• merc@sh.itjust.works
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    23 hours ago

    On the other hand:

    • Many of the pro-worker policies from the New Deal are still in place, and my union is strong
    • The owner of that factory over there is in the 90% tax bracket, isn’t it great how he’s paying society back for his good fortune?
    • Every other major economic power in the world was just absolutely flattened in a war, and our country wasn’t touched
    • Because our country was relatively safe during the war, the best and brightest migrated here, and we’re now benefiting from their ideas and inventions
      • merc@sh.itjust.works
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        16 hours ago

        Yup, the 1950s was only better for white people, but there’s a reason that white people look back on it with fondness.

        But, I’d guess that even for black people it was better than the 1930s. When the economy shinks, they’re the first to lose jobs. When it grows they’re the last to get them. In the 1950s things were booming so my guess is that black unemployment was low. Still, for working class white males the 1950s may have been a peak, for most other people things have just been getting better every year since then.

        Imagine how good it could be if everyone got some of the things working class whites got in the 1950s: strong unions, good labour protections, high tax rates on the ultra rich, etc.