The United States is entering a period where government decisions will mainly favor the wealthy, leaving the middle and upper middle class behind. The poor will face greater difficulties. Regulations on private, profit-driven businesses in healthcare, technology, food production, and natural resources will be relaxed. Budget cuts will make it easier for wealthy individuals to commit income tax fraud as skilled IRS staff are reduced.

This reflects a trend in the US since Reagan’s presidency in 1981, backed by Libertarians and right-wing conservatives, to shift wealth and power to the top 1%.

“Economists call the period from 1933 to 1981 the “Great Compression,” for it marked a time when business regulation, progressive taxation, strong unions, and a basic social safety net compressed both wealth and income levels in the United States. Every income group in the U.S. improved its economic standing.

$50 trillion from the bottom 90% of Americans to the top 1%!
How can we stop this transfer of wealth from our pockets to billionaires?

That period ended in 1981, when the U.S. entered a period economists have dubbed the “Great Divergence.”

Between 1981 and 2021, deregulation, tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, the offshoring of manufacturing, and the weakening of unions moved $50 trillion from the bottom 90% of Americans to the top 1%.” (from Heather Cox Richardson, 1/17/2025)