A Message from MSEA President Paul Lemle
Where We Stand on Billionaires
Billionaires are a problem. Anti-union tycoons like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk have far too much power and influence over the government. They use their power and influence as leverage to pass policies that are good for them and bad for workers like us. But billionaires are actually more a symptom than a cause.
I’m a history teacher, and I know we had a roaring economy during the 1950s and 60s with some basic features that benefited everyone. This economy had strong unions, fair taxes, and low housing costs. It’s no accident there was a baby boom!
For most of the 20th century, we had a 90% tax on the highest incomes (it even reached 94% to fund our World War II efforts!). Today, the highest tax rate is only 37%, and this means a very diminished investment in education and the infrastructure that supports our quality of life—the things that actually support good jobs, businesses, and our economy. The average head of household (one person) in 1950 could afford housing on only 10% of their income. Today, this figure has ballooned to 26% for two income households! The predictable result is a far more unequal economy today.
Instead of supporting policies that even further benefit billionaires, we can and should work toward prosperity for every American. Every American worker deserves the respect of a safe workplace, a strong union, and a living wage. The benefits of our democracy and our economy should include everyone. We need to defend our democratic institutions, extending their protections to everyone because free markets only flourish in healthy democracies.
We stand for an America that allows everyone to prosper.