I have to confess, I was a huge fan of Reagan. I thought he was affable, articulate, and knew how to respectfully (and humorously) disagree with his political opponents. I truly believed that someone like “Ronny boy” could get America back on track. I was soooo wrong. I felt that Reagan fooled millions of people like me into trusting him. In retrospect, it has been made clear, that America is in the deep doo-doo because of the many degenerate political policies put in place by Reagan
Absolutely. I'm old enough to remember how the country seemed like it was always in a recession under Reagan, yet he won two elections and stayed President for eight years and his VP George H.W. Bush won in 1988. WTF? How were so many people in this country fooled so easily by these charlatans is beyond my imagination.
It’s not just the well known multi-billionaires. There’s lots of quiet billionaires, particularly who make their money from property that are also taking from the middle class.
@ericcaledonai9700 there is no one on this planet that has a net worth of 9 trillion. Black rock the company manages 9 trillion of their clients money.
The gap between rich and poor brings all kinds of social problems. The huge gap we have now is literally destroying the country. If something isn't done about it in the next few years, there will be nothing left of the America we used to know.
@@reidflemingworldstoughestm1394 I think this automatic connection between “wealthy” and “elite” is pretty damaging. Some people have lots of money, some people are actually good at something. Not the same idea at all. Most very rich people are not elite anything, they're conning you. Other people are doing the work and making them look good.
@@davidmenasco5743 That's because you're defining "the country" differently than the ruling class does. To them, they're "America" and the rest of us are just there to serve them.
I spent the summer of 76 at my aunt's house in a small town in south Georgia. I was 16 and clueless. We watched the DNC every day. My aunt was so excited to see Jimmy Carter nominated. I can still hear her voice talking about what a lady Mrs. Carter was. That summer we had Jimmy going to the White House, Legionnaire's disease, the ChowChilla kidnapping and I learned to drive. BEST summer of my life. I miss you Aunt Lilly.
@@El4-p1c People have been cashing in on their increased home values. Then they go buy a "status symbol" vehicle to make them "happy". The long term be damned. Our neighborhood is filled with vehicles to where there is no parking on the street!
The more people that the wealthy can permanently contain in poverty then the closer it moves the United States to feudalism where the 90% just become serfs.
U & Bernie Sanders have been saying this for decades. I'm 71, have suffered from Reaganomics for decades. Lost steel job, educated myself (got us off aid), only to complete with no jobs to work at. All this time, one step forward, three steps back. Went from middle class to underemployed. I FEEL for these younger generations. I'm the youngest of baby boomers. Not enough service to avoid layoffs, worked many jobs like a gypsy, & never seemed to get ahead no matter how much/hard I worked. 👍🇺🇸
I was a struggling single Mom during Reagan's administration. I have never forgiven the president for calling single moms " Welfare Queens," but not one mention of the deadbeat dads that forced so many of us into the Welfare System. No one wants to be on Public Assistance; the whole experience was degrading and humiliating, but it was that or homelessness and starvation. To all of the fat cats who labeled us lazy and useless, I say shame. Raising five young children on the pittance the government allotted required creative resourcefulness just to barely survive. No one raked in cash living on a Welfare check. Resorting to food banks to stretch the food stamps ability to adequately sustain us was a further humiliation I'll never forget. We were made to feel like beggars and trash. Still, not one word about the fathers who abandoned their wives and kids and contributed nothing for their well being. That should be another agenda on the Harris/Walz calendar; to improve the system in collecting court ordered child support, a true livable dole, and quality child care services and job training for women caught in these situations. Reagan is where this wholesale degradation of working people began. He was not a cowboy hero but a GOP puppet pulling the strings for the ultra rich.
Excellent post. The lack of compassion and self righteous arrogance on the part of Republicans has always sickened me. Women and children have been the recipients of this behavior for generations. I applaud your strength.
Totally agree! His trickle down economics never worked. And he screwed over Carter by not having the hostages released until he won the election so he could look good. Kinda what Trump is doing with his buddy Bebe and having him keeping the conflict going so he can swoop in afterwards and claim a victory for stopping it. Problem is, he’s not going to win. And the full weight of the law is going to come down on him.
And to all you strong, amazing working moms that raised a family DESPITE the labels, stigmatization and social rot brought about by the Reagan cowboy culture - *_THANK YOU!_*
To make matters worse, his stereotypes about low-income mothers were all part of a Mississippi-and-Alabama Strategy to court votes from white resentment. Demagoguery has taken something from all of us in the US.
"The problem is that we all to often have socialism for the rich and rugged free enterprise capitalism for the poor. That’s the problem." -Dr. Martin Luther King
@@Gen_XGal They dragged us back almost to the 20s. If they succeed in destroying Social Security and the Wagner Act, they will have totally destroyed President Roosevelt's legacy. We will be back in the 1920s, a 3rd World country compared to the major European countries.
i had a union job during reagan's era...when he left office i was out of a job along with 5000 other coworkers, the company which was founded by one of the wright brothers was sold and the entire factory was bulldozed flat - reagan was a very bad president. he sold out to the corporations.
It was the "outsourcing" to China-------the Wall Street bankers, AFTER the Reagan Administration, designed this. These big shots are not always smart when it come to long term macro economic policy.
I was thrilled to see someone saying what I have been contending since before Reagan got elected! I see his deification as the same crap that has elevated Trump. I never understood how people could vote for men who were openly destroying them!
You dont understand? Its racism at the heart of this along with classism. The Declaration of Independence says "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal." Unless of course you are indigenous or black or anything not defined as white. Women dont even get a mention. Racism and classism blind people to the truth which is why its in the best interest of the ruling classes to keep these attitudes in place.
"How does wealth persuade poverty to use its political freedom to keep wealth in power? Here lies the whole art of Conservative politics in the 20th century." Aneurin Bevan, the British (Welsh) Labour party minister who founded the National Health Service.
Poorly educated and unsophisticated people are easy to dupe and manipulate! Jefferson, Franklin and many others who founded this nation, said in so many words that an educated populace was necessary in order for this democracy to survive...and unfortunately, we have a long way to go on that front!
@@thesoundsmith I think trickle-down economics might've been the John Birch Society's main weapon. Tearing apart the middle class in accordance with Russell Kirk's and Edmund Burke's hypotheses is exactly what I picture the JBS might've originally been built for.
@@andreabrown4541 a strong middle class will be an economy where money moves faster, people will still be homeless but our society will have better means to better ourselves
@@andreabrown4541 It makes the percentages smaller - to end poverty and homelessness would require people to get off drugs and mental health taken care of, but only they can do that. The rest is more about having safe places to sleep and food available for people in temporary situations and people taken care of that are genuinely handicapped in mind or body simply taken care of.
I remember the late 60s and 70s. It seemed like everyone was middle class except for some people in ghettos and Appalachia and the idea was that we should help those poor people so they could become middle class. People didn’t work 2 or 3 jobs. You just worked one job and that one income was enough to support a family. And people weren’t working 60-70 hour weeks. They only worked 40 hour weeks because employers didn’t want to pay time and a half for overtime. There weren’t McMansions. There weren’t different grocery stores for different income levels. Everyone shopped at the same grocery stores. And everyone emphasized family more- not making a million dollars. You worked to provide for your family, not to become a millionaire. People were more relaxed and not always stressed and in a hurry. Life was good.
Caught the tail end of what you described. There was a sense that anything was possible. Compared to now... Some of the kids I observed over time seemed so burdened and devoid of that same sense of possibility. So it was nice to see so many of them excited about November. Hope they stay the course.
80's baby so I witnessed this. I remember when people could work at a diner or blue collar factory job and support a family no problem. Nobody was really in debt, if it got bad you sold some Amway, Avon or Mary Kay.
I suppose that all sounds like Utopia to young people now and they likely don’t believe it’s even possible. But yeah, that’s how people lived and it seemed normal that all full time jobs paid a living wage, not privileged.
I usually take all the rose tinted glasses nostalgia with a major grain of salt. BUT there is some sense of peace with the idea of not being forced to work to near death to just survive. And the far fetched idea of a community of people supporting each other (not white picket fence HOA style btw) sounds nice. Though I will never see it in my lifetime, and if our government (BOTH PARTIES) keeps it up I never will get close either. But instability is the distraction for them (companies and government) to pick your pocket. They just want serfs and kingdoms, to feed their delusions of grandeur.
Yep, and even scholarships and grants to pay for students to go to college became "taxable income" under Reagan, which they had not been prior to him changing the tax laws (in 1986 I believe).
You might be disagreeing over what's good. They did at least once have intentions. Now I doubt even that, they just want to perform social catastrophe.
@@stephenspackman5573 I think the logic behind their action is always the same. They think that their privilege and society are the same thing, and if their privilege goes away then it's the end of society.
@@stephenspackman5573 Perhaps I can clarify. They had self-cantered intentions. Shortsighted, apathetic towards the well-being of the country as a whole. Perhaps they didn’t realise the far reaching consequences of their actions. A robust, flourishing society, economy, country, world leader…requires that all participate in actions towards the common good. This is logical.
I talked to a conservative ex-political operative (he had been in the Reagan White House) once, about ten years ago. He told me in no uncertain terms that the goal was to undo ALL the progressive legislation of twentieth century.
I *believe* it. I think that ultimately, they're going to fail in that aim. Once people have certain expectations and rights, they don't take kindly to losing them, a lesson I think the GOP is going to learn the hard way this November. It's hard to believe there are people dense enough to believe that reducing the middle class is 'saving' the country ~ I see their past 40+ years of hard work as making another French Revolution possible, only not in France...
What about Clinton? He swallowed the Kool-Aid of Reaganomics and enacted even more anti-working-class legislation than Reagan did. It was then that the Dems decided to cozy up to Wall Street and Big Business, creating the compromised party of hypocrites that we have today. They are owned by the corporate oligarchs and plutocrats no less than the Republicans. Hartman never talks about that.
Fundamentalist Christians (Evangelicals and Opus Dei Catholics) role behind the scene and through The Heritage Foundation and The Federalist Society needs to be highlighted
Jimmy Carter was the first president I voted for in 1976. When I married and started a family in 1980, I was elated by the income averaging rule the IRS brought to play by the Carter Administration. People who were just starting out (my wife and I had full time jobs which paid less than $4.50/hr) could average three years of qualifying income to lessen the burden of income tax. Your year 1 would help offset taxes that were due in year 3. Anyone who has gone through the early years knows how tight money is during that time. When Reagan came to office, he rescinded the income averaging rule just as we were achieving our third year of qualification. I'll never forget the disappointment and you have helped me understand the reason it happened.
So a bunch of rich people born into their station were worried about people who weren't rich showing merit that the "high born" could not conceive on their own. Figures...
@@randolphpinkle4482 It's what you get when you have an insular ruling class that passes money and power down to their children for generations. They cannot be allowed to do so.
@@theodorejay1046 Yes, these parasites always become visible throughout history, and are always the enemy of us working classes ... never let down your guard 🟪
@@RodneyDempsey-o8w Pay attention! Its a plot to transfer the wealth of the many into the hands of the few. And now we are seeing the fruits of their labor with people who work like crazy but can barely keep up. Stop being a sucker and falling for the Republican b.s.
Imagine the American corporate oligarchy putting a former actor in the office of the president to sell a policy to Americans that went against their best interest….
Republicans have always only had that one trick up their sleeve, and they use it over and over again: tricking people into acting against their own self-interest.
Republicans: 1. Create a problem that breaks things. 2. Blame Democrats for not fixing it while blocking the solutions. 3. Run on partial solutions that create new problems. 4. Blame Democrats.
I like to point out (with lots of snark) that I was 18 years old in 1980 when Ronnie Raygun was talking his voodoo economics jive. I’ll be 62 in December 🙏🏾 and I’m still waiting for that rising tide to lift my boat (here’s where the Snark-O-Meter buries the needle, it occurred to me decades ago that dude was lying).
@@SachaPerry-r5l I knew it was bullshyt at the time. I just have something like five decades of lived (anecdotal) experience and a boat load of empirical data to back it up. I get to say Snarky Old Dude stuff like, “This is Ronnie Rayguns’ trickle down economic bullshyt with a new name and packaging. You whippersnappers ain’t old enough to know that. But trust me. Any politician talking about cutting taxes on billionaires to help the working class is running a con game on you…unless you’re a billionaire.” I don’t know any billionaires (unfortunately), FTR.
Oh, it works. It's done exactly what those around Reagan knew it would do. It shifted billions from Americans to the morbidly rich. Reagan didn't sell it that way of course, but that was and is always the purpose of supply-side economics.
makes sense.weird that republicans wax poetic about the fifties and 'making america great again' then work hard to destroy the very aspects that made the good ole days good.
Send this to everyone you know! We all need to understand the history of who is helping us and who is not. Reagan is why deregulation is strangling us all taking all our savings just to get by let's rise let's rise let's rise vote blue vote blue vote blue
Thom I listen and follow from New Zealand The Political arena in the US has massive impact often giving licence to our own politicians to do bad things Our threat in New Zealand is Peter Theil who bought his citizenship back in 2011 Once his boy JD Is done with he will refocus on his mission to buy a country to shape it in his twisted mind Already we see his fingers starting to pave the way towards division
Why would they want a huge amount of people to be poor. Shows how much they cared for the citizens of this country. Reagan actually came out of poverty. Why is that Republicans that come out of poverty forget about that and Democrats who were poor remember and draw from that experience.
Ayn Rand/Milton Friedman/Reagan became an ideology for them. Once people embrace such things, they become blindly devoted despite the actual outcome of their ideology. Even after 40 years of steady decline, they still refuse to see its flaws.
Seems that at the time Ronnie Ray Guns was coming out of poverty the 2hole country was coming out of poverty it was called the Great Depression so Ronnie Ray Guns didn’t do anything more than millions of other Americans did!
Why would they want a huge amount of people to be poor? Do you really believe a huge number of poor people were meant to make the rich somehow richer? If they didn't have money to spend how were they going to make anybody rich? It's poor logic to believe any such thing.
Growing up both pre and post Regan, I noticed a change in attitudes towards those who are from working class backgrounds - pre era regan going into the 1970s, peoples attitudes towards workers were of pro attidude. When Regan got into office - if you were not of a managerial position, but of a working class position - you know, doing your job making an honest living, a constant war was raged upon you and the working class. This was self evident of union busting wage stagnation, cuts in social services, cuts to free school breakfast and lunch programs, and tax breaks given to the rich, which led to the great recession of 1982-1984. All thanks to Ronald Regan. The enimy of the working class. My mom was right when she said that he was nothing more than an actor who had nothing to offer back in the summer of 1980. I would never forget that. And don't forget how Regan fired the air traffic controllers in august-october 1981 when they went on strike due to no contract and their stressful working environment.
I remember those days well myself. I had various low wage and short term jobs just out of high school, always struggled. My parents were union members and Dems going back to the early 60's. They rightly thought Ronny Raygun was just a B-list actor, and a far worse President that never should have replaced Jimmy Carter in '80. They of course voted against him, and also back when he was our Gov. His 8 yrs wrecked the middle class, and he deserved to be IMPEACHED for the dirty IRAN-CONTRA scandal. That SOB Oliver North should have rotted in prison!!!
He brought back the working poor class. The monopolies laws in this country happened in part because of the existence and abuse of the working poor class, including child labor.
I have met some of these people and even had one as a friend once (keyword: had, he was a bully and started bullying everyone else in my friend group for not doing what he wanted) - they are very dumb.
James Garner said of his acting compadre “The only thing I remember is that Ronnie never had an original thought and that we had to tell him what to say. That's no way to run a union, let alone a state or a country."
I remember Ronnie leaving the W.H. for the copter saying "we" might as well get used to being a service-based economy because a manufacturing- base was gone.I spit on his grave!
I'm dirt poor and wait tables. I pay over 1/3 of my tips in taxes. It's so much because my hourly wage is only $3 an hour, and obviously, this won't cover my taxes.
yet another reason why the "conservative" politics of focusing in the past instead of the future is always wrong. this was the problem i had with neo-liberalism as it was not new, and certainly not liberal!
There's a really, *really* good book about this: "Fifteen Steps to Corporate Feudalism: How the Rich Convinced the Middle Class to Eliminate Themselves." The book itself did not understand the intention, other than to grab more wealth for themselves. It focuses mostly on what was done and how. But Hartman has just filled in the last piece of the puzzle: it was because they thought the middle class would screw things up.
That’s what I don’t understand. Money doesn’t make itself. If people can’t afford to buy products then what? Innovation dies poverty rises. The middle class is essential for modern society.
They may have believed they were right about the threat of too large of a middle class, but the *_reason_* they though that is still repugnant. They think they are better than us peons. They're too tightfisted to consider that problem easy to solve with a vastly improved primary and secondary school system and access to higher education. Developing the technical and professional skills of the labor force is not spending taxpayer money, it is *_investing_* in future expansion of our holdings. You cannot make enough widgets for everybody unless you have enough laborers who know how to make widgets.
@@okigi-wo5zm Both. An efficiently functioning economy and society needs competent mechanics, building tradesmen, and maintenance persons as much as they need Doctors, teachers, and lawyers. Too many people have the idea that everybody needs a college degree. They do not.
Reagan seemed to think he was the wise father in the citizens where his children. That seems to be the case of so many today. I am not looking for a parent to tell me what's good for me. I am looking for a representative to listen to me when I tell them what I need.
In the mid 1980's here in New Zealand, we voted in a Labour government, after a decade of a bullying National party. They should have been the workers friend, but they were instead lead along by misguided Minister of Finance, who towed the libertarian line, with policies similar to Thatcher and Reagan. The country has been going left, right, left right since that time. We currently have a horrible minority Libertarian party, [which is in coalition with the right wing National party,] that is vandalsing our country in some terrible ways. Your description of the what's, why's, and wherefores is greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Simple Reagan was low key racist, but they knew he was through his dog whistles, and they also identified with his racism. That's why a lot of them say he was a great president. Plus, they liked his folksy charm.
I didn't get the Reagan adoration 40 years ago, and still don't get it now. Same w that orange imbecile. He can't even stop being a clown and tell the truth to save his own butt. I blame a lot of this on right wing media. Brainwashing the poorly educated that are open to confirmation bias.
serious question, Will the Democrats actually do anything to affirmatively help the middle-class as opposed to just not doing things to actively hurt us like the republicans? because it seems to me like the Democrats are OK with the status quo way too often. How many times have the Democrats had all three branches of government and still nothing gets done?
Hartmann talked about Russell Kirk and Edmund Burke earlier this year. They came up with the hypothesis that a society needed an underclass in constant financial peril in order to keep people in submission who weren't raised aristocratically, all on the count of their fear of base human nature.
Great report Thom! I feel a lot of the Republican’s issues date back to the post depression era. Hoover, along with the unregulated fats cats on Wall Street, caused the Great Depression. The Republicans took a hands off approach to the crisis, believing Capitalism would fix the economy, while millions of average Americans suffered. FDR was concerned that the Communist Party’s influence was becoming dangerous. After his election, he implemented many programs to help Americans get back on their feet. My parents and aunts and uncles were helped by those programs. It made a difference. But the Republicans believed those programs were hand outs and that they would lose control over the working class. World War 2 was looming on the horizon and the Republicans knew they needed the average Americans to work in the factories and fight in the war. But they remembered the hatred they had for FDR’s betrayal with his new deal programs. After all, FDR had been one of them, the monied class. The economy grew after the war. Corporations flourished due to the productivity of the working class. Much of the success of the middle class was helped by union contracts that negotiated shortened work weeks, better pay, health care and pensions. After Nixon’s Watergate debacle the Republicans were fed up and ready to take back power. Financed by the post war success of the rich and powerful donor class along with the growing power hungry Evangelical Christian movement the Republicans were ready to start the Reagan Revolution in the late 1970’s. 8 decades later America is once again fighting for our democracy. This time it is the fascist Republican Party lead by the dictator wannabe Trump and backed by the rich and powerful donor class and the corrupt Fascist dictator Vladimir Putin.
My older brother retired last year as a professor at the age of 70. He told me that he used to listen to Thom when he was a graduate student at Michigan State. Thom's been doing this a long time. Thom's rhetoric does seem to tie together the strange behavior of rich folks who shut down the factories and created the rust belt. However, why they decided to enrich Red China is still a bit of a mystery to me.
Hypocrisy is part and parcel of the Republican playbook. If you're an American who leans left, you're a COMMUNIST and might as well be the devil. If you move your factory to China, you're a CAPITALIST and 100% pure angel.
@@frankfahrenheit9537 Good answer - I'm sure they weren't all that interested in China, but certainly they had their own interests to consider. No loyalty to the people that lifted them to their positions as Captains of Industry. I would guess a lot of them who made these decisions are no longer with us. Maybe, there's a special place reserved for some of them.
They didn't they just wanted to get cheap but then the Chinese also started to develop a middle class and look at how quickly that fell apart I don't think the Wuhan lab leak was an accident
Time to tax people who receive their money in excess of 400k in a year in the stock market as income that protects people’s retirement but does not protect shady people from never paying their taxes
@@belindapaysinger1874 ATM the US is an unhealthy mix of the two. Socialism for the rich, and capitalism for the rest. And has laws that force needless unbalanced growth. I doubt Capitalism and Socialism will ever work well together.
This checks out actually. I have no problem imagining a group of old men believing they were so "above" others that they had to "save them from themselves". How righteous they were.
Went to the GA state capitol building with my junior class and was privileged to meet Governor Jimmy Carter and shake his hand. I was too young to vote, but our high school history class held a mock election and I voted for Carter. Never told my die-hard repub mother, though!
I have never understood why republicans hold Regan up as such a god among presidents. He was a horrible man who was clinically demented during his presidency.
The Reagan era was a mess. I don't understand why people believe he was a great president.
Reagan and the GOP had higher-paid public relations people. TV made brainwashing easy and cheap.
Because WE never call out reTHUGliCON LIES!
I have to confess, I was a huge fan of Reagan. I thought he was affable, articulate, and knew how to respectfully (and humorously) disagree with his political opponents.
I truly believed that someone like “Ronny boy” could get America back on track. I was soooo wrong.
I felt that Reagan fooled millions of people like me into trusting him.
In retrospect, it has been made clear, that America is in the deep doo-doo because of the many degenerate political policies put in place by Reagan
Absolutely. I'm old enough to remember how the country seemed like it was always in a recession under Reagan, yet he won two elections and stayed President for eight years and his VP George H.W. Bush won in 1988. WTF? How were so many people in this country fooled so easily by these charlatans is beyond my imagination.
Reagan was nothing short of a wrecking ball.
Now Bezos, Musk, Gates, etc. have all the money the middle class should have had.
It’s not just the well known multi-billionaires. There’s lots of quiet billionaires, particularly who make their money from property that are also taking from the middle class.
@@KatharineOsborne - Yes, thank you.
@@KatharineOsborne And it's not just billionaires. Corporations owning housing that should be owned by people
@@litehold1144 creating companies that revolutionize industries is not the same as what reagan did
@ericcaledonai9700 there is no one on this planet that has a net worth of 9 trillion. Black rock the company manages 9 trillion of their clients money.
A large middle class stabilises a country! The greater the disparity between rich and poor, the less stable a country.
The uberwealthy elite don't mind instability.
The gap between rich and poor brings all kinds of social problems.
The huge gap we have now is literally destroying the country.
If something isn't done about it in the next few years, there will be nothing left of the America we used to know.
And too big a disparity can also lead to their biggest fear - a COMMUNIST REVOLUTION.
@@reidflemingworldstoughestm1394 I think this automatic connection between “wealthy” and “elite” is pretty damaging. Some people have lots of money, some people are actually good at something. Not the same idea at all. Most very rich people are not elite anything, they're conning you. Other people are doing the work and making them look good.
@@davidmenasco5743 That's because you're defining "the country" differently than the ruling class does. To them, they're "America" and the rest of us are just there to serve them.
I voted for Jimmy Carter. Reagan screwed us middle class over! 🤬🤬🤬
I spent the summer of 76 at my aunt's house in a small town in south Georgia. I was 16 and clueless. We watched the DNC every day. My aunt was so excited to see Jimmy Carter nominated. I can still hear her voice talking about what a lady Mrs. Carter was. That summer we had Jimmy going to the White House, Legionnaire's disease, the ChowChilla kidnapping and I learned to drive. BEST summer of my life. I miss you Aunt Lilly.
Jimmy Carter is my favourite President.
@@El4-p1c People have been cashing in on their increased home values. Then they go buy a "status symbol" vehicle to make them "happy". The long term be damned. Our neighborhood is filled with vehicles to where there is no parking on the street!
@@El4-p1c Most people lease their car which is like flushing money down the toilet. OK if you need a car for a year or two only though.
@joelcieszkowski8462 are they all bought with auto loans?
We should be moving towards a situation where the middle class is 80% of the population.
⬆️yes
The more people that the wealthy can permanently contain in poverty then the closer it moves the United States to feudalism where the 90% just become serfs.
M
One where there is no lower class because work actually pays.
The TeaPartyGOP won’t let that happen; they need poor uneducated voters and extremely rich voters.
U & Bernie Sanders have been saying this for decades. I'm 71, have suffered from Reaganomics for decades. Lost steel job, educated myself (got us off aid), only to complete with no jobs to work at. All this time, one step forward, three steps back. Went from middle class to underemployed. I FEEL for these younger generations. I'm the youngest of baby boomers. Not enough service to avoid layoffs, worked many jobs like a gypsy, & never seemed to get ahead no matter how much/hard I worked. 👍🇺🇸
Same here.
Born in 61, I feel ya brother.
same here. same here. no matter how good i was at my jobs i was never rewarded for it except for atta girls.
Ditto!
They kept moving the goalpost
Sounds like so many places have terrible work cultures ☹️
I was a struggling single Mom during Reagan's administration. I have never forgiven the president for calling single moms " Welfare Queens," but not one mention of the deadbeat dads that forced so many of us into the Welfare System. No one wants to be on Public Assistance; the whole experience was degrading and humiliating, but it was that or homelessness and starvation. To all of the fat cats who labeled us lazy and useless, I say shame. Raising five young children on the pittance the government allotted required creative resourcefulness just to barely survive. No one raked in cash living on a Welfare check. Resorting to food banks to stretch the food stamps ability to adequately sustain us was a further humiliation I'll never forget. We were made to feel like beggars and trash. Still, not one word about the fathers who abandoned their wives and kids and contributed nothing for their well being. That should be another agenda on the Harris/Walz calendar; to improve the system in collecting court ordered child support, a true livable dole, and quality child care services and job training for women caught in these situations. Reagan is where this wholesale degradation of working people began. He was not a cowboy hero but a GOP puppet pulling the strings for the ultra rich.
Excellent post. The lack of compassion and self righteous arrogance on the part of Republicans has always sickened me. Women and children have been the recipients of this behavior for generations. I applaud your strength.
Thnx to trumpy, Reagan is,now, only the second worst prez of my 80 year lifetime.🤔
Totally agree! His trickle down economics never worked. And he screwed over Carter by not having the hostages released until he won the election so he could look good. Kinda what Trump is doing with his buddy Bebe and having him keeping the conflict going so he can swoop in afterwards and claim a victory for stopping it. Problem is, he’s not going to win. And the full weight of the law is going to come down on him.
And to all you strong, amazing working moms that raised a family DESPITE the labels, stigmatization and social rot brought about by the Reagan cowboy culture - *_THANK YOU!_*
To make matters worse, his stereotypes about low-income mothers were all part of a Mississippi-and-Alabama Strategy to court votes from white resentment. Demagoguery has taken something from all of us in the US.
Socialism for the rich & capitalism for everyone else.
Privatize the gains, Socialize the costs and the debt. Vote BLUE the ENTIRE BALLOT!!!
"The problem is that we all to often have socialism for the rich and rugged free enterprise capitalism for the poor. That’s the problem."
-Dr. Martin Luther King
@@Josh-99Wonder why he never got to finish his great and much needed work on the socioeconomic portion of his solemn duty.
Image how strong America could have become if Reagan and the conservatives had not taken a hammer to its knees.
We would still be producing beautiful cars and we wouldn't have this homeless problem. We also would still have a strong viable steel industry.
You're absolutely right. We need to Unite and put a Stop to the "trickle down" crime syndicate 40 year reign of abuse and thievery
It’s awful what the GOP has done to the US
@@Gen_XGal They dragged us back almost to the 20s. If they succeed in destroying Social Security and the Wagner Act, they will have totally destroyed President Roosevelt's legacy. We will be back in the 1920s, a 3rd World country compared to the major European countries.
@@jamesbosworth4191 Dude, I was there, and really bad cars were coming off the assembly line in Detroit then.
i had a union job during reagan's era...when he left office i was out of a job along with 5000 other coworkers, the company which was founded by one of the wright brothers was sold and the entire factory was bulldozed flat - reagan was a very bad president. he sold out to the corporations.
It was the "outsourcing" to China-------the Wall Street bankers, AFTER the Reagan Administration, designed this.
These big shots are not always smart when it come to long term macro economic policy.
He was an actor playing a role.
@@doomsdayrabbit4398 Exactly like Trump.
@@randolphpinkle4482 Trump is a reality show host, not an actor.
I was thrilled to see someone saying what I have been contending since before Reagan got elected! I see his deification as the same crap that has elevated Trump. I never understood how people could vote for men who were openly destroying them!
You dont understand? Its racism at the heart of this along with classism. The Declaration of Independence says "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal." Unless of course you are indigenous or black or anything not defined as white. Women dont even get a mention. Racism and classism blind people to the truth which is why its in the best interest of the ruling classes to keep these attitudes in place.
"How does wealth persuade poverty to use its political freedom to keep wealth in power? Here lies the whole art of Conservative politics in the 20th century." Aneurin Bevan, the British (Welsh) Labour party minister who founded the National Health Service.
Poorly educated and unsophisticated people are easy to dupe and manipulate! Jefferson, Franklin and many others who founded this nation, said in so many words that an educated populace was necessary in order for this democracy to survive...and unfortunately, we have a long way to go on that front!
in the richest nation in the world not one person should be homeless or hungry people.
In particular, anyone working a full time job.
@@bjb7587And in particular particular, veterans
@@slvnyc2824 and in p p p, disabled veterans.
The U.S. is not the richest nation in the world. Look it up. Search on per capita income, etc.
@@Singlesix6The US is the wealthiest nation. It's just not the working class that's wealthy.
Well we are revolting now. If America doesn't have a strong middle class it has nothing
We may finally be revolting, but Reaganomics has been REALLY revolting for _decades..._
@@thesoundsmith I think trickle-down economics might've been the John Birch Society's main weapon. Tearing apart the middle class in accordance with Russell Kirk's and Edmund Burke's hypotheses is exactly what I picture the JBS might've originally been built for.
A strong middle class will not end poverty or homelessness. But at least the middle class will be happy.
@@andreabrown4541 a strong middle class will be an economy where money moves faster, people will still be homeless but our society will have better means to better ourselves
@@andreabrown4541 It makes the percentages smaller - to end poverty and homelessness would require people to get off drugs and mental health taken care of, but only they can do that. The rest is more about having safe places to sleep and food available for people in temporary situations and people taken care of that are genuinely handicapped in mind or body simply taken care of.
I remember the late 60s and 70s. It seemed like everyone was middle class except for some people in ghettos and Appalachia and the idea was that we should help those poor people so they could become middle class. People didn’t work 2 or 3 jobs. You just worked one job and that one income was enough to support a family. And people weren’t working 60-70 hour weeks. They only worked 40 hour weeks because employers didn’t want to pay time and a half for overtime. There weren’t McMansions. There weren’t different grocery stores for different income levels. Everyone shopped at the same grocery stores. And everyone emphasized family more- not making a million dollars. You worked to provide for your family, not to become a millionaire. People were more relaxed and not always stressed and in a hurry. Life was good.
Caught the tail end of what you described. There was a sense that anything was possible. Compared to now...
Some of the kids I observed over time seemed so burdened and devoid of that same sense of possibility. So it was nice to see so many of them excited about November. Hope they stay the course.
@ronlugbill1400 Yes, thr majority were living pretty well. I learned in Sociology that there will always be poverty LIKE Appalachian, etc.
80's baby so I witnessed this. I remember when people could work at a diner or blue collar factory job and support a family no problem. Nobody was really in debt, if it got bad you sold some Amway, Avon or Mary Kay.
I suppose that all sounds like Utopia to young people now and they likely don’t believe it’s even possible. But yeah, that’s how people lived and it seemed normal that all full time jobs paid a living wage, not privileged.
I usually take all the rose tinted glasses nostalgia with a major grain of salt. BUT there is some sense of peace with the idea of not being forced to work to near death to just survive. And the far fetched idea of a community of people supporting each other (not white picket fence HOA style btw) sounds nice.
Though I will never see it in my lifetime, and if our government (BOTH PARTIES) keeps it up I never will get close either.
But instability is the distraction for them (companies and government) to pick your pocket. They just want serfs and kingdoms, to feed their delusions of grandeur.
A lot of middle class tax deductions were reduced or stopped. Consumer interest deduction, mortgage deductions reduced. Unions busted.
Yep, and even scholarships and grants to pay for students to go to college became "taxable income" under Reagan, which they had not been prior to him changing the tax laws (in 1986 I believe).
They never had good intentions.
You might be disagreeing over what's good. They did at least once have intentions. Now I doubt even that, they just want to perform social catastrophe.
Good intentions only for themselves-sociopathic, con men?
@@NWLee But I think I remember a time when they didn't want to kill their own children.
@@stephenspackman5573 I think the logic behind their action is always the same. They think that their privilege and society are the same thing, and if their privilege goes away then it's the end of society.
@@stephenspackman5573 Perhaps I can clarify. They had self-cantered intentions. Shortsighted, apathetic towards the well-being of the country as a whole. Perhaps they didn’t realise the far reaching consequences of their actions. A robust, flourishing society, economy, country, world leader…requires that all participate in actions towards the common good. This is logical.
And now, predictably, we have an out-of-control donor class, supreme court and political -cult- party.
I talked to a conservative ex-political operative (he had been in the Reagan White House) once, about ten years ago. He told me in no uncertain terms that the goal was to undo ALL the progressive legislation of twentieth century.
while he was governor of california, he set out to dumb down education to make dumb sheep.
while he was governor of california he set out to end aware students from expressing their first amendment rights by dumbing down education.
that’s the reason the lessening of education.
I *believe* it. I think that ultimately, they're going to fail in that aim. Once people have certain expectations and rights, they don't take kindly to losing them, a lesson I think the GOP is going to learn the hard way this November. It's hard to believe there are people dense enough to believe that reducing the middle class is 'saving' the country ~ I see their past 40+ years of hard work as making another French Revolution possible, only not in France...
Did he say why Reagan hated things like the New Deal so much? I find it hard to believe that didn’t benefit his parents.
I dispised reagan!!!!!!! ROBBER BARON!!!!!!!!!
@@jeffreycone7504 EXACTLY!!!! Do u remember when he said ketsup was a VEGETABLE????🙄
I sure do.
What about Clinton? He swallowed the Kool-Aid of Reaganomics and enacted even more anti-working-class legislation than Reagan did. It was then that the Dems decided to cozy up to Wall Street and Big Business, creating the compromised party of hypocrites that we have today. They are owned by the corporate oligarchs and plutocrats no less than the Republicans. Hartman never talks about that.
He should have been impeached for Iran-Contra. Then removed from office.
@@eddybowe2953 THANK YOU.
Again Tom you are spot on. You are a great influencer and educator. Your analysis keeps me semi- sane.🤯🙏
Fundamentalist Christians (Evangelicals and Opus Dei Catholics) role behind the scene and through The Heritage Foundation and The Federalist Society needs to be highlighted
Ever present today.
My own Grandma was an evangelical Zionist back in the day. I really wonder what she would say about Israel nowadays.
The Heritage (of hate) Foundation.
1940-1980 Median wage growth rose 260%.
1981-2020 Median wage growth rose 5.4%.
Wealth should trickle up, not down.
Umm, umm, umm ... Imagine that! ... now that's what I call American Exceptionalism (SMH) 🟪
Indeed.
Wealth never trickled down like they claimed. That was a big fat lie, Aylbdrmadison.
@@aylbdrmadison1051 and I hit the job market in 1982…
Reagan was arguably the worst thing that ever happened to this country.
Until W Bush & Dick Cheney, and even far worse IQ 45.
Jimmy Carter was the first president I voted for in 1976. When I married and started a family in 1980, I was elated by the income averaging rule the IRS brought to play by the Carter Administration. People who were just starting out (my wife and I had full time jobs which paid less than $4.50/hr) could average three years of qualifying income to lessen the burden of income tax. Your year 1 would help offset taxes that were due in year 3. Anyone who has gone through the early years knows how tight money is during that time. When Reagan came to office, he rescinded the income averaging rule just as we were achieving our third year of qualification. I'll never forget the disappointment and you have helped me understand the reason it happened.
Reagan stuffed you guys and his b*tch Thatcher stuffed us over here.
They wanted less middle class so then they had to raise the prices to maintain and build their wealth😤
Absolutely
Very well put. Very succinct, very poignant. Thank you commenter! 🇺🇸
Not as simple as that, they felt threatened by a large middle class.
@@FalconAndTrident I said they felt threatened by a large middle class.
3 strikes your out. Mandatory minimums
So a bunch of rich people born into their station were worried about people who weren't rich showing merit that the "high born" could not conceive on their own.
Figures...
Sounds feudal, but true. It is the way of the world.
" That's about the size of it ".
Capitalism is a lot like serfdom except you work harder, have less rights, and are treated worse.
@@randolphpinkle4482 It's what you get when you have an insular ruling class that passes money and power down to their children for generations. They cannot be allowed to do so.
God forbid the people should control the country 🙄
When they say "We the People" in America ... they really mean "We the Rich Folks" 🟪
@@thomas45081 There was a time when slaves & housewives were not considered "people" 😁
@@theodorejay1046 Yes, these parasites always become visible throughout history, and are always the enemy of us working classes ... never let down your guard 🟪
@@theodorejay1046 The way we're going 3/5ths would be an improvement.
@@thomas45081 Does depends on who is saying it.
Black families did not ever have the luxury of being able to be supported on one income in the United States.
And they made sure of that, through policy.
Strong, educated, stable families are a threat to corrupt governments.
The greater plurality, no.
My mother didn’t work
he lowered the tax on the upper 2% by 40% (from 70% to 30%) and taxed social security at 40% to partially pay for it
@@davidlewis3072 social Security should not be taxed.
@@maryracine3389 agreed...
The cartoonist Aaron McGruder suggested that Ronald Regan was the devil.
He only did what they hired him to do. Let's look deeper, who hired him? Wall Street, meryll lynch... Let's look at the wealth distribution there.
Hey - don’t drag Satan’s good name through the mud by associating him with Reagan!
I graduated high school in 78. Grew up in middle class home. Left home and fell into poverty. Have lived paycheck to paycheck when i did have a job.
That's the American Dream in 2024 ... I guess they call it American Exceptionalism 🟪
Hard to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, when you're treading water.🙁
How is that reagans fault try taking some responsibility for yourself.
@@RodneyDempsey-o8w Pay attention! Its a plot to transfer the wealth of the many into the hands of the few. And now we are seeing the fruits of their labor with people who work like crazy but can barely keep up. Stop being a sucker and falling for the Republican b.s.
@@RodneyDempsey-o8w WE haven't walked in his shoes. Opportunity is not offered to everyone. Judge not lest,....You get the point.
Imagine the American corporate oligarchy putting a former actor in the office of the president to sell a policy to Americans that went against their best interest….
Republicans have always only had that one trick up their sleeve, and they use it over and over again: tricking people into acting against their own self-interest.
That is a concise analysis of the situation which occurred.
Love the irony. Nicely done. :)
Republicans: 1. Create a problem that breaks things. 2. Blame Democrats for not fixing it while blocking the solutions. 3. Run on partial solutions that create new problems. 4. Blame Democrats.
@@eric2500 Yup.
This should be recited everywhere like the pledge of allegiance!
Trickle down theory does not work.
I like to point out (with lots of snark) that I was 18 years old in 1980 when Ronnie Raygun was talking his voodoo economics jive. I’ll be 62 in December 🙏🏾 and I’m still waiting for that rising tide to lift my boat (here’s where the Snark-O-Meter buries the needle, it occurred to me decades ago that dude was lying).
Even kids ( well, SOME kids, anyway ) saw through the nonsense at the time.
@@SachaPerry-r5l I knew it was bullshyt at the time. I just have something like five decades of lived (anecdotal) experience and a boat load of empirical data to back it up. I get to say Snarky Old Dude stuff like, “This is Ronnie Rayguns’ trickle down economic bullshyt with a new name and packaging. You whippersnappers ain’t old enough to know that. But trust me. Any politician talking about cutting taxes on billionaires to help the working class is running a con game on you…unless you’re a billionaire.” I don’t know any billionaires (unfortunately), FTR.
It doesn't but that's intentional. It's part of the two Santa Claus theory to make the government ineffective then wealth transfer like crazy.
Oh, it works. It's done exactly what those around Reagan knew it would do. It shifted billions from Americans to the morbidly rich.
Reagan didn't sell it that way of course, but that was and is always the purpose of supply-side economics.
makes sense.weird that republicans wax poetic about the fifties and 'making america great again' then work hard to destroy the very aspects that made the good ole days good.
I've come to the conclusion that they are just blind to their hypocrisy.
I will NEVER understand people voting against their own self interest. It’s insanity
For me, another way of saying that is asking the question "why do poor white people vote Republican?"
That is what happens when people consume propaganda disguised as news for forty years, TheAtrain.
Thank you, Tom. Vote Blue 💙💙💙
Send this to everyone you know! We all need to understand the history of who is helping us and who is not. Reagan is why deregulation is strangling us all taking all our savings just to get by let's rise let's rise let's rise vote blue vote blue vote blue
Thom I listen and follow from New Zealand
The Political arena in the US has massive impact often giving licence to our own politicians to do bad things
Our threat in New Zealand is Peter Theil who bought his citizenship back in 2011
Once his boy JD Is done with he will refocus on his mission to buy a country to shape it in his twisted mind
Already we see his fingers starting to pave the way towards division
Why would they want a huge amount of people to be poor. Shows how much they cared for the citizens of this country. Reagan actually came out of poverty. Why is that Republicans that come out of poverty forget about that and Democrats who were poor remember and draw from that experience.
Ayn Rand/Milton Friedman/Reagan became an ideology for them. Once people embrace such things, they become blindly devoted despite the actual outcome of their ideology. Even after 40 years of steady decline, they still refuse to see its flaws.
Seems that at the time Ronnie Ray Guns was coming out of poverty the 2hole country was coming out of poverty it was called the Great Depression so Ronnie Ray Guns didn’t do anything more than millions of other Americans did!
Why would they want a huge amount of people to be poor? Do you really believe a huge number of poor people were meant to make the rich somehow richer? If they didn't have money to spend how were they going to make anybody rich? It's poor logic to believe any such thing.
Growing up both pre and post Regan, I noticed a change in attitudes towards those who are from working class backgrounds - pre era regan going into the 1970s, peoples attitudes towards workers were of pro attidude. When Regan got into office - if you were not of a managerial position, but of a working class position - you know, doing your job making an honest living, a constant war was raged upon you and the working class. This was self evident of union busting wage stagnation, cuts in social services, cuts to free school breakfast and lunch programs, and tax breaks given to the rich, which led to the great recession of 1982-1984. All thanks to Ronald Regan. The enimy of the working class. My mom was right when she said that he was nothing more than an actor who had nothing to offer back in the summer of 1980. I would never forget that.
And don't forget how Regan fired the air traffic controllers in august-october 1981 when they went on strike due to no contract and their stressful working environment.
I remember those days well myself. I had various low wage and short term jobs just out of high school, always struggled. My parents were union members and Dems going back to the early 60's. They rightly thought Ronny Raygun was just a B-list actor, and a far worse President that never should have replaced Jimmy Carter in '80. They of course voted against him, and also back when he was our Gov. His 8 yrs wrecked the middle class, and he deserved to be IMPEACHED for the dirty IRAN-CONTRA scandal. That SOB Oliver North should have rotted in prison!!!
His neo-liberal economics was the beginning of the end of the true American middle class and helped create the working poor.
He brought back the working poor class. The monopolies laws in this country happened in part because of the existence and abuse of the working poor class, including child labor.
Some people still think Reagan was "the greatest president ever" before Drumpf... 🤢
Those people don't think, they just parrot reich wing propaganda. If they knew how to think they would not say such dumb things.
I have met some of these people and even had one as a friend once (keyword: had, he was a bully and started bullying everyone else in my friend group for not doing what he wanted) - they are very dumb.
James Garner said of his acting compadre “The only thing I remember is that Ronnie never had an original thought and that we had to tell him what to say. That's no way to run a union, let alone a state or a country."
Reagan also started defunding higher education because he could only get elected if the voters remained stupid.
Presumably that is why tuition rose so much faster than inflation.
GOOD TALK
I'VE SAID FOR YEARS THE LAST DECENT REPUBLICAN. POLITICIAN WAS EISENHOWER
@@lynntidwell in my opinion, I feel Teddy Roosevelt. He was environmentally concerned. 👍
YES, HE WAS,AND TEDDY TOO!!!!.
They never had good intentions
I remember Ronnie leaving the W.H. for the copter saying "we" might as well get used to being a service-based economy because a manufacturing- base was gone.I spit on his grave!
Thank you, Thom!
Vote against Project 2025!!!!!
It's way past time that we put a stop to our own destruction, don't y'all think? 💙 looks good on all of us!
Thom - thank you for this educated reporting of how bad the regan presidency was for the middle class.
“…concentrate wealth and power in the 1%, by impoverishment of all others…”
the fact they're trying to make a biopic about Reagan like he's some rockstar is very weird and concerning
A large healthy middle class is the backbone of the country.
They believed they were witnessing the end of patriarchy. That’s what motivates them.
It's pure economics to the powers that be. Social stuff is for the riffraff. The owner class is isolated from the consequences of their actions.
@@susanflaherty1248 We will fight tooth and nail to end patriarchy!
So true
I'm dirt poor and wait tables. I pay over 1/3 of my tips in taxes. It's so much because my hourly wage is only $3 an hour, and obviously, this won't cover my taxes.
That puts the pieces of the puzzle in place. Thank you 😎
yet another reason why the "conservative" politics of focusing in the past instead of the future is always wrong. this was the problem i had with neo-liberalism as it was not new, and certainly not liberal!
Give money to the rich and they hoard it. Give money to the middle class and they spend it. Like, DUH!
Whoa, you’ve just reawakened the conspiracy thoughts in my head about JFK and the deaths of that period.
Unrequited love . . . The middle class loved Reagan, but he didn’t love them.
Time for the rich to pay thir fair share of taxes!!!
There's a really, *really* good book about this:
"Fifteen Steps to Corporate Feudalism: How the Rich Convinced the Middle Class to Eliminate Themselves."
The book itself did not understand the intention, other than to grab more wealth for themselves. It focuses mostly on what was done and how. But Hartman has just filled in the last piece of the puzzle: it was because they thought the middle class would screw things up.
This is the most concise and accurate analysis of what the Republican Party has wrought over my lifetime. Thanks for being smart, Mr. Hartman.
This was a brilliant encapsulated lesson on WHAT WENT WRONG! It will take years to fix but we need to start NOW!
That’s what I don’t understand. Money doesn’t make itself. If people can’t afford to buy products then what? Innovation dies poverty rises. The middle class is essential for modern society.
"If you feed the horse enough oats, some will get through to feed the sparrows"
John Kenneth Galbraith on 'Reaganomics'.
They may have believed they were right about the threat of too large of a middle class, but the *_reason_* they though that is still repugnant. They think they are better than us peons. They're too tightfisted to consider that problem easy to solve with a vastly improved primary and secondary school system and access to higher education.
Developing the technical and professional skills of the labor force is not spending taxpayer money, it is *_investing_* in future expansion of our holdings. You cannot make enough widgets for everybody unless you have enough laborers who know how to make widgets.
Higher education or trade school?
@@okigi-wo5zm Both. An efficiently functioning economy and society needs competent mechanics, building tradesmen, and maintenance persons as much as they need Doctors, teachers, and lawyers.
Too many people have the idea that everybody needs a college degree. They do not.
He was following the Heritage Foundation 1980 plan.
Reagan seemed to think he was the wise father in the citizens where his children.
That seems to be the case of so many today.
I am not looking for a parent to tell me what's good for me.
I am looking for a representative to listen to me when I tell them what I need.
Strong middle class=strong America
Yet here we are with the same people who voted twice for that turd.
In the mid 1980's here in New Zealand, we voted in a Labour government, after a decade of a bullying National party. They should have been the workers friend, but they were instead lead along by misguided Minister of Finance, who towed the libertarian line, with policies similar to Thatcher and Reagan. The country has been going left, right, left right since that time. We currently have a horrible minority Libertarian party, [which is in coalition with the right wing National party,] that is vandalsing our country in some terrible ways.
Your description of the what's, why's, and wherefores is greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Why do people always say Raegan was a great president?????
Simple Reagan was low key racist, but they knew he was through his dog whistles, and they also identified with his racism. That's why a lot of them say he was a great president. Plus, they liked his folksy charm.
Yeah, it was the charm. He was an actor so who knows if it was real, but it was effective.
I didn't get the Reagan adoration 40 years ago, and still don't get it now. Same w that orange imbecile. He can't even stop being a clown and tell the truth to save his own butt. I blame a lot of this on right wing media. Brainwashing the poorly educated that are open to confirmation bias.
Because fox nooz says he was.
Thanks for telling this important truth. People need to know what's been happening to the country.
serious question, Will the Democrats actually do anything to affirmatively help the middle-class as opposed to just not doing things to actively hurt us like the republicans? because it seems to me like the Democrats are OK with the status quo way too often. How many times have the Democrats had all three branches of government and still nothing gets done?
Always great historical perspective
Thanks Thom!
Hartmann talked about Russell Kirk and Edmund Burke earlier this year. They came up with the hypothesis that a society needed an underclass in constant financial peril in order to keep people in submission who weren't raised aristocratically, all on the count of their fear of base human nature.
The reserve army of labor.
Thank you.
Great report Thom!
I feel a lot of the Republican’s issues date back to the post depression era. Hoover, along with the unregulated fats cats on Wall Street, caused the Great Depression. The Republicans took a hands off approach to the crisis, believing Capitalism would fix the economy, while millions of average Americans suffered. FDR was concerned that the Communist Party’s influence was becoming dangerous. After his election, he implemented many programs to help Americans get back on their feet. My parents and aunts and uncles were helped by those programs. It made a difference. But the Republicans believed those programs were hand outs and that they would lose control over the working class.
World War 2 was looming on the horizon and the Republicans knew they needed the average Americans to work in the factories and fight in the war. But they remembered the hatred they had for FDR’s betrayal with his new deal programs. After all, FDR had been one of them, the monied class.
The economy grew after the war. Corporations flourished due to the productivity of the working class. Much of the success of the middle class was helped by union contracts that negotiated shortened work weeks, better pay, health care and pensions. After Nixon’s Watergate debacle the Republicans were fed up and ready to take back power. Financed by the post war success of the rich and powerful donor class along with the growing power hungry Evangelical Christian movement the Republicans were ready to start the Reagan Revolution in the late 1970’s.
8 decades later America is once again fighting for our democracy. This time it is the fascist Republican Party lead by the dictator wannabe Trump and backed by the rich and powerful donor class and the corrupt Fascist dictator Vladimir Putin.
THANKS TOM SO MUCH, SUCH AN IMPORTANT EXPLANATION TO SHOW PEOPLE HOW WE LOST THE MIDDLE CLASS!!!
Kamala Harris needs to come out with eliminating the Social Security Tax. That would ensure her gaining the Middle Class.
Social Security tax?
The Fed doesn't tax your SSI if your total income is high enough you will pay taxes
SSI is not the same thing as Social Security.
Middle class is the back bone of a country.
“Since the 60’s 53 TRILLION dollars in wealth have been transferred from the middle class up to the less than 1%” - Noam Chomsky,… 2018?🤔
I been saying this for years!!!
My older brother retired last year as a professor at the age of 70. He told me that he used to listen to Thom when he was a graduate student at Michigan State. Thom's been doing this a long time.
Thom's rhetoric does seem to tie together the strange behavior of rich folks who shut down the factories and created the rust belt. However, why they decided to enrich Red China is still a bit of a mystery to me.
China gave them what they wanted. Light regulations, if any, and cheap labor.
Hypocrisy is part and parcel of the Republican playbook. If you're an American who leans left, you're a COMMUNIST and might as well be the devil. If you move your factory to China, you're a CAPITALIST and 100% pure angel.
.. they decided to enrich themselves.
@@frankfahrenheit9537 Good answer - I'm sure they weren't all that interested in China, but certainly they had their own interests to consider. No loyalty to the people that lifted them to their positions as Captains of Industry. I would guess a lot of them who made these decisions are no longer with us. Maybe, there's a special place reserved for some of them.
They didn't they just wanted to get cheap but then the Chinese also started to develop a middle class and look at how quickly that fell apart
I don't think the Wuhan lab leak was an accident
Excellent take and summation! Brilliant.
The United States is seriously overrated 😢
Time to tax people who receive their money in excess of 400k in a year in the stock market as income that protects people’s retirement but does not protect shady people from never paying their taxes
Pass the PRO Act.
🎯🎯🎯 great content
But middle class people voted for him. Once in a while I still see people with Reagan posters
Absolute spot on thanks, Tom, for that synopsis ...
Now lets try it with zero % upper class.
@neilmarshall5087 YES! How much profit IS profit. It's UNAMERICAN!
An advanced sovereign nation must evolve, over time a balanced economy, where there's a healthy mix of Capitalism and Socialism.
@@belindapaysinger1874 ATM the US is an unhealthy mix of the two. Socialism for the rich, and capitalism for the rest. And has laws that force needless unbalanced growth.
I doubt Capitalism and Socialism will ever work well together.
This checks out actually. I have no problem imagining a group of old men believing they were so "above" others that they had to "save them from themselves". How righteous they were.
Went to the GA state capitol building with my junior class and was privileged to meet Governor Jimmy Carter and shake his hand. I was too young to vote, but our high school history class held a mock election and I voted for Carter. Never told my die-hard repub mother, though!
I have never understood why republicans hold Regan up as such a god among presidents. He was a horrible man who was clinically demented during his presidency.
The fight for America soul was fought during the Carter v reagan election, and we lost.