Could a large middle class exist without government regulation?

[Quixote1818]

Not likely!


Thom Hartman was talking about this yesterday. He was talking about the writings of Charles Dickens and how throughout history there has almost always been a tiny wealthy class that called the shots, a small middle class who were the small business owners, and the vast majority of people who were the poor working class. Correct me if I am wrong but I believe he spoke about some legislation Benjamen Franklin put through that laid the ground work for a middle class to emerge.

Does anyone have any more information on this legislation Thom was talking about?

[xchrom]

1. or labour unions.

[applegrove]

2. Never existed before regulations and income tax.

[TreasonousBastard]

3. He might have been talking about Franklin Roosevelt...

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=11195

Ben Franklin did write about improving the lot of working types in Philadelphia, but I don't know if actually made any changes.

At any rate, it seems the natural order of things is for some people to manage to move to the top of the pile and screw everyone else, and the only real leveling maechanism would be government. Long before we did anything, as a side effect of the Enlightenment a few European governments fooled around with social schemes with some successes.

It has been argued that Sweden's extraordinary economic success has been due partly to its neutrality but primarily to a population that, while heavily taxed, has no fear of need. Bismarck, perhaps the ultimate pragmatist, understood that a population in poverty was useless and instituted one of the first Social Security systems, along with some other reforms. I don't know when the Dutch, Danes, French, and others started their social reforms, but in general you can still get, and stay, rich but if you're not on the top of the heap you won't have to worry about being homeless or hungry. Or getting healthcare.

Japan doesn't have much in the way of an "official" social safety net, but culturally they have ways of making sure there are no robber barons screwing the rest.

[Betsy Ross]

4. Requirement for a middle class and democracy:

Universal public education. Which explains why *Co is doing everything to destroy our public schools.