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Answer: Destroy the industrial base of most of the rest of the world, import 1600 top Nazi scientists, find a nuclear-armed expansionist global-superpower enemy
by defen 17y ago
Answer: Destroy the industrial base of most of the rest of the world, import 1600 top Nazi scientists, find a nuclear-armed expansionist global-superpower enemy with a fundamentally incompatible political ideology, and raise the top marginal tax rate to 91%.
Worked last time.
- thaumaturgy 17y agoWhat are you referring to?
- philwelch 17y agoThe US situation after the Second World War, obviously.
- defen 17y agoThe industrial base of Japan and most of continental Europe was destroyed in strategic bombing campaigns or captured by the Soviets after WWII. Nazi scientists: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_paperclip http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_paperclip Global superpower is the USSR Income tax: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MarginalIncomeTax.svg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MarginalIncomeTax.svg
- protomyth 17y agoIf you look at the historical data, the US, when it geared up for war, had an industrial base that beat everyone else in the world without the bombing. The lack of ability to get the industrial base was kinda the reason Japan was going on the conquering kick. Jeep carrier is a pretty good starting point for research.
- anamax 17y ago> raise the top marginal tax rate to 91%. You forgot "include enough loopholes so employees are the only folks who pay that rate". Basically, the 91% rate is what kept second tier actors like Ronald Reagan working. When folks got to the point where their marginal rate was too high, they turned down work.
- defen 17y ago> "include enough loopholes so employees are the only folks who pay that rate". I thought it was always was, and always will be, that way :-)
- anamax 17y ago> I thought it was always was, and always will be, that way :-) The system is significantly more progressive now than it was in the past. The fraction of taxes paid by upper income folks is higher now than it was during the 91% days. Federal income tax is only paid by folks with greater than median income. (Yes, lower income folks do pay SS, but they get it back and more in retirement. SS is much less favorable, in rate of return, for upper income folks.)