The New Right, the Turning Point of 1978, and the Fragility of the American Dream

The sharp turn to the right in economic policy in recent decades has changed the United States from being a nation of shared prosperity during the Age of Roosevelt (19322-1978) to being a nation of rising inequality and declining social mobility in the Age of Reagan (1978 to the present). The Age of Reagan has seen deregulation of industries, declining power of labor unions, and upward redistribution of wealth. A main reason for this is the rightward tum of the Republican Party since the 1970s. The rise of the New Right in the 1970s helped make the Republican Party more conservative on issues regarding labor and taxes. 1978 was the year of the turning point in policy priorities in Congress, epitomized by the cuts in capital gains taxes. Since the late 1970s tax cuts have mainly benefited the rich, whereas wages for ordinary workers have not kept up with rising living costs. This has made the American Dream fragile for many Americans.