The Reagan Revolution Has Succeeded - In Creating A Low Wage Unstable Economy

[TheMastersNemesis]

Ronald Reagan would be satisfied today in that he delivered the "service economy" he touted in 1981. He said he was going to do it and with the help of big business, the GOP and US Chamber of Commerce as well as billionaires like the Koch's we now have one. If you survey the labor landscape and look at how many low paying jobs we have created and continue to create you have to wonder if we will ever recover now.

The labor stats do not show how actually we are still moving backwards. And it is obvious the GOP is pushing us even farther backwards when it comes to wages and benefits. The real brutal truth is that in the end only about 20% of the jobs will pay enough to live on. We have been eroding jobs for over 32 years now under the "tinkle down" economics. Yet all I hear is how the GOP will still do well in the next elections so they can continue their assault on working people. Even a complete fool wakes up at some point. Or at least you would think they do.

The reason the Dems ere so shy about being progressive is that every time one of them runs on a pro union, pro worker or pro social and economic justice platform they get their asses kicked. Ask for a living wage and health care you are labeled a socialist or communist and voters vote GOP. Hell they would vote for a serial killer if the other candidate was called a communist. I just do not understand the depth of the dementia of people voting against themselves even when they see the food taken off of their table right in front of them.


The new GOP economy reminds me of the old student stunt of phone booth stuffing. How will the 80% of the population fare trying to compete for the 20% of the jobs where you can feed yourself? Yet what puzzles me is how many workers defend overpaid CEO's, the rich and bloated corporations rather then themselves. It is hard to understand. Propaganda and misinformation has to lose its effect at some level.

[madrchsod]

1. actually this started in 1976-77.

i was making 10-15 an hour in 76. after 78 my job was shipped to mexico and south east asia.
during the 90`s i worked in the same field and made 8-10.

that`s the reason why the unions are being targeted..the last hope for a decent middle class job.

[deutsey]

3. Yes, I agree with those who say The Reaction actually began in the mid-'70s

and really took root in the early '80s. It's had a widening and tightening stranglehold on just about everything in this country ever since.

[moondust]

2. "workers defend overpaid CEOs, the rich and bloated corporations"

I think a lot of it is racism.

Take the "Reagan Democrats." I think many were probably working white people who thought it better in the long run to support the authoritarian white status quo rather than risk losing their old, familiar status and advantages that came with being white. They likely didn't anticipate the devastating job and income losses that CEOs and corporations would inflict in the pursuit of record profits and stock price gains.

[HiPointDem]

5. I think a lot of it was the oil shock, stagflation, and backlash from the 60s. Those things made

joe average feel that something was terribly wrong with america.

[byeya]

4. A victory for traditional southern economics. Keep a pool of unemployed; outlaw unionization or make

it next to impossible to have one; compete with the rest of the country on the basis of low wages and a compliant workforce of at-will workers; see that a hereditary few control the political economy; and make sure the south continues to take more from the federal government than it pays in taxes.