Core Brief: Republican Elites Looted America—This Is How
From inclusive prosperity to an extractive elite economy — the heist isn’t over
American culture 50 years ago is probably not something we want to resurrect. But American prosperity 50 years ago, that would be lovely!
From 1965 to 1972, the United States experienced its economic heyday. Culturally, not so much. It was a time when a man could work one job and the woman could run the home and raise children. That one job was enough to own a home, car, send the kids to university, and take a vacation. But in no way could the woman work and the man run the house.
And the prosperity was limited to white men, but this was the time when genuine effort and progress were made to include everyone.
What brought the US to its economic apex? What knocked it down to today’s low?
There is a clear answer and even someone to blame.
What Happened
From its founding in 1776 to post-WWII, the US was primarily an extractive economy and polity, as were most nations. Shifting to an inclusive economy and government is what brought the success, and moving it back to extractive brought the downfall.
Inclusive Nations
Inclusive institutions share political power and economic opportunity; all citizens can vote, bargain, and keep what they produce, less a fair tax. Systems, laws, and institutions are in place so people can move up the economic ladder, better themselves, create a better life for their children, and feel part of a unified nation moving forward.
Extractive institutions concentrate power through selective voting rules, weak unions, or tax codes that reward the wealthy. This redistributes money and resources from workers to the wealthy while silencing dissent. When a country shifts from inclusive to extractive, growth persists for a time, but the gains flow upward, and social and economic mobility is no longer possible for the poor and middle class.
The US has continuously moved forward from extractive to inclusive. Expanding the range of citizens who can vote, from white, male, land owners to eventually, all citizens 18 years and older. From salvery, legal discrimination, and social discrimination to more equal rights. From unions being illegal, to companies killing union leaders, to political pressure against unions, to unions having significant power.
1965 – 1972: The inclusive boom
A wave of civil-rights legislation and New Deal–style programs pulled millions into the mainstream economy. Black voter registration in the South leapt from 31 % in 1964 to 73 % by the early 1970s. Mississippi rose 6 % → 59 % in five years.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 ended roughly 3,000 discriminatory laws that had suppressed the vote for nearly half a century.
Washington paired that political inclusion with broad social investment: Medicare and Medicaid (1965) and Pell Grants (1972) opened health care and college to working families. A 70 %–77 % top marginal tax rate financed the expansion but limited the billionaire class. With union membership near 27 % and a minimum wage worth keeping pace with inflation, real wages rose directly with productivity.
And then it came to an end.
1981 – Today: The extractive turn
Ronald Reagan’s presidency marked the pivot. In 1981, the Economic Recovery Tax Act slashed the top marginal tax rate from 70 % to 50 %, and by 1986, the Tax Reform Act cut it further to just 28 %. That same year, Reagan fired over 11,000 striking air traffic controllers, a public show of force against organized labor. The message landed: by 2022, union membership had been cut in half, down from 20.1 % in 1983 to 10.1 %, with just 6 % of private-sector workers still covered.
As labor power crumbled, inequality surged. The household Gini index, which measures income inequality, rose by over 21% by 2023. Then came the attack on democratic access. Between 2011 and 2012, 180 restrictive voting bills were introduced across 41 states. And in 2013, the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder struck down pre-clearance rules from the Voting Rights Act, triggering a wave of new voter ID laws in Republican states.
The economic shift wasn’t just about redistributing money from the middle class to the already wealthy; it was also a power shift from the people to the elites.
The result: productivity soared while typical wages stagnated; the middle-class share of national income shrank; and a once-inclusive growth model changed into an economy that rewards capital and punishes labour, leading today’s crisis of poverty, powerlessness, inequality, and discontent.
Why It Matters
The inclusive institutions of universal voting, equal rights, strong unions, and progressive taxes didn’t just produce prosperity, they created a sense of momentum. When people can see hard work pay off, when they can move up the economic ladder, they feel empowered, capable, and optimistic. It builds an upward spiral. Progress creates motivation, and motivation drives more progress.
Republican-led rollbacks dismantled inclusive systems and replaced them with extractive rules that funnel wealth upward and silence opposition. Median wages flatlined, inequality exploded, and policy now serves donors—not voters. The upward spiral collapsed. Hard work no longer leads to progress, only exhaustion. Disillusioned and demoralized, workers withdraw, and in the vacuum, authoritarianism finds its foothold.
The longer the United States stays extractive, the harder recovery becomes.
Economic drag: The wage–wage-productivity gap increased from 9% in 1973 to 74% today. This is a loss in consumer demand, creating capitalism without customers.
Democratic backsliding: Voting restrictions and gerrymandering entrench minority rule, converting economic dominance into unbreakable political control.
National security risk: When a majority of the country can’t build wealth, the US loses the social cohesion to be a world power.
It isn’t over. The system of extraction is accelerating under the Trump Republican regime, bleeding the country dry. Until inclusive systems are restored, the US will collapse.
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