $35,000 and $75,000 a year, the middle class in America remains a huge demographic group. According to the Census report, Table A-1, the middle class made up 33.3 percent of U.S. households in 2005. That share is indeed somewhat smaller than in 1980, when 38.2 percent of households earned between $35,000 and $75,000 a year in real (inflation-adjusted) 2005 dollars.
Aha, so the middle class really is shrinking if not exactly disappearing, the alarmists might respond. But the Census numbers also show that over the past 25 years, the share of U.S. households earning less than $35,000 a year has also shrunk, from 44.5 percent in 1980 to 38.4 percent in 2005. Meanwhile, the share of households earning more than $75,000 a year has jumped from 17.4 percent to 28.3 percent.
In other words, if the middle class in America has shrunk, it is only because so many formerly middle-class households have moved to the upper-income brackets, while a significant number of households previously in the lower brackets have moved up to the middle class and beyond.
The solid economic growth of the past two decades has indeed lifted all kinds of household boats. By the most basic measure of real household income, a broad swathe of Americans are better off than they were 25 years ago?thanks to growth fueled in good measure by lower marginal tax rates, expanding trade, and a more flexible domestic economy.
Yes, and if you look at the CPI, you will see that consumer prices haven't really gone up in the past year.
You're citing Cato for credibility? Seriously?
That's just pie precious.
Yes, and if you look at the CPI, you will see that consumer prices haven't really gone up in the past year.
You're citing Cato for credibility? Seriously?
The Cato article includes a link to the U.S. Census bureau so the information presented in the article is readily accessed and verified.
