A plutocracy pop quiz

For most Americans, even those who slept through all their social studies classes, the 20th century amounts to one long string of triumphs. We beat the Nazis in World War II. We beat the commies in the Cold War. And along the way we beat back bigotry through the civil rights movement.

But one great triumph of the 20th century never seems to make it onto this popular history hit parade: our triumph over plutocracy.

We started the 20th century off with a super rich whose incomes faced no federal income tax at all. These super rich lived on vast estates while the majority of Americans lived in hovels. A half century later those estates had become subdivisions that offered opportunity and security to average Americans. The super rich, as a class, had almost entirely disappeared.

That strikes me as a fairly spectacular achievement. Yet the reality of this triumph has almost totally faded away. Even Americans who consider themselves well-read remain essentially clueless about it.

I'm now doing discussion events on my new book about this era, The Rich Don’t Always Win: The Forgotten Triumph over Plutocracy that Created the American Middle Class (Seven Stories Press), and to "prove" my point on cluelessness and our plutocratic past, I've been giving this little pop quiz.

So far no one has aced all five questions. Average number of correct answers: about two. Answers at the end. Enjoy!

Q 1) In 1942, which of the following American notables publicly proposed a 100 percent federal income tax on income over $25,000, the equivalent of about $350,000 today?
a- U.S. Communist Party leader William Z. Foster
b- United Auto Worker union leader Walter Reuther
c- President of the United States Franklin Roosevelt
d- House Speaker Sam Rayburn

Q 2) In 1946 just over 10 percent of Americans workers nationwide:
a- went out on strike
b- collected unemployment benefits
c- signed petitions calling for universal health care insurance
d- belonged to unions

Q 3) In 1948 a Republican congressional majority overrode a veto by President Harry Truman and cut the federal income tax rate on income over $200,000 all the way down to:
a- 25 percent
b- 39 percent
c- 55 percent
d- 82 percent

Q 4) In 2007, reports the IRS, America’s 400 highest incomes averaged $345 million each. In 1955, after adjusting for inflation, America’s top 400 income-earners averaged:
a- $13 million
b- $33 million
c- $133 million
d- $333 million

Q 5) Throughout the first half of the 20th century, until the years after World War II, poor people constituted:
a- about a fifth of the U.S. population
b- about a third of the U.S. population
c- about half the U.S. population
d- about two-thirds of the U.S. population

Posted by Sam Pizzigati

Answers: 1 c, 2 a, 3 d, 4 a, 5 d

I'm currently doing a lot of reading about the plutocracy and how people have thought about it over time. I'm thinking of starting a Group. Let me know if you're interested. Thx. --Dan

#2 You could revive this group that has been dormant. http://www.librarything.com/groups/workingclass

I hate to say I only got 3 & 4 correct. I read to much about taxes.

>1 TooMuch:

Aced the quiz, although I wondered exactly how you define "poor" in the 5th question.

Had the advantage of a graduate seminar in U.S. history since Reconstruction.