After the excesses and corruption of the "Gilded Age", the public responded with (in my view) more just and intelligent set of rules for commerce, including anti-trust, Glass -Steagall, workers and union rights, benefits such as healthcare, minimum wage, child labor regulation, consumer protections, especially regarding safety, the FDA, …
After the excesses and corruption of the "Gilded Age", the public responded with (in my view) more just and intelligent set of rules for commerce, including anti-trust, Glass -Steagall, workers and union rights, benefits such as healthcare, minimum wage, child labor regulation, consumer protections, especially regarding safety, the FDA, EPA, etc. and on and on. The middle class grew rapidly for a number of reasons, but now demonized "regulation" hardly killed it.
Having piles of money is not in and of itself, a virtue, as Trump proves, but neither is it in and of itself a vice, although a society in which most of the property is in a few hands in no democracy. The thing is that any form of power can be used to concentrate more power, and that, left unmanaged, becomes an enemy of social justice. Too, some of the wealthiest people seem to want the lifestyle of kings while keeping serfs at a subsistence level.
In 1954, Eisenhower said:
"This is what I mean by my constant insistence upon “moderation” in government. Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H.L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
I think that Ike did not foresee the scale of the propaganda operation that now tells lies on an Orwellian scale. That proven protections against virus spread are worse than nothing, or millions spent to convince the public that climate change is a hoax.
After the excesses and corruption of the "Gilded Age", the public responded with (in my view) more just and intelligent set of rules for commerce, including anti-trust, Glass -Steagall, workers and union rights, benefits such as healthcare, minimum wage, child labor regulation, consumer protections, especially regarding safety, the FDA, EPA, etc. and on and on. The middle class grew rapidly for a number of reasons, but now demonized "regulation" hardly killed it.
Having piles of money is not in and of itself, a virtue, as Trump proves, but neither is it in and of itself a vice, although a society in which most of the property is in a few hands in no democracy. The thing is that any form of power can be used to concentrate more power, and that, left unmanaged, becomes an enemy of social justice. Too, some of the wealthiest people seem to want the lifestyle of kings while keeping serfs at a subsistence level.
In 1954, Eisenhower said:
"This is what I mean by my constant insistence upon “moderation” in government. Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H.L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
I think that Ike did not foresee the scale of the propaganda operation that now tells lies on an Orwellian scale. That proven protections against virus spread are worse than nothing, or millions spent to convince the public that climate change is a hoax.