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1. You have a problem with English..or the written form. I was referring to the Progressive Tax..and not just income tax.
Progressive tax - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
That article discusses the structure of a progressive tax system and the arguments for and against it. It doesn't state the reasons for Woodrow Wilson implementing a progressive tax table when the income tax was reintroduced upon passage of the 16th Amendment.
2. That wasn't the case from 1950 - 1980. That only happened after 1980 when taxes for the top tier were cut. And went into overdrive after 2000..when taxes were again cut. Over 50,000 manufacturing plants were closed during the Bush administration.
You cannot compare the economy of 1950-1980 to the economy of 2012. Following the WWII the U.S. was a mass producer of a majority of goods throughout the world because Europe was still rebuilding their infrastructure. People had no choice but to by American in those days and thus we could have 80% top tier tax rates and still have a bustling economy. When Europe came back on line in the 60s globalization was gradually reintroduced and it prompted Kennedy to lower marginal tax rates to spur further economic growth which it did for a few years, but foreign manufacturing continued to increase at cheaper rates. That is the reason that the steel and textile industries among others began to leave and move overseas. Reagan cut taxes again in the early 80s and we saw one of the most prosperous periods of growth since the 1920s.
3. Total bullshit. What happened after 2000 was George W. Bush cut the interest rates to fuel a housing bubble. This staggered UE..but eventually burst. Bush's economy blew up in 2008...as expected.
The Bush administration cut taxes in 2002 and from 2003 up until 2008 the economy grew, unemployment dropped, and federal revenue increased by 30%. Cutting the interest rates did fuel the housing bubble and certainly helped in fueling the economy, but it was not the only factor.
Here is your homework for today.
Roll Back the Reagan Tax Cuts | Common Dreams
This was written August 2007, so Bush's numbers were much worse on October 2008.
Since Bush has been president:
over 5 million people have slipped into poverty;
nearly 7 million Americans have lost their health insurance;
median household income has gone down by nearly $1,300;
three million manufacturing jobs have been lost;
three million American workers have lost their pensions;
home foreclosures are now the highest on record;
the personal savings rate is below zero - which hasn't happened since the great depression;
the real earnings of college graduates have gone down by about 5% in the last few years;
entry level wages for male and female high school graduates have fallen by over 3%;
wages and salaries are now at the lowest share of GDP since 1929.