Over the past five decades, the American economy has dramatically changed for the benefit of the wealthy and large corporations in ways many don’t understand. This led to the hollowing-out of the middle class and an ever-increasing number of working poor.

Unfortunately, the few politicians who fight for American workers have necessarily focused on trying to deal with the symptoms of our rigged economy by funding food shelves, food stamps, school lunches, homeless shelters and more. But they have been unwilling or unable to address the underlying causes.

If we are to ever develop real solutions, we first must acknowledge how we got into this mess. This requires an understanding of economics and history beginning with the 1970s and 80s.

Trickle-Down Theory. It was in the 80s when one political party convinced voters that, if they wanted to prosper, they needed to embrace the widely disproved concept of trickle-down economics. A concept based on the belief that if you cut taxes on the wealthy and corporations, enough money will trickle down to the workers. So, the highest personal income tax rate was cut by 20 percent. And the highest capital gains tax (the source of funds for the wealthy) was cut by 8 percent.

At the same time, the IRS did away with tax write-offs for interest on car loans and other personal loans, except for mortgages. Of course, that had little negative effect on the wealthy. But it cost working Americans plenty. In addition, the government permitted credit card companies to dramatically increase interest rates – yet another blow to the working class.

Buying The Competition. Around the same time, large corporations found that it was often less expensive to buy their competition than to compete with them. That resulted in large corporations swallowing up small and mid-size companies, which led to less competition, higher prices, fewer jobs, and the destruction of the middle of our economy.

Compensation Based On Share Prices. At about that very same time, CEOs convinced their boards of directors to base their compensation on stock performance. The higher the company’s share price, the more they get paid. That, in turn, led to CEOs like Chainsaw Al Dunlap, a supposed “turnaround specialist.” In reality, he was a brand killer and a job killer. After taking control of companies, he almost immediately sold off resources and laid off employees. That drove up share prices, profits soared, and he padded his bank account. Unfortunately, it was all a fraud. Most of the companies were sold or closed their doors.

Exporting Jobs. The 1970s and 1980s also marked the beginning of the mass exodus of manufacturing jobs to Mexico, China and elsewhere. After all, in order to pump up stock prices, CEOs needed to cut costs. In developing countries, workers could be hired for a fraction of the cost of American workers. Moreover, there were no labor unions, and most workers were willing to work without healthcare and retirement benefits, which in the US roughly equaled salaries. Again, corporate and CEO profits soared.

End Of Pensions. Yet another development at the time was the 401(k). It was sold to voters as a supplement to traditional employee pension plans. But, almost as soon as it was passed by Congress, corporations began eliminating pensions. That left most workers with less retirement funds and benefits.

Consequences. The consequences of all this are the continuing consolidation of industries, increased prices, worse customer service, the disappearance of the American middle-class and the redistribution of wealth upward.

Also, the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine has led to many news outlets becoming megaphones of propaganda for those politicians supported by the wealthy. And several decisions by the Supreme Court of the United States have permitted corporations and the wealthy to spend whatever it takes to buy the government they want. Putting this all together, it’s easy to see why our nation has become an oligarchy. But, instead of addressing these fundamental problems, politicians keep us distracted by their culture wars.

Possible Solutions. Now that you know how we got here, we can start to formulate solutions.

Personally, I’d begin with reinstating some form of Fairness Doctrine for electronic media, so we can all make decisions based on the same set of facts.

Next, following the lead of Teddy Roosevelt, I’d break up the most dominant corporations in every industry to increase competition and create jobs. I’d limit the number of brands and the percentage of sales for each corporation. And that would be quickly followed by increased taxes for the wealthy along with some sort of controls for executive compensation. (Incidentally, the best way to tax the oligarchs is to increase the capital gains tax on large sums.) Of course, that would also require doing away with tax shelters, both in the US and offshore.

I’d reinstate usury laws limiting the interest rates on all personal loans, including credit cards. I’d also require corporations with more than 50 employees to have employee representatives on their boards of directors.

And that’s just for starters.