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JHB

(38,128 posts)

16. This is simply getting back to the New Deal principles that worked

Reply to H2O Man (Original post)

Thu Jan 1, 2026, 07:27 PM

Jan 1

Being the result of political deals and compromises made in the 1930s and 40s, by the 70s it had gotten creaky and needed some updating. What it did NOT need, but what we unfortunately got, was dismantling. Shooting Money skyward--as much as possible, as fast as possible, as high as possible--was made the highest virtue in the land.

The New Deal didn't prevent money from going up to the top, but it did bottleneck the flow. There's an old rule of prioritization in business: Speed, cost, quality. Pick two, because getting those will cost you the third.

The New Deal framework, with support for workers, regulation, and those top-heavy tax rates (including the system of deductions to lower your effective rate) imposed a "pick two" rule on "as much as possible, as fast as possible, as high as possible". Postwar prosperity was widespread because wealth had a chance to circulate through the economy before going up the chimney.

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This is simply getting back to the New Deal principles that worked JHB Jan 1 #16

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