America’s Lonely Future: David Frum on Trump’s “Predatory” Foreign Policy | Amanpour and Company
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- With Trump's inauguration on the horizon, conversations continue about the impact of the President-elect's policies both at home and abroad. David Frum is a political commentator and former speechwriter for President George W. Bush. In his latest piece for The Atlantic, “America's Lonely Future," Frum warns that the U.S. could become a global bully. He joins Walter Isaacson to discuss.
Originally aired on December 4, 2024
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Amanpour and Company features wide-ranging, in-depth conversations with global thought leaders and cultural influencers on the issues and trends impacting the world each day, from politics, business and technology to arts, science and sports. Christiane Amanpour leads the conversation on global and domestic news from London with contributions by prominent journalists Walter Isaacson, Michel Martin, Alicia Menendez and Hari Sreenivasan from the Tisch WNET Studios at Lincoln Center in New York City.
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No one stole American jobs. American businesses outsourced ontheir own choice.
Exactly
Yep!
That's right. But just realize that red America preferred to prosecute the culture war rather than work with liberals who wanted to increase wages, defend unions, provide healthcare, fund public schools etc.
The country got wealthy but the workers got poor from free trade.
And American people bought the stuff
I’ll make it simple. Where ever you live, you need a living wage. This social contract was broken for the vast majority of people. Most people don’t want to move or be deprived of a dignified life. Wealth concentrated at the top does not equal prosperity.
What the hell the USA is responsible for everyone?
SO OPEN UP THE FLOODGATES F U
This. Right here. There might be more wealth than ever, but the wealth has not translated to the middle class.
Who is the Svengali to tell you what that number is? And it it the same in San Francisco as Dubuque Iowa? Need a sliding scale maybe? Sounds pretty complicated.
Wealth concentrated at the top does not equal prosperity, but people all over the world live happily in conditions "without a living wage" as defined by a bunch of wealthy or upper-middle class Americans. Raising wages only results in employers and retailers raising their prices. That's exactly what has happened in the USA.
I am very educated but as a counselor and social worker I spent most of my life working with people who were not. I have watched them slip into greater and greater poverty. This talk appeals to my educated side, but feels out of touch with what more and more people, especially those in Gen Z feel, about the economy that is not serving them well. With often 1/2 of your paycheck going to rent and having to work two jobs to keep your head above water just to live paycheck to paycheck, you feel like we are sliding back behind parents and grandparents who could afford homes and FOOD, let alone take a break for a weekend off. He seems out of touch to me. This is why I feel Democrats have been losing. Too much in their heads. I get it. I love to be in my head. But I am grateful I am often out of my bubble into boots on the ground and the realities of more and more Americans that he is NOT talking about.
"US could become a global bully" Let me re-state that for you: "could become an even worse bully than it already is"
Bully? Everyone want to live in America
@lupus7194 😢sadly, I agree.
Our nation in SOME ways is an amazing country…BUT there is so much more we could be doing better, not only for equitable health care, but equitable education, housing, nutrition.
We’ve lost touch. The disparities between the poorest & wealthiest is astronomical and getting worse.
@@WesternPatriot-v8m Don't kid yourself son. I was going to say you're becoming a joke, but you're already there.
@@WesternPatriot-v8m 😂😂😂😂😂
Yes. We started this descent in the 50s. Read Kinzer's book on the Dulles brothers - John Foster and Allen. Seems to have all started around then, with them.
Comment by former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien in todays Globe and Mail : “We also have to understand that Mr. Trump isn’t just threatening us; he’s also targeting a growing list of other countries, as well as the European Union itself, and he is just getting started. Canada should quickly convene a meeting of the leaders of Denmark, Panama, Mexico, as well as with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, to formulate a plan for fighting back these threats.”
Yes great idea
The EU has nothing to offer the USA, everything they make and have is sourced from the global south or Asia; with out cheap energy Europe is finished. ( Tatters, tatters I tell you). Canada has some raw materials, but they messed up by cow towing to the Yanks. Meng from China was first, then the India debacle with the sikh terrorist; next Russia. The three biggest BRICS members, Canada has pissed off to please the USA. Now the USA is slashing all four tires on the Canadian car, you can't make this ship up. The USA has no friends, only interests, AKA vasals.
he did not 'threaten' anyone. keep Canadians in fear and isolation. the very ones ruining the country for the citizens who still eat it up, Trump could be Canadas best friend if allowed.
A wise man
16:11. The reason Trump said it that way is that he’s aware of one of the main international mafia rules: never call a mafia boss names out loud. I’m Russian, and everyone who ever dared to call Putin names is now dead.
Real wages stagnated the last 30 years for all Americans except the very top. All that great wealth that has been generated during that period went almost exclusively to the top. That's just a fact.
Enough with the gaslighting already.
So why do Americans continue to elect the top then? A billionaire president with a billionaire side kick in Musk? Last time he was in office he shifted more money to the 1% than anyone else with crazy tax breaks to multinational corporations. When America was considered great.. say the 1950's there was substantial taxes on the rich and the middle class thrived.
But that is a different argument. That is what we have to deal with through our own American Law. Do something. But you can’t do it alone. It takes a movement which takes a group which takes work. And you can vote …..and the electoral college is a hindrance.
great post!! Dont forget Frum is also part of the group that got america into the Iraq War. He belongs in a jail cell for treason.
30 ? No, going on 45 years since Reagan.
Go stay in America don’t come to your countries
It's not China's fault that the 1% kept 99% of the profits. This is a US wealth distribution problem, not a free trade problem.
Says a socialist wokester.
No, it isn't. It's people's fault. People let them, just as simple as that.
It's partly a problem that many countries sign treaties with laws they have no intention of honouring.
@@DeletesYourComments You are wrong!
I am old enough to remember the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, which are considered to have been decades of progress by even the Republicans; - - - when the top federal income tax rate never dipped below 70 percent.
But then Reagan's Republican Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 slashed the rate from 70 to 50 percent, followed in 1986 by the Republican Tax Reform Act of 1986, which dropped the top rate to 28 percent.
NOTE: - contrary to an often-stated Republican trope these tax breaks have NEVER paid for themselves!
The US citizens not in the upper 1 or 2 percent have been paying for these Republican tax cuts!
The result of these Republican tax cuts is easily demonstrated by the below FACTS:
> In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s the bottom 20% of households owned 4.5% of the wealth in the USA!
> As of 2019, the bottom 50% of households owned only 1.3% of all wealth in the USA.
BTW - Corp[oration's ability to do stock buybacks is just another legacy of the Reagan administration. Stock buybacks were largely illegal until 1982, when the SEC adopted Rule 10b-18 under the Reagan administration!
are you 'distributing' your money? no you are not
What about the massive income inequality gap since the 1980s? A rising tide DID NOT lift all boats.
Exactly; Frum never mentions increasing inequity. He presents no data. Just arm waiving.
You're right --- income inequality did not come up in this conversation. Neither speaker addressed the unfair US tax system and massive breaks given to corporations and the super rich.
Tell that to the Reaganites. Trickle down didn't work so well, did it?
It ALL Started under RONALD REAGAN!!!! He Sold Out to GE and became Pro BUSINESS and ANTI Worker, Anti Union!! He is NOT The "GREAT" President people think he was!!!
As most people don't have boats.
I wouldn't trust Trump economy for so long. Any tips on stocks that can outperform s&p500? I am at the beginning of my investment journey and intend spreading $200k across dividend stocks, so that I can annualize up to 30% ROI even after my retirement.
as a beginner, its best you seek the guidance of a financial specialist, it may seem costly but could save you the cost of a fiasco
I agree, financial advisory is currently the optimal approach for navigating the financial market, especially for newbies and those approaching retirement. At first-hand experience, my portfolio has surged over 300% since the covid crash of 2020 to date.
@@SergiannaPawson Very encouraging for folks starting out like myself; who is your advisor, please? In dire need of proper asset allocation
I've stuck with ''Jennifer Grace Barricklow'' for 5 years now, and her performance has been consistently impressive. To be honest, if it wasn't for the pandemic, I wouldn't have supplemented my stream of income, but I'm so glad I did.
I'm into BONDS right now, as economies fall, bond values INCREASE....Trump will make me a millionaire, by his idiotic 'presidency'
I still HATE the demented, syphilitic fuc*er !
Could become a global bully? It's ALREADY A GLOBAL BULLY !
Absolutely = This guy is worried about Israel losing favour with Trump - Lets hope his worries are justified
It is!!!!!!
For the entire 20th century.
Frum is missing an important reality of American life. In my county, a tiny studio apartment rents for $1600. This means a $20/hour worker puts in two weeks pay just to pay rent. When I was a youngster, the rule was “25% to housing, no more” to be able to cover bills and have a hope of some savings. Young people don’t get married, don’t have kids, don’t have needed medical and dental work because they CAN’T AFFORD IT. Please don’t tell us how “rich” we are as a nation. That’s turning a blind eye to life as lived by millions.
Exactly the same in Canada now. Some young people are living with their parents longer because they can’t afford the current rents. 😢
America is very rich. Just most of the people are not. That’s the difference. We have more rich people than other countries. Doesn’t put food on the table for most of us, but it’s a statistic. We have more people screwing over the rest of the population than other countries! Aw capitalism. The shittiest products, health care, services, everything, but those stocks keep going up!
Same in the major cities of the UK. But in the UK and Canada, we have universal free healthcare. There are riches in all three countries, for sure. But the billionaires need more money. So for the vast majority, things are only getting worse.
That is because 5 billionaires in the USA have bought 35% of family homes. They then raised prices of rent continuing to be raised. This is the greed of corporations.
@@judibill72immigration movements to the West helped worsen the problem... US, EU, Canada, Australia, UK are all having the same problems!
America is lonely now. America as the world's largest economy and military for decades could have made the world a better place. Rather it went paranoid. It chose bullying, threats, conflict creation, unwise covert regime changes to protect its stance. Now the world has lost respect for America and is trying to find its own way. America could have chosen peace, cooperation, honest mediation etc.
Nonsense. Reads like something out of Putin's Ministry of Rubbish. Long on conclusory generalizations and utterly lacking in specifics.
The real problem now is Trump, an American fascist. None of the stuff you mentioned have been the problem that Trump is.
@jim2376 if you knew a bit of history you would have been aware of the long long list of specifics. Too long a list to include in a comment.
Why don't you go give Nuland a pedicure?@@jim2376
@modireli1318 You're making an excuse because YOU have no specifics, just your unsupported opinions.
As the great Bill Maher once said,"our schools are crumbling and we want to teach everybody else a lesson?"
That's what the Southern Strategy is about.
Become a global bully? We have been for decades
You’re missing the point. Global defender of democracy has not been a global bully.
American bullying is nothing new.
Israel runs the usa
@@brendanobern7403absolutely
@@TheHighlanderprimelol defender of democracy, except in Iran, Latin America, India, etc
David Frum always has the most comprehensive and penetrating analysis of the world and our place in it. Thank you for this interview conducted by the excellent journalist, Walter Isaacson.
So much for Regan’s “TRICKLE DOWN”
And Carter letting go of wage/price controls.
And Bush's bailouts.
And Clinton's NAFTA, "third way" centrists, and WTO neoliberalism.
And Bush Jr's and Obama's epic bailout.
etc.
yep, trickle down a farce.
Trickle up defying gravity. The rich can buy everything. What's the good of being rich if you can't lord it over the poor?
Trickle down is a golden shower which the oligarchs rain on the rest of us.
@@cpamfly6858 Along with the rising tides raising all boats: yachts for the elite, Cajun Navy for the rest of us when disaster strikes.
As a Canadian I consider President George Bush to be a criminal for attacking Iraq without just cause. Saddam Hussein was a criminal but two wrongs don't make a right. When Canada, which was in on going into Afghanistan due to 9/11 with the US, said it would not go into Iraq, Mr. Bush said' you are with us or against us'. Canada said basically said then I guess we are against you.
The US gave Iraq a chance to create a better country. Similarly for Afghanistan.
Years later, people still call for the US to intervene in broken countries like Haiti, Sudan, Venezuela, etc. You can't have it both ways, people.
@@MB-xe8bb No other nations called for the Iraq intervention. The power void, counter insurgents, and Isis killed hundreds of thousands of civilians. With all respect for the veterans who served there, it was a misuse of the military by any measure.
@@MB-xe8bbNo but bad US policy doesn’t make ally’s have to support bad decisions…that’s the real point!
@@MB-xe8bbU.S never intervene for other... until they find their own interest. Even in 39-45, it tooks 2 years before getting involved. And as of today it is still the case... "me, myself and I" is the population leitmotiv.
You are 100% correct. Bush, another huge embarrassment, was as dumb as a box of hammers and knew he was lying when we went in. Canada was right when your assistant prime minister said he was a moron, and smart to not join the war against Iraq.
Become a bully?, they have been bullies for 70 years.
I would suggest to Mr. Frum, a fellow Canadian, that Canada is the "City on the Hill". Canada is the most free and democratic country on earth.
Hey! Americans don't like it when you mention Canada. Where's Canada again? They think Canadians are just a bunch of pot smoking commies :-)
"Canada is the most free and democratic country on earth you say?"
Read Bill C-63 the censorship Bill before Canada's House of Commons as you write this nonsense.
The US Republic with its separation of powers and the First and Second Amendments make Canada look like Communist China.
And a great country for anyone from everywhere.
Put the Bong down man.
Well not quite, but it definitely out score the US by leaps and bounds.
Sometimes, often, the lack of insight by the American ruling class is jaw dropping.
They just don't care. Its not a matter of lack of insight. It's utter contempt and disinctrests.
@@granthurlburt4062 Yes, and a feeling of entitlement. After the end of the (first) Cold War in 1990, American elites felt that they, and they alone, had "won the Cold War" (they had already learnt to feel the same way, or almost, about victory in WW2 - the only ones they really wanted to admit sharing that laurel with were Britain and Canada) and thereby had inherited stewardship of the entire world. I think this smug conviction that the unipolar era had finally arrived is part of the reason for the blatant carelessness of US foreign policy and diplomacy in this century.
That lack of insight is from the "ruling class" and the upper-middle class as well.
Armin Navabi on atheist republic does better analysis if you looking for that - unfortunately islamists and woke and fascists do not really understand liberal secular democracy.
@@louise_rose Their sense of entitlement comes from securing ownership of the legislators, funded by their tax exemption. While simultaneously escalating the use of the public's tax funds, to "bail out" their failures.
Where in the hell has David Frum been living. We working people have been left behind, we are talking about jobs that once could provide a family with a house, car, food, clothes, vacations, educations, sometimes a second home and by the way much of the time it was one income households, these people were factory workers, carpenters, laborers, truck drivers, hell shoe salesmen could raise a family!!!
Nobody will convince me that the wealth gap hasn’t been growing for decades and our standard of living continues to deteriorate every year. This is the biggest problem in society, families aren’t even the same, lives are crazier, faster and family members are all going in different directions.
Things are totally different and not for the better Mr. FRUM, don’t make excuses!!
Yeah, and the only party that’s been trying to make an effort to get you that have always been the Dems. But people chose Trump the destroyer instead.
Exactly! My father was a union carpenter in the 50s 60s and early70s. One income, 4 kids, a modest house and a decent car. My husband was a pharmacist and I was a clinical laboratory scientist. Our 2 fulltime combined incomes that provided for 2 kids a modest house and 2 decent cars. Now my kids generation cannot afford a house, one kid and her children still live with me and the other rents a room.
I'm thinking Al Bundy raising Peg - his devoted wife, and two ungrateful kids, as a shoe salesman.
If you can't dazzle them brilliance , baffle them with bullshit .
@@abbush2921 Frum is very good at BS.
After WW2 there were no factories left in Europe. Things were manufactured in America because there were factories available. This boom lasted for decades until Europe rebuilt. Those jobs aren’t coming back.
This post brought to you by the CCP.
@@CarlGerhardt1Regardless there is veracity in that statement.
Not even ivanka clothes are made here
Overstated BS. While the Marshall Plan was a win-win for the US and western Europe, it's not as if all factories and all communications infrastructure in Europe had been razed to the ground by WW2. The "you gotta buy your industrial stuff from the US" boom was over by the mid-to-late fifties..
@@CarlGerhardt1 WTF?
"The US could become a global bully". LOL. The lack of self-awareness in the USA is simply astounding sometimes.
Interesting that Frum leaves out the incredible income inequality in the US and in other wealthy nations...
It is mainly the case in the US. Rare in other countries.
Actually, there is a lot of inequality elsewhere, too, but in EU you don't feel it so much bc average people get a decent wage (not to mention health care and other social programs).
@@granthurlburt4062 Nope, same in Canada.
Creeping socialism tends to do that as more and more people choose not to work.
@@granthurlburt4062 Nonsense
@@jeffspicolli593 What is creeping socialism? You make it sound like the government supports folks who choose not to work. In the province of Ontario the maximum welfare benefit for a single adult is $733 per month. Who is choosing that?
After the 2024 election, I will never again underestimate American ignorance and stupidity.
I felt that way since 88.
There will never be another election, America now has a king for life a DICTATOR who will tear up the Constitution and put Hitler to shame with his depravity.
The stagnation of wealth the middle and working classes have experienced over the past 45 years is the motivator for those groups. The Billionaire-Class has massively increased their wealth during that same period. The backlash post pandemic was primarily due to wealth regression experienced by everyday citizens in western economies. The stunning fact of the last US election is the victims of the Billionaire-Class voted for the Billionaire-Class.
Check out the book "The Price of Inequality" by Joseph Stiglitz. It's an eye-opener.
I disagree with you. Which party in this election took more money from the donor class. I am not a trumper . But Kamala took more money from corporation than rebulicans
Tax the hell out of CEOs who earn more than $10M and spread the wealth. Simple. Even Warren Buffet says so.
Their excuse is that wouldn't be enough to solve the problem... Or that would put the best CEOs away of our western enterprises... That the enterprises would leave the West... Major problem was when they started, with reaganomics, to put coorporations above the state interests, gave them so much benefits, pardon them so many faults... The echo of US economic "rules" started to spread in Europe, Canada, etc... Now is what we have... 😪
Frum is a lapdog for oligarchs who actually believe American workers are overcompensated.
Mr. Frum, the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 was an unjustifiable act of military aggression, no different from Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, or Hitler’s invasion of Poland in 1939. Iraq had nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11, and was not a threat to the United States. In fact, it was a bulwark against Iran, America’s principal enemy in the region.
The invasion was the result of a hare-brained scheme hatched by neocons led by Dick Cheney. They, with typical American arrogance and ignorance, thought they could march into Iraq, be welcomed as liberators, establish a puppet state, and then use it to subvert or overthrow hostile regimes in the area, particularly Iran and Syria. Of course it backfired horribly. It descended into chaos (when you remove a dictator from a country that’s hopelessly disunited, it’s like taking the lid off a pressure cooker…hot scalding liquid spews in every direction). The Iranians, America’s real enemy, used the chaos to establish themselves as a dominant power player in Iraq. It’s disgraceful for Frum to try to justify the invasion of Iraq.
Frum speaks, but his words are not reality-based. He justifies without deep insight and does not have a robust view of the history of nations. Be mindful in these days of invading other nations, nations that are non-English speaking; different religions; different history & heritage. Be mindful of what you do and how you do it. I disagree with Frum - the World will never trust America again - as was the case BEFORE DONALD SHOWED UP. DONALD Swaggers as a Bully and a Dictator. HE doesn't do the actual bullying - he announces what he wants to do. Then he gives others the order to do the bullying. Don likes chaos to break things. He picks his bullys.
Every Empire dies - from within!, from excesses of the Emperor, from another Empire. In the past, it was a younger Empire growing to fulfill the emperor's aspiration to be better, bigger than all. NOW, today, the frailty of national survival is predicated on Nuclear weapons self-assured Mutual Destruction.
Destruction timed within 70 minutes.
Unless suicidal, no one wants to nuke the world - the weapons intimidate - but the catastrophic outcomes will be world-wide radiation contamination; nuclear winter; massive numbers of humans dead from all nations - not just from the warring nations; the destruction of the Earth, its flora and fauna; scores of years living underground - to grow food, etc.; limited above ground scavenging when radiation drops. (TODAY, December 2024 - result of Chernobyl Nuclear Plant melt-down in Ukraine- any one walking on Chernobyl ground can only do that walk for 30 minutes - as radiation there will be dangerous for the human body.)
Mind Begs the Question:
▪︎If a Govt stage WMD Hoax
▪︎Govt can't stage Terrorist Attack
▪︎To manufacture justification,consent
▪︎For Genocide,Occupation?
1 Osama bin Laden’s goal was to get American troops out of Saudi Arabia. Hence 9/11. When it became clear that members of the Saudi royal family were funding him, the US recognised they would have to remove their troops. But the troops were there to deter Saddam Hussein who had a habit of invading his oil producing neighbours and was considered a threat to global economic stability (via his ambition to obtain nuclear weapons and control Middle Eastern oil).
2 During the first gulf war Bush snr told the Iraqis if they rose up against Saddam America would help them. So they did. 15 out of the 18 provinces rose up, took over their local government offices and waited for the Americans. Who didn’t come because Bush decided not to exceed his UN mandate. And when the soldiers got back from Kuwait they were slaughtered.
I don't think it backfired at all. It succeeeded in the way it was supposed to. As a military state, the US needs fear to justify its miltary rule. For that it needs chaos.
There were mutterings not so long ago to get ICC to prosecute Bush and Blair for their part in the massacre of so many civilians during the Iraq war.
The guy who worked for George W. Bush unironically saying that Trump could make America a bully.
Yeah dude, Frum unironically went on TV back in 2002 and demanded the US invade countries including Iraq specifically to gain control of their natural resources. Some people really do get rich off the literal blood of the poorest in their nation which are pressured into the military and then die in a foreign land that wasnt even hostile
With Trump's rants, much of the world has not forgotten Bush's illogical invasion of Iraq. They should pay attention.
@@peteranderson4075 so true, Trump seems not want to be in a war. Although, I do admit he’s a bully in negotiations. Given how America has been taken advantage of, we need a bully.
Examples-
- European nations won’t pay their defense bill.
- Giving away Panama Canal led to Chinese companies controlling security of canal.
- Massive Illegal immigration from countries that refuse to take their own citizens.
So we need a bully to do our negotiations but, avoid useless wars. Having weak feckless leaders like Carter or Biden causes problems. If Trump can use tariffs to assert our position without starting a war, he would be a success.
America’s arrogance & ignorance is its “exceptionalism”.
but the alternative is worse - a world dominated by China!
America is exceptional, exceptionally bad at many things.
That’s a true & sad statement.
aka HUBRIS
We ARE a global bully !
Mr. Frum forgot to mention one big thing: income distribution of this vastly wealthier economy. Just because the economy got bigger is meaningless to most people unless the income inequality does not get worse. The problem is that income inequality did get worse in the last forty years. Adjusted for inflation, the middle and working class had seen no economic improvement in the last forty years.
You will never fix income inequality. Live with it, fix it for yourself, and never expect someone else to fix it for you.
Based on what I see around me, the working class have seen an economic decline, while the middle class has been rapidly shrinking. The middle class becoming working class, and the working class slipping toward destitution.
NO, Mr. Frum. You're evading the truth.
Sixty years ago, a single wage earner, in a blue collar job, could earn enough to support a family, including owning a house, buying a car, perhaps two cars.
That wage earner had health insurance through employment that eventually paid up to 80% of most medical expenses, although for some reason our ears and teeth were left out of the bargain.
That wage earner had actual vacation time and was able to take it without any fear of retaliation from their management.
And that wage earner was able to retire, and live decently, with a pension in most cases, and social security. And later, Medicare.
That wage earner's kids went to good schools where they got solid educations that didn't include active shooter drills. If those kids wanted to go to college, college was affordable. And state schools, land grant universities, were excellent.
That is not the life a working class wage earner can look forward to today. That America was real, and it was destroyed. Intentionally. By American politicians. Starting with the illegal union busting by Ronald Reagan.
Yes, you are corect!
I am old enough to remember the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, which are considered to have been decades of progress by even the Republicans; - - - when the top federal income tax rate never dipped below 70 percent.
But then Reagan's Republican Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 slashed the rate from 70 to 50 percent, followed in 1986 by the Republican Tax Reform Act of 1986, which dropped the top rate to 28 percent.
NOTE: - contrary to an often-stated Republican trope these tax breaks have NEVER paid for themselves!
The US citizens not in the upper 1 or 2 percent have been paying for these Republican tax cuts!
The result of these Republican tax cuts is easily demonstrated by the below FACTS:
> In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s the bottom 20% of households owned 4.5% of the wealth in the USA!
> As of 2019, the bottom 50% of households owned only 1.3% of all wealth in the USA.
BTW - Corporation's ability to do stock buybacks is just another legacy of the Reagan administration. Stock buybacks were largely illegal until 1982, when the SEC adopted Rule 10b-18 under the Reagan administration!
for some Americans and which some were they?
@@martinvanoene7192 Read my above response!
I'm sorry but the economy 60 years ago was an aberration, both before that period and now after that period is the REAL economy. We will never have it as good as then unless we start invading other countries to steal their wealth. Oops my bad, we have already done that, doesn't seem to be working though. I know let's spend another 500 billion dollars on top of the 1 trillion dollars we currently spend. That should do it.
Excellent breakdown of the gradual downfall of the middle classes.
Stop treating us like we are stupid. I was a mechanic in the late 70's until the early eighties. My compensation was 50% of the dealerships 16 dollars per flat rate hour. When I left after seeing the writing on the wall, I was getting 12.50 of a 32 dollars per flat rate hour. The flat rate hour doubled in less than a decade. Do you see what didn't double? Today dealerships get anywhere from 150 dollars per flat rate hour to 300 dollars per flat rate hour using a sliding scale. Average mechanic pay in Oklahoma today is 20-28 dollars per flat rate hour. Can you really not see the problem? Seriously. Today's statistics show that blue collar workers across the board are paid less than 50 dollars per hour. CAN YOU REALLY NOT SEE THE PROBLEM? SERIOUSLY!
We, the people are smarter/intelligent than these liars.
What does komisar Musk pay his "workers" ?
Calm down Buddy
@@BuddyMeredith You think coastal elites with their 100k of loan forgiveness for their Sociology degree from an ivy league school care about mechanics in Oklahoma.
Maybe instead of giving debt relief to college graduation who recirved a worthless degree they could help the independent mechanic in Oklahoma get a free loan to start an auto shop.
The left do not and will not help the blue collar worker. They are only worried about the woke elite so called intellectual class. Mechanics in Oklahoma they just call deplorable garbage.
@@tokenspirit6140 Then why did they vote for Trump?
“Could become” a global bully? We have been for some time no?
Well, can we take it as a given that you are right, and we could say instead, "could become a much worse bully"? Guys like Trump are not above blackmail and extortion. What if we go from bullying to extortion, then? Regardless of exactly where and when the country fell from righteousness, I think the point here is it can get worse.
After WWII, the United States was the only manufacturing country that wasn't bombed to pieces. So, in 1955 the white American guy could fumble his way through high school and get a great union manufacturing job because there wasn't any foreign competition to speak of. By the seventies, Japan and Germany had rebuilt their industries and started to compete. That white guy from 1955 since then has had to deal with competition from foreign manufacturing workers, minorities, women, computers, robots, labor-saving manufacturing and construction machinery that has been developed since 1955, so he doesn't have a monopoly on manufacturing labor, so he isn't worth as much in real purchasing power. Nobody can change that. So, the corporations can be doing well without the workers doing well.
Not true Canada was also not bombed
United States funded Japan & Germany rebuilding under the Marshall plan with lunch box crowd taxes.
It was the US Corporate crowd who wanted to produced poor quality product, not the US worker.
Boeing corporate management is the prime example of poor quality, Greed over quality
Canada was in that unbombed industrialised position too.
@@lorrainesherred6458 EoS
" become a bully" that's been happening for 350 years.
Informed, calm, reasonable debate on a very serious topic. This is America at its finest. What a pity so many Americans are totally uneducated in history, economics and geopolitics.
That is on purpose.
The War of 2025 will be a reminder of what happened to the United States the last time the country tried to invade Canada. Only this time we have the support of NATO and the EU military as well as the British Commonwealth.
We in Canada glady welcome any Americans who wish to change their allegiance to save their families from death.
Perhaps because he was not raised totally on American Ideology. Remember Brabara Frum, his mother, was a world class Journalist - and BTW intelligence is carried on the X chromosome.
Literally just hand privileged idiot gaslighting us all. No you're not desperate you're not living paycheck to paycheck. In the past one persons job would support a family, getting house cars trips.
You can say that again.
Both are right. We are the economic envy of the world; however, that prosperity did not trickle down to the average American.
That’s not why they voted for Trump. Ignorance and gullibility have been though.
nope
Spot on!
You are so right on. It’s the riches country in the world ‘’ FOR THE RICH ‘’.
@@sustainablelivingnl773a society will not prosper in the long run if a small arrogant oligarchy keeps looting it. For a period people might believe the delusions they are fed with, but when hunger knocks on the door, there will probably be played a different tune.
Sometimes David Frum is just an idiot. Income inequality has exploded, it's real, it makes working class people available to fascist appeals, and he just ignores it.
It's the middle class that vote for fascists, not the working class. They love income inequality because it means they can buy more stuff like a rich person would.
@@OneLine122 the middle class didn't lose their jobs to unfree Chinese labour. Thanks, neoliberalism.
@@RK-rd4ll ha ha ha fuck no!
No Frum points out we are wealthier than we used to be
@@OneLine122 So true several times in history. Almost like a combo of the right elements in science so true in politics regarding the petty bourgeois aligning themselves with as a poison cocktail fascist.
Wages have remained stagnant since 1970-73 and this man lectures us all that we should be happy.
Unbelievable! Our so called ‘elite’ is completely decoupled from the rest of society!!
Since I m female, I NEVER made equal income, always less than males doing the same jobs. So i m not even in this conversation!
@ You are even more in this conversation than you think, precisely because of what you just reminded us. Women (in my personal opinion) are not men enemy, rather our most important ally.
All great societies collapse, sometimes it can take centuries, and Americans seem to have lost the intellectual advantage. Today it just seems to be about money and fame. I’m American born, but was moved to Canada at the age of 2. I was educated in 🇨🇦 Canada. When visiting cousins in Los Angeles and Houston, I was always amazed how little they knew about anything historically and geographically about the world and even their own country
I remember my parents coming back from vacation in the states, upon their return they asked what they missed politiaclly, because there is no news stations to listen to in the states. information access is NOT like what we have access to here in Canada. US News stations do no report the news, they report what people think they want to hear, which is merely for amusement and entertainment with few facts. USA is isolated in it's news and broadcasting of truth, facts, history etc. It's a sad state of affairs when your only news station if FOX news. Unfortunately, Canada is going down the same road, with younger generation not tuning into news that is based in facts
Very true!!!!
@@communicateMYway What road! I am an immigrant Canadian and it is nothing to lose! You live in a dream world!!
@@communicateMYway Canada has screwed over it's youth to the point of abject guaranteed homelessness. That fact is well and known as Canada is completely failing it's people, and is crumbling too. You mean this fact? It's not new, but it's true. Like America is full of it's own bullshit for sure, but Canada...oof, yeah needs to work on itself.
The degree of socio-economic inequality that exists today is staggering. A slow motion coup d'etat by the corporate class was accomplished by the overarching influence of money, by and for private elites, via the servility of public elites. Follow the money. There are oceans of money. Who's got it and who overlords its distribution: the capitalist class or the working class? The primacy of this question dwarfs all others.
Corporate America, the Capitalist Class decides how the money is distributed, if it gets distributed at all. We know how they don't like social support programs, unemployed citizens, and the poor class.
speaking as a non American, we have a lot of respect for America. But now that Trump has been re-elected there is no patience with you. I do not think any country is going to try and appease this crazy man. If our countries suffer because of Trumps stupid policies then be it.
Yes he is an idiot. At the same time the previous leaders have not been so stellar either You could say we are on a roll. I hated Obama's international moves for example, even if he was a polished orator, he was and is stupid and uneducated. Well, not sure how to do this, but I apologize for things I have no control over. In reality, I am extremely sure that we are in dire need of ridding our government of broad and deep corruption labeled as either lobbying or campaign contributions. It is corruption plain and simple and Trump bought this election just as previous men did the same. We need to rise up and say enough is enough.
I’m from America, and I agree with you. I can’t believe that we have become a Trump nation and it’s embarrassing, he has caused so much animosity. Hope things are better where you’re at
@@10-4-q6i Yes and no. I am in western Canada. It is nice here but we have our problems like you , although on a lesser scale. I hope American can keep this man under control. My worry besides the economy is that he will pass the dictatorship to his stupid sons.
@@JohnDoe-tw8es yep, there is always another one waiting on deck, greetings from Nebraska
Well I am sn American and I have no respect for America. I am totally embarrassed that my fellow countryman would put this piece of #**# back in the White House.
What older Americans fail to realize is the world of the 1950s is over and NEVER coming back unless there is a third world war and we emerge victorious. We enjoyed that brief moment of history in which 1 man could go to work and support his family of 5 on a factory pension because all the economies of the countries in Europe had been destroyed in the war. We were the only players left with an economy and infrastructure completely intact. We produced for the world at that time because of these very unique events. This situation can not be revived with tariffs. Even if we reshored manufacturing, who is going to by our shit when they can get the same thing 10 times cheaper from China, India or Vietnam. The reality is most of the developing world cannot afford our products. This leaves Europe, and they are not fixing to buy from a country whose leader is basically extorting them for money.
Life now in America is ruin. There is no more "Dream." It's about survival on the rat tread mill. Yeah. ELON MUSK has two hundred billions. BUT WHAT ABOUT THE DWINDLING MIDDLE CLASS? Meanwhile, can your family afford to make the car payment, pay the rent and afford groceries??? NOPE. THIS HOUSE OF CARDS IS CRASHING IN 2025.
Those products can bought by Americans. Why do you need to rely on export? I would love to buy an appliance that will last me 20 years even if it's more expensive.
@zuzanazuscinova5209 I agree with you 100% actually, but in order for that to happen, we need to check the ruling oligarchs, which unfortunately Trump is one of them. As long as they are writing the policies, our wages will remain stagnant, and our industrial base will continue to degrade. At least Biden started building clean energy manufacturing plants across the country in some of the most towns in America most devastated by globalization. I am all for reshoring our manufacturing base, but that would need to be coupled with a major increase in wages. The minimum wage would need to be around 27 dollars. We could use 3D printing technologies and different materials to lower the price but that would come at the cost of jobs.
@@zuzanazuscinova5209once every Murikan has bought a widget, you'll have to shut the widget factory down. I've never heard such a boomer argument before, and I'm a boomer.
@@zuzanazuscinova5209Name me one Murikan appliance that's built in Murika, go on.
The more I learn about American history, the less respect I have for America. And the less I want the status quo to continue.
I can't get past what they did to the people of Japan to end the war.
@@simpleblessings2024 A country that was already beaten, and two cities full of women, children and old people was wiped out. The men were all away with their armies. It wasn't to end the war, they wanted to send a message to the world. My dad said in the 50s that the US was a dangerous violent country. He wasn't wrong.
@@simpleblessings2024 If you go to the monument in Hiroshima, it explains it was bombed because the Russians were on the verge of entering Japan. Cold War as already underway.
You have a point, but trust me: the same can be said of any larger nation (thinking, for starters, of the colonial past of pretty much all Western-European nations and what repercussions this still has, even today).
@@garybryson1900 Let me guess your learning from a far lefty. Maybe get a perspective from a conservative.
What previous civilization had a war to free its slaves? Not for money but because it was the right thing to do. You should learn about John Brown the abolitionist.
"Predatory" is a good word for it. He only cares about himself, there is no giving in him.
why dont u donate some of ur millions to the working class. put ur money where ur mouth is c-w-rd.
No. That’s narcissistic!
@@gordoncheswick4169US empire are both!
@@gordoncheswick4169 America is bankrupt. The middle class is destroyed. Millions of formerly prosperous people are losing their homes. All for the sake of trannies and random brown people who hate us. The despicable ruling class which stole elections, racially abused white people, and imposed criminal laws forcing companies to discriminate against us are in for the biggest reckoning in human history.
We are the global bully
I don't have a problem the president pardoning his son . He was basically removed from the presidential election as a sitting president. The guy who won the election got away with horrendous things in the past and the things that he will do in the future will make that stuff look like small potatoes . Ok he lied on a gun approval process and a couple years of tax problems. Not murder and only hurt himself . Which he was good at doing to himself . Now does pardoning help his son? My brother always seemed to talk his way out of trouble . A judge would give him rehab for his addictive personality. In the end he died young from his problems . You could say if he got some serious jail time that could have been a motivator for change . Hunter may not learn but I think he has put his dad through allot and Biden took a hit for his son but it will be forgotten as he isn't on the target sheet anymore . A new person will occupy that space
Agree - Hunter's gun crime was an offence of a kind that happens tens of thousands of times a week in the US and which is hardly ever brought up for trial as a separate count - only if it's tied to other, serious and violent crimes. Hunter only kept the gun for eleven days and never fired it or aimed it at anybody. It's been blown out of proportions for political reasons and with 45 soon making a comeback to the White House, HB was more vulnerable than ever. Joe did the right thing.
Also, Trump's recent victory, while it saved him from going to trial over Jan 6 etc, will likely turn out to be a Pyrrhic victory for the GOP and for the USA. Trump's own reputation, his standing as a man and a political figure, will NOT be saved by the next four years.
The blanket extends back to 2014 so not just as you said.
Joe never told his son, "No!
Always such a pleasure to listen to David open up my mind to hearing rational views I never considered. Love listening to him.
It's amazing how some people insist to stay in a denial phase. World is changing but some prefer to deny it.
I would say it's more towards ignorance.
David Frum is wrong here. Workers are left behind.
And DJT gonna bring them forward?? Come on man!!!
I don't think anyone realizes yet the scale of the social and political catastrophe this election represents to everyone. At bottom, we are dealing with the triumph of the philosophy of predation and might makes right over the rule of law, a fundamental shift in government and culture. Also, its well worth mentioning the income inequality disparity which Thomas Picketty documents with geometric precision in chart after chart after chart in his book, all hard data. That played and still plays a significant role. Elite greed cutting tens of millions from the American dream. When people cant afford homes or send kids to college. And see themselves falling behind even to immigrants, that has an impact. David, maybe you ought to read Picketty's thick volume, at least some. We are in a lot of trouble. Rule of gangster law is here. The fall of Rome, that sort of thing, because of greed. That's where we are heading.
Those heavy industry jobs ain't coming back. Don't shoot the messenger.
Frum very clearly says that the primary common element in all the Western Nations experiencing a right wing shift is mass migration.
@ginzo666 yes they are 😂😂😂 you just want american workers to fail 😂😂
Thank you PBS for being a voice to ask the perfect questions
Shame on PBS for platforming this bloodthirsty warmongering neocon. And shame on Walter Isaacson for enabling him as well.
Thank you state media. We love you state media. You're definitely not deceiving us and distracting us from the central banking cartel!
PBS will be defunded soon
As a Canadian, I see the hardship America is going through but the positive, north of your border, it has rallied Canadians to force our governments to fix our issues that over the years, and if blame can be handed out, all political parties that have held office the past 50 years and have neglected, will be forefront of any election debate. I feel what is going on in the US has woken up it's allies to the fact the US issues affect us even more than we imagined and we are now preparing to be a formidable force to bullies whether they be "friendly" or not so friendly. The True North Strong and Free.
A bully with no Allies. Good luck with that.
I totally disaggree with his assertion that the woeking class has not been left behind. He doesn't mention the declining GNP in the US. Nor doea he mention the ever growing gap between the wealthy and the poor.
Mind Begs the Question:
▪︎If a Politician claims
▪︎To be Christian/Jewish
▪︎Yet supports Usury/Interest Banking
▪︎Real or Fake?
You don’t remember how little people survived on fifty or further back to eighty or one hundred years then.
The land of stupid always disappoints.
2:05 criticism is accurate that the general population does lose. Big business wins. The top .01% are astonishingly richer. I’m 70. My son and the children of my friends are worse off in their 30s than my friends and I were in our 30s.
What is real is that we should be doing better for our ALL of our population. Not just the US, UK, etc. wealthy nations should be helping poorer nations to truly have a rising tide really helping ALL people.
We have serious mental health issues among all our youth.
You do realize we live on a finite planet, eh? In other words, more for you means less for me and everyone else. There is no win-win in most cases.
My son and the children of my friends are worse off in their 30s than my friends and I were in our 30s.
We should start to help ourselfs in the West, because nobody will... We have to start to be more united, help each other on wherever we can, and make a real block to defend ourselfs against the axis of evil! We in the West spent the last 100 years helping our enemies to get on their feet...now they thank us with bombs, financial wars, commerce wars, and want to beat our hegemony... Wake up West!!! Our fairytale didn't work... Or you dominate or get dominated!
@@tylerdurden8378that sound aweful! There’s enough for everyone’s needs, but not for everyone’s greed.
@@jennifershanks453 Actually there isn't. If everyone in the world lived an AVERAGE American lifestyle we would need the resources of 4-5 planet Earths. Even living the average life of someone in Portugal would require more than 2.
People are poor in America, not because of America co-operating with other countries, but because of their political system which concentrates wealth in the hands of the few.
I love how he says the US could be one a global bully as if they haven’t been for the last 60 years.
What is happening now is far more aggressive and as Mr Frum puts it, transactional, than ever before.
Walter Issacson at 2:54 is absolutely correct in that the wealth America gained from free trade was absolutely NOT shared equally amongst Americans.
Now the reason for that is because American labor has no pricing power. As a consequence, since 1980, productivity gains have outstripped labor's income gains.
This siphons money from the middle & working classes to the rich (over 44 years now). The rich turn around and buy investments in the things the middle class needs: housing, medicine, & education. This creates asset bubbles & further prices the middle class out of the kind of living that we once thought "made America great."
The FACT is that America can shift away from manufacturing to compete in the areas it's truly great at (vs other nations) WHILE STILL PAYING ITS WORKERS FOR THEIR PRODUCTIVITY GAINS!
America has a poor labor pricing power problem - and we can promote strong allies or be predatory bullies to them - but none of these changes will solve the problem of labor's pricing power.
The only remedy is for all of us to acquire capital. We can't spend every dime. Labor alone is no longer sufficient.
How could anyone expect a parent to let their child go to prison when they have a power to stop it? Ridiculous.
Considering that a 34-count convicted felon with an agenda for retribution just got elected to the presidency...
If that child was guilty as sin, I'd take them there myself. Nepotism is never a reason for injustice. Quite the opposite. Time was when people held their children to a higher standard of behavior than normal, instead of none at all. Nepotism (or any kind of 'mine first' behavior) is the worst form of tribalism. Oh, I completely understand why it is that way. It's still basic primates. It's why we rule by law not by hearts. And President's (or any elected officials) should be the best of us and be held to the highest standards. Not the lowest common denominator. Look at what the Royal Family has done with Andrew. Ostracized. But when you allow your children's terrible behavior to cause your own in mirror, you'd failed as a parent and as a person. Or in this case, as a President.
Especially when there's a chance they could be Epstein'd or Cohen'd
Of all the things I care about, Biden pardoning his son is almost dead last. Dead last is what Patrick Mahomes and Taylor Swift are doing. Hunter Biden lied in order to buy a gun (probably the most American thing ever). The January 6th people did their best to destroy democracy. Not terribly comparable, eh?
When one criticizes someone else for NOT obeying the rule of law, even though he has the power to pardon, the optics speak OTHERWISE! So NOT SO RIDICULOUS! Frankly, I think Hunter IS guilty! He certainly does n't have experience with extracting and distributing methane!
"Could become a global bully." And here we are.
The problem is Workers wages have not kept up with productivity ! David From needs to talk to Bernie Sanders !
The problem is CENTRAL BANKING enabling GOVERNMENT SPENDING and CREDIT ISSUANCE causing INFLATION. END CENTRAL BANKING.
With respect to Mr. Frum, according to a recent comment from Bernie Sanders, average workers in the US make less money than they did 50 years ago after adjusting for inflation. The sentiment expressed by Mr. Frum is part of the blindness that many Beltway democrats exhibit: "the economy is better for everyone!" The rich are much richer and the poor and middle class have remained the same or are slightly worse off. It cant be rationalized away. At least not successfully.
David Frum is the one who wrote: " You ARE EITHER WITH US OR AGAINST US"...
now, he should close his mouth!
He is a clown!
And "the axis of evil."
America is getting richer, but the richness goes to the 1% of America. Stop complaining about China, and tax the 1%.
A man living in El Salvador has $30k sitting around to buy a ticket to the US? If someone in any Central American country has 30k he ain’t going nowhere.
Credit card?
Too many smart people are showing their blindness. High on their own supply. The problem is capitalism. It's going to destroy us all.
Enough with the whining from the American lower classes. Spending and shopping over Black Friday was at an all-time high. And you just voted to have your health care taken away from you.
Good point, certainly not everyone was Black Friday shopping but a huge number did, along with shopping on line and traveling in huge numbers for Thanksgiving. So I think Frum has very good points I also believe this is more than about money and wealth it is about men reclaiming their status. Maga politics is fundamentally sexual politics it is about the roll of the man in the world and the US. They want to re domicile the kind of production that increases the value of Male labour to rebalance the sexual economy of the US. A lot of what Magas are is about restoring the scarcity of male labour and depressing the value of female labour to right the balances of the sexes for the accepted ideological families that Christian nationalists want. A Very Repressive reactionary project which is very scary for women, for their right to choose, ability to get educated, work and even vote.
stores sales were at all times highs. People from all over the world buy from US stores during black friday HENCE the sales numbers. thats why store sales were crap but online sales are always high.
Okay lol
ALL of that!! 💯👍
The whining also bothers me. Instead of this binge of consuming the latest gadgets - recycle, buy at thrift stores, make your gifts, make a donation to a charity. Share a walk in a forest with your family.
Everyone turns to the USA.??? We (Canada) dont hate the US for its fast food.We like the US , and many of us work in the USA.We share its fast food and are its biggest trading partner. We rely on the US for military support as they rely on us for water lumber and military testing in our water and our North. What most hate about the USA is its arrogance. The "we are better" attitude. The amount of private citizens caught at our border screaming that they can't carry weapons in Canada. Many Americans come to Canada complaining that we dont cater to their wants at every moment of the day.They scream because our ferries dont run on their schedules. Our cities are not full of pubs and niteclubs like in US cities. That our money is fake. Fix your American education system so that it teaches some semblance of history and geography. How many Americans have asked this Vancouverite if I have seen an igloo. The USA is a very arrogant nation, and you have just proven it. Example: Canada is having debates on banning some weapons, and American you tubers from Washington State to Florida are calling us fascist. The difference is that Canada has gun control that is accepted by all and debate to improve is healthy. The US are radical gun nuts who are so arrogant, gun control is impossible. These are reasons why others have reservations about the USA. Economically, Canada and the USA are each others largest trade partners and we need each other. We are as a rule, Friendly trade partners in good standing" This statement " everyone comes running when they need us," or " 51st State" or " Governor of Canada"divisive rhetoric.
"...could become a global bully."
A day late and a dollar short.
Bottom line: If I have a good neighbour tied to me by common blood, sweat, and toil, I don't make him my enemy because I want his house-I keep him my friend, for I could never take what he did not gladly give and still have what is most valued -his friendship.
As others have commented here, the income/wealth disparity within the US is the real source of backlash. Globalization and all the associated labels are scapegoats, deflecting from the results of emptying the pockets of the "lower" 90% into the pockets of the "upper" 10%. Income and wealth disparity has vastly increased since Reaganomics took root and continues right now through the second iteration of a Republican administration. I'm not sure where the breaking point is. I only know, historically, that there is one. The international conditions reflect this domestic condition.
And who was an avid Reagan and Bush supporter? Canadian ex-pat, David Frum!
Income disparity may be the source of backlash, but these people have no one but themselves to blame. They preferred the culture war, and they got it, while the 1% used their capital to replace labor. Backlash? as if someone did it to them? They should kick themselves.
Then they go at vote in the biggest robber baron going
Surely poor people own guns? Not from Murika, just asking.
What is actually happening is that the US used to be very successful at being a global bully but is now old and weak.
Canada here. Total aside. David Frum’s mother was a very bright CBC evening host of the a program called As It Happens where she interviewed people from all over the world. She was also very beautiful. If you want to listen to an hilarious interview, look for The world’s biggest cabbage. You will not regret it.
Her son is a neocon monster. I hope you understand that.
Yeah yeah yeah. Barbara was great. And if one doesnt know about david’s past , its kinda like not knowing trump before the apprentice , only kinda , i know. But david is going pretty American conservative it seems. Mom would b rolling in her grave
Canadian here...Barbara Frum was definitely a good CBC 'journalist'. Beautiful?
She left us way too soon. From a northern Ohioan who used to enjoy both As it Happens, it's humor, and esp Barbara Fromm.
@@clarkpalaceShe definitely would be. Her son is completely unable to understand the plight of the working class and is smug about it at the same time. The reason migration is an issue globally is because people everywhere are struggling, not because “rich” migrants want more. Geez. Sad to listen to him if you remember his mother, and even if you don’t. Overconfident and blind.
@6:04 What the heck is he talking about? Paying money to a trafficker as a sign of global prosperity? I completely disagree with that. It's not prosperity; it's desperation. No one willingly hands over money to a trafficker unless they are in a situation so dire that they feel they have no other option. Desperation, not prosperity, drives people to take such dangerous and extreme steps. And let’s be clear: the people who end up in these situations aren’t coming with any great talents or skills to contribute to their new country. If they had the proper education or qualifications, they’d be entering the country through legitimate work visas, not risking everything with traffickers.
yeah the guy is lost
He is a piece of work! I’d love to see him debate Richard Sachs!
"Could become a global bully..."
Me: ROTFL, it has been a bully ever since its inception. Only the targets differed over time. First object of desire were the territories of their neighbors, or did anybody forget?
Frum forgets the fourth and most crucial factor for our malaise starting in 2008: social media
To think that the US hasn't been a global bully for decades is just being naive or willfully ignorant.
Spoken like a true member of the establishment. Mr. from is a perfect example of why the establishment will continue to lose credibility and acceptance. He is wrong on so many levels. I suspect that he knows the truth, and he won’t say it because he’ll lose his access.
If assets/wealth were better shared, do you think there’d be so much human trafficking? So much misogyny? So much fear/anger?
Yes, because I care more about the existence of my people than money.
@@Stoddardian I'll take "things you will never hear Trump say" for 200 Alex
America became a global bully within a few months of the end of WW2. That is exactly how ALL empire-builders work. Myself, I always try to look for what I have in common with ordinary Americans. But in the Asian country where I live, a very high percentage of ordinary locals are no longer prepared to be quite that tolerant.
Remember when owning one single air conditioner was a luxury?
Now it is a matter of life and death in some areas that have dangerous heat, like Florida, Texas and Arizona to name a few.
I understand your point, people were more frugal and making do with what they could afford.
or a TV
We're old.
Remember when you could buy a home and raise a family on a blue-collar job?
The amazing thing is that Smith is Premier of Alberta. No obvious skills. Full of anger. Picks phony fights. Calls names. There's no Team Canada in Smith. Love the way she hovers over her Ministers at news conferences like a helicopter Mom making sure they say the right things.
Smith is an absolute disgrace, picks fights with cities in Alberta, picks fights with Ottawa. Instead of standing up to chump Trump she is going to his inauguration to kiss his ass. She and her UCP cronies don’t have a single seat in our city and hopefully in the next election she’ll be gone.
If you think Smith is angry... you should meet the Albertans that elected her. The more she fights with the east the more popular she gets in Alberta. She just had a leadership review and got 91% support. Bottom line ... we don't like the east and what it has changed Canada into.
@11.20 when he said invading Iraq and Afghanistan was about trying to bring security to those countries, I stopped listening. Unbelievably naive, this guy.
He's not naive, he's just evil.
He's just a terrible bloodthirsty neocon. Embraced by many Democrats now. And that is shameful.
Ya, the military industrial complex was bringing democracy to the world through its 800 bases.
He came dangerously close to losing me completely on that point as well. But I kept on until I found many other points that I am very hesitant to agree with.
Mr. Frum needs enter a debate with John Mearsheimer, Jeffrey Saches, Noam Chomsky or the likes.
Yep, like Israel is bringing democracy to Gaza.
The US gave these countries a chance to reform their countries. Iraq is at least no longer a threat to other countries. In Afghanistan, the men just decided they liked the part of radical Islam that said they could have the women as slaves, instead of creating a modern country. Not the fault of the US.
People may fear you but won't respect or trust you is very true. Thank you Mr. Frum for your insight.
Security for iraq was not reason. Domination was. Read PNAC document. Bill clinton turned down request to invade iraq. Bush said yes.
Is Frum not aware of the origins of our 2nd invasion of Iraq!?
There are many facets by which to view wealth disparity. One in particular is the contrast between my depression era parents spending habits and those of today’s poor. Did my parents live within their means? As best they could and they struggled to watch every penny. They delayed all manner of gratification so not to pay interest on debt. There were no new expensive cars on credit. There were no thousands of dollars spent on tattoos. Many people I see out in America today have no concept of a budget. So I am saying this should not be ignored no matter the divide in wealth in America.
Yes & the only key is Education. Educate on finances, on spending, on social responsibility, on budgets, on morality, on common sense.
EDUCATE
To try and contrast the 1930’s depression era generation, which included my parents, with the current day economic situation of 20 to 40 years old workers, as a lack of financial discipline and education, is a vast over simplification of current conditions. We are instead rapidly approaching the same inflection point, vis a vis counter productive financial deregulation and regressive tax policies that created the same kind of conditions that triggered the Great Depression. The last 45 years have been another Gilded Age, with far too much capital concentrated in too few hands that would seem to have no other outcome but to end with a similar collapse.
Advanced civilisations tend to destroy each other at the peak of their civilisation and the destruction usually comes within…. Greetings from South Africa 🇿🇦
How prescient! I’m sure Canada, Denmark and Panama would agree.
Likes of David Frum is the reason Americans want change. Why give a platform to a person who should have no job due his disastrous Iraq policy?
Provocation from the likes of DF are of value IF they provoke thoughts about the points he makes. There are a few grains mixed with his chaff. It's encouraging to read discernment in the comments.
The people of the USA (I don't call them "Americans" because the USA comprises less than a quarter of the two American continents) are hooked up to a drip-feed of jingoistic and corporate bullshit that makes them believe they live in "the land of the free" and "the greatest country on earth," despite plentiful evidence to the contrary, e.g. that it ranks very low on the UN's list of countries with the best quality of life. There was a Soviet dissident in the seventies who said, "Soviets and Americans are subjected to equal amounts of propaganda. The difference is, Americans believe theirs." And so they remain in a state of delusion, thinking they can fulfil "the American Dream." (It's called "the American Dream" because you have to be asleep to believe it"---George Carlin.)
Capital is the cross border flow that causes structural insecurity, whereas ideas are the cross border flow that causes ‘stress’ and anxiety. People, or immigration are targeted because conservatives are incapable of attributing responsibility to systems or structures, and always blame an agent or scapegoat. The globalization of capital is the problem, not the poorest and most vulnerable humans.
Amazing how right Frum is.
A visitor from the Twilight Zone.
"David Frum, the George W. Bush speechwriter best known for placing Iraq as part of a nonexistent “Axis of Evil” with Iran and North Korea, made a similar assessment. “What the U.S. did in Iraq was not an act of unprovoked aggression,” Frum insists in the Atlantic, before pointing to “battlefield victories,” “economic benefits,” and that “thanks to the U.S. intervention, the country has for the first time in its independent history a political system that is in some measure accountable to its people,” as upsides to these human costs. Thanks to Bush’s war, Iraqis “have gained a chance,” he concludes".
The Intercept 4/29/23. “The Atlantic Celebrates Iraq War Anniversary With Lavish Falsehoods About Iraq War”
at what cost to us here at home .??. a trillion for the war and its aftermath ... money better spent in america ..
If he acts like the predator then others will also act so and gang up to decimate the first predator. Its how the first principles work.
Ladies & gentlemen, meet the mentality that gave us Trump in the first place. Good God…
Mr. Frum makes some interesting points, but passes over or distorts many others.
Not recognizing the expansionist Nato under the US as the cause of the Ukrainian War does not stand up in much of the non-US/West world. And history will not be on the US side here.
Not giving any recognition of the destructive actions of the US (MIC right from Vietnam through to Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia and many others) is a huge blind spot in the US.
I’d like to see Mr. Frum debate with other (mostly non-American perhaps) authorities on the subjects he addressed. I suspect that quite a few of his points wouldn’t stand up.
This right here !
The education level in the US made it easier for industry to move to countries where the workers could read and write.
Also, where powerful strongman governments were willing to help out with muscling down any resistance to setting up new factories, brushing aside health and environmental regulations etc. China and Brazil are cases in point here.
😂💀☠️ what are you saying? Sounds bad😅
The United States learned in Vietnam that brute force and bullying doesn’t work. Frum is exactly right: United States is strong because it is trusted. Was.
What do you think we've been doing the last 30 years? Brute force and bullying.
David Frum is a bloodthirsty neocon who has backed every one of our crazy Wars these last decades. All of which have been losers. He's not right about one single thing- and you ought to know that. Iraq invasion 2003 ring a bell?
After watching and listening to this gentleman I have this overwhelming urge to check my personal valuables arent missing. Its the feeling like hes pissing on me while complaining about the rain today. This aura about him whispers "Do not trust me,Im a seasoned liar" I cant explain it.
😮
Frum has been wrong for 20 years and yet, people still put him forward as an authority on economics and world events.
Yes, shame on Walter Isaacson for going along with this.
Central to everything is that the vast majority of Americans have not benefitted from the incredible wealth and success that the US has achieved. The key reason for this is that companies in the US are considered citizens and the government exists to serve them. So when any kind of decisions are made the rights of corporations in the constitution are prioritised because not only are corporations protected by the highest laws they also have the resources to directly influence decisions. So organisations can lobby/bribe/blackmail the US government but they can also manipulate the media to influence people to act against their own interests. Tariffs with Trump being the greatest example- what a disaster, another regressive indirect tax on US citizens so it can prop up local companies.