A similar turn of events occurred in the 1980's. The Reagan administration was following a Mellon belief, as they "lowered the tax rate on the very rich to 50 percent and in 1986 a coalition of Republicans and Democrats sponsored another "tax reform" bill that lowered the top rate to 28 percent" (Zinn, 424). More and more was deducted from the salaries of the middle and poor classes and the minute salaries surpassed 50,000, no more was deducted. This impoverishment of the middle and poor classes hit families hard and "by 1989 CEOs of corporations were making 93 times as much as the average factory worker"(Zinn, 425). Both in the 1920's and 1980's the rich got richer and the poor got poorer all in the name of "tax reform" and "stimulation of the economy". During both periods the concentration of wealth shifted to 1 percent of the nation as the other 99 percent paid for its growth.
Many racial tensions erupted in the 1920's and 1980's. During the 20's, the restrictions of ghetto life kept blacks at the bottom, as housing shortages and communities of unskilled black workers heeded advancement. Moreover, blacks were badly treated. A black sociologist Franklin Frazier called African American migrants "ignorant and unsophisticated peasant people". Coming from the South and having little city experience, terrible conditions caused high death rates and crime rates to rise sharply. With a rise in crime, support for the black community diminished. In the 1980's, similar race problems arose. One third of African American families fell below the poverty level and black unemployment was at a rate of 30 to 40 percent, two and half times as much as whites. White communities were negligent as "those people were poor who did not work and produce, as so had themselves to blame for their poverty. They ignored the fact that women taking care of children on their own were working very hard indeed" (Zinn, 425).
