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Originally Posted by Lenny2
Rickholio - some good, albeit long winded points you have there 
I can concede that there was some sort of middle class in those days, but it was probably 5, maybe 10 percent of the population.
These days its more like 60+ percent of the population.
Things were ALOT different before the New Deal, I think society as a whole is much better off now than it was then. |
It's a deep topic, and not the sort of thing that reduces to a 30 second sound bite easily.
I absolutely agree with you though. The expansion of the middle class is a proven engine for wealth creation. Unfortunately, the expanded middle is not a natural thing in a purely capitalist society... it needs to be protected and nurtured by government and regulation, hence the New Deal.
Consider how many once middle-class-now-rich are trying their damnedest to destroy the middle class by hammering away at the institutions that allowed it to florish (this role is currently occupied by what we term 'conservatives', but really it's more of a 'rick person' hobby regardless of their social ethos). Why, though? Are enough of them 'rich enough' to become the new gentry and feel they no longer need a middle class to generate wealth? Are they threatened by the fact that others might gain wealth, which means they'd LOSE (in the broken math of zero-sum economic theory)?
Who fucking knows. This moves out of economics and into philosophy (or theology, for some).