In his State of the Union speech, Republicans and pundits have accused Obama of cynically trying to shape the 2016 presidential election with proposals that he knows won’t get much traction in a GOP congress. His proposals may well play out in 2016 instead of in this congress, but his agenda is about far more than just the next presidential campaign. He’s trying to reopen a debate Democrats lost almost 35 years ago.
In the 30 years following World War II, tax policy and the domestic agenda focused on building the middle class and creating a social safety net. We valued labor as much as capital and through programs like the G. I. Bill, learned that government could help people get tools that led to success in the free market. Our economy boomed and we enjoyed broad, shared prosperity.
In the mid 1970s, though, stagflation, a combination of high unemployment and high inflation, set in. Pessimistic and demoralized voters lost faith in the government and many of the social programs begun in the Great Society. They sent Jimmy Carter packing and elected Ronald Reagan to straighten things out.
Reagan promised a new approach. He believed that if the wealthy and corporations had more money, they would spend it and the good times would trickle down to the rest of us. He pushed through large tax cuts for the rich and corporations and garnered middle class support with smaller tax cuts for them. He busted unions and blasted government support of “welfare queens.”
Two years into office, the economy started to hum–in part because of his tax cuts but also because of Fed Chair Paul Volcker’s monetary policy. Regardless, Republicans and middle class families believed that tax cuts got the economy moving again and thus began the myth of Reaganomics. Over the next three decades, Congress and state governments continued to reduce taxes on the wealthy with promises of economic gains that never materialized for the middle class.
Middle class income stagnated even as worker productivity increased. The gains in productivity went to the wealthy along with savings from lower taxes. The result was a growing income inequality. When the Great Recession hit, median income dropped dramatically and much of the working class is still struggling to recover.
With this backdrop, Obama is trying to restart the argument that Democrats lost in 1980. He believes that if the middle class is doing well, then the wealthy and big corporations will thrive, too. He wants a domestic policy and tax system that benefits working families by reducing their costs and putting more money into their pockets. And he believes that government has a role in helping families recover and restore balance to our economy.
The programs Obama laid out in his speech may not get much play in Congress, but they can start a larger and longer conversation about American priorities. For thirty years, we’ve operated under some iteration of trickle-down theory. For most Americans, it hasn’t worked. It’s left them working harder and longer for less. Obama’s agenda is not just about 2016. It’s about the next 30 years.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
Penny: Yes, he’s made it perfectly clear that he hates Dems, liberals (though he calls them Bolsheviks, leftists, socialists, Soviets), progressives, Obama, Hagan, UNC, and lately even anyone who might try to limit gun ownership to the responsible.
Hello to all:
May the blessings of Liberty, freedom and independence benefit you all!
As long as we allow the Political Parties to manipulate the discussion on taxes We are doomed. The issue is not what is good for the rich, middle class or poor. The issue is; What is best for Our Nation?
The Nations current path will lead to decline, until We are totally decimated by a depression that will make the Great Depression look like a non event!
The issue is not who pays how much tax. The issue is; are taxes equal for every Citizen as are the cost of Government Services? Are Government Services available equally to every Citizen?
When the Citizenry stops asking these questions and votes for representation that will take from some of the Citizenry and give to another segment of the Citizenry that same Citizenry is doomed! It does not matter who manipulates the tax code when the goal is to benefit one segment of Our society.
When the Citizenry gives up control of Government they are doomed to become subjects and slaves of that same Government! This is Our current plight.
We the People gave up control of Government when we started putting ourselves first and our fellow Citizen second. Self centered thinking lead to the Citizenry being fooled into passage of the 16th Amendment. A false message stated that; taxes leveled after passage of the 16th Amendment would only fall on the most wealthy Citizens. We now know this was an out right deception! This self serving self centered thinking lead to the Governments current out of control taxing, spending policies and increasing debt. This debt will lead to a coming depression that is inevitable.
This would have never happened under the protections afforded by the original wording of the U.S. Constitution!
Most Citizens fail to read the U.S. Constitution and have not read the wording of the 16th Amendment.
We are no more than slaves or share croppers as a result of the control We turned over to Government under the 16th Amendment!
Don’t pay income tax the IRS can take everything you have.
Don’t act or live the way the Government demands you are penalized by higher taxes.
Don’t comply with Government required thought the IRS will take you to Court eating up any wealth you have until you can no longer afford to fight the Government.
Don’t by Health Insurance and the Government will penalize you and increase you taxes.
Don’t pay your Property Tax loose your home!
The list of lost Independence and freedoms continues to grow.
We no longer have the ability to accumulate wealth. We no longer own property. We work for and rent from the Government. What is your definition of a slave or share cropper?
End the foolish arguments over rich versus poor versus middle class. Read the original wording of the U.S. Constitution and the 16th Amendment. Demand a tax system that is equal for every Citizen. Read Article 5 of the U.S. Constitution and join your fellow Citizens who are working to repel these injustices and reign in the abusive power of the Federal Government.
http://www.conventionofstates.com
McConnell is VERY LAME, how right you are Collo-Rosso.
Na na na na na, what you say bounces off me and sticks on you!
WHAT IS THIS, THE THIRD GRADE?
You consider these as appropriate responses to you obvious dislike for our President. You have been watching too many Palin & Ernst diatribes. President Obama is doing the best he can considering the children he has to watch in the house and senate.
“I do solemnly swear ….that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God. — Senate Oath of Office
“Our top political priority over the next 2 year is to deny President Obama a second term.” –Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, 2010
What McConnell swore to do and what he spent most of his time on are two very different things. But no big deal; he did an awful job on the first and failed at the second.
Lame
“My only agenda for the next two years is the same as the one I’ve had since the day I swore an oath on the steps of this Capitol – to do what I believe is best for America.”
SOTU 1/20/14
“…to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Presidential Oath of Office
What the President BELIEVES “…is best for America” and the actual oath are two very different things, but no big deal, he violated both.
I’ll believe this “brave new Obama”-speak the day he quits pushing for the TransPacific-new NAFTA, stops pushing the gutting of Social Security with chained CPI, and dares to veto something that benefits Wall Street – like that opportunity he missed just a few days ago.
Talk is cheap.
Lame duck talk is very cheap.
Thomas: You have highlighted exactly what Obama is attempting to do, i.e., to shape the message and rearrange/revitalize the priorities of his party for both the near and longer term. Say what one might about this POTUS’ interpersonal shortcomings when working within his party or with the opposition, this approach — offering a clarion call for renewal of his party’s vision and bedrock goals for the 95% — is to be applauded.
The Democratic Party is lucky he is taking this approach during his final 2 years. A different POTUS might have tired of 6 years of hostilities and bickering, and might have presented a SOTU speech and vision that was short on contrasting progressive vs. regressive economic policy differences, or that sought only to go along with the pro-wealthy and pro-business aims of a hostile Congressional leadership, or that simply tried not to “rock the boat” too much.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamhartung/2012/10/10/want-a-better-economy-history-says-vote-democrat/
I’m including that link as a compliment to your post, since no doubt there will be a counter-point soon to find it’s way here.