Your chart says screw the rich to pay for the New Deal and this great new world we're going to build. Correlation does not equal causation, I'd bet that those ridiculous tax rates had nothing to do with our "glory days" just happened at the same time, as already mentioned, pretty easy to be the best when you're the winner and everyone else, even the other winners are a smoking hole. How could a 75% tax on the highest earners ever be sustainable? I get taxed that much and I will cheat, earn less, or move to another country. Hey, just like our businesses do!