Was the American 1950's Golden Decade due to the top tax rate of 92% on the very rich compared to 35% today?

Oh I think this question is definitely hitting a nail on its head! Essentially, the answer is that in the early 1980s Regan and Thatcher shifted economic policy away from keynesianism economics of the 1950s and 60s towards a neo-liberal agenda - which promotes privatization, competition, and the rolling back of the state. The major contradiction in this new agenda is the gap between what it is promised, the increased well being and prosperity of all, and its actual consequences, a huge transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich.

You should read David Harvey's "A Brief History of Neoliberalism" if you want a full explanation. Indeed, Harvey points that not only is there higher unemployment, wages have also stagnated and even fallen and at the same time productivity is up (i.e. We're making more stuff) but the big multinationals and banks are the only people seeing huge increases in there wealth!

The economy was good in the 50's because manufacturing in the United States was booming. People could afford houses, cars, and even go on vacation. The US census tells us that most minority families were two parent, working, homes in the 1950's.

Our lawmakers, in cahoots with Corporate America, the Banking Industry, Big Insurance and Wall Street have undermined the American worker.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.