American workers deserve honor and respect, on Labor Day and every other day of the year. Unfortunately, despite the populist rhetoric, that’s not what we’ve been getting from Donald Trump and the Republican Party. Instead of promoting policies that help America’s working families, the GOP has spent the year waging war on working Americans.
Due to a massive uprising from grassroots activists, the GOP plan to take health care away from over 20 million Americans was defeated. But the next priority on their agenda is just as bad: Pass massive tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and giant corporations, paid for by starving vital services and benefits.
Billionaires and Fortune 500 Companies are the last ones who need — or deserve — a tax cut. Due in large part to government policies like deregulating Wall Street, cutting taxes on the rich, privatization, and keeping the minimum wage low, America’s income growth has gone overwhelmingly to the top 1 percent in the last four decades. During this time, the productivity of American workers has continually increased — but only those at the top pocketed the rewards for everyone else’s hard work.
It hasn’t always been this way: From 1948 to 1979, two-thirds of aggregate income growth in the United States went to the bottom 90 percent. But from 1979 onward, nearly two-thirds of growth went to the top 1 percent. Perhaps even worse, the aggregate income of the bottom 90 percent actually declined!