Make America Great Again (MAGA) is the rallying cry for Donald Trump’s political movement. I am not a supporter of this movement, but I believe there is some truth to the fact that in many ways things were better for the average person in the past.
Americans should work toward bringing back parts of the past that truly were better. I don’t think everything was better in the past, but in this letter, I want to focus on one way America was greater in the past and talk about how we can improve the future.
Say, in 1960, how was our economy better than it is today? In 1960, we had way fewer rich people and a growing middle class. Things have gotten worse. According to an article called Nine Charts About Wealth Inequality in America by the Urban Institute written April 25, 2024, wealth inequality is higher in the United States than in almost any developed country and has risen for the past 60 years.
According to Forbes in April of 2025, America has by far the most billionaires of any country in the world. We had 902 at that time.
The next largest number was China with 450. Altogether, there were 3,028 billionaires in the world. Almost a third of all the world’s billionaires live here in America. America has been great to some of us. In August 2025, Forbes reported that the current Trump cabinet is the richest cabinet ever in America.
But most Americans are struggling in our present economy. More people are needing food support to feed their families. Fewer people are able to buy houses or send their kids to college. The number of unhoused people keeps growing. Most Americans live in stress wondering how they are going to pay their bills.
Currently, the top tax bracket for Americans is 37%. The top 1% actually paid 23.9% in 2024, according to The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy on April 9, 2024. In 1960, the top tax bracket was 91%. The top 1 percent actually paid between 42% and 45% of their income.
President Trump and the Republican Party made sure the tax cuts they made in 2017 are permanent. That was their highest priority item in his new term. To push these tax cuts through the budget process, they cut services that help poor people survive; health care and food assistance.
Wealthy people hide their true wealth and have many ways to avoid taxes. The current administration has made this easier for them by cutting a quarter of the IRS staff. Our president does not want to be caught again cheating on his taxes.
The three wealthiest people in the world attended Trump’s presidential Inauguration. Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg applauded loudly because they knew the president was going to represent their interest in his administration.
We need to make America Great Again for the common people, not the billionaires. Tax the rich.
Daniel Meekhof
Packwood
