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xchrom

(108,903 posts)
Fri Mar 7, 2014, 07:41 AM Mar 2014

ROBERT REICH: The American Dream Has Fallen Apart [View all]

http://www.businessinsider.com/robert-reich-great-uturn-2014-3



Do you recall a time in America when the income of a single school teacher or baker or salesman or mechanic was enough to buy a home, have two cars, and raise a family?

I remember. My father (who just celebrated his 100th birthday) earned enough for the rest of us to live comfortably. We weren’t rich but never felt poor, and our standard of living rose steadily through the 1950s and 1960s.

That used to be the norm. For three decades after World War II, America created the largest middle class the world had ever seen. During those years the earnings of the typical American worker doubled, just as the size of the American economy doubled. (Over the last thirty years, by contrast, the size of the economy doubled again but the earnings of the typical American went nowhere.)

In that earlier period, more than a third of all workers belonged to a trade union — giving average workers the bargaining power necessary to get a large and growing share of the large and growing economic pie. (Now, fewer than 7 percent of private-sector workers are unionized.)

Then, CEO pay then averaged about 20 times the pay of their typical worker (now it’s over 200 times).



Read more: http://robertreich.org/post/78784064729#ixzz2vHC0qXi4
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Not "fallen apart" but rather "deliberately dismantled" Fumesucker Mar 2014 #1
+1 xchrom Mar 2014 #2
Yep newfie11 Mar 2014 #3
Yup. ctsnowman Mar 2014 #4
The first reply on the thread nails it. merrily Mar 2014 #7
+1000 dotymed Mar 2014 #9
But before that proReality Mar 2014 #18
I love Bernie, and Elizabeth Warren for that matter...BUT... Moostache Mar 2014 #30
You won't get any shit from me. CrispyQ Mar 2014 #40
Moostache, I agree with a lot of your OP. dotymed Mar 2014 #43
AMEN, Amen, Amen Glitterati Mar 2014 #55
MIA fits perfectltly dotymed Mar 2014 #59
Yes Stargazer09 Mar 2014 #34
+10000000 woo me with science Mar 2014 #36
Agreed. n/t Laelth Mar 2014 #52
Spot on. nt City Lights Mar 2014 #57
America - An Empire Built On Illusion - That Empire And Illusion Is Crumbling cantbeserious Mar 2014 #5
The American Dream was destroyed by Raygun and his heirs. bemildred Mar 2014 #6
I don't think it was any one President, even Raygun. merrily Mar 2014 #8
The dispute dates to before the founding of the republic. bemildred Mar 2014 #10
I so agree about before the founding of the Republic. merrily Mar 2014 #16
And until we have economic democracy too, it will continue. bemildred Mar 2014 #21
I think big reforms come when merrily Mar 2014 #25
I think so too. bemildred Mar 2014 #29
... merrily Mar 2014 #35
"Mobs in the street, calling for someone's head? I've never seen anything like that." bemildred Mar 2014 #37
This is how I ended my part of the our several exchanges on this thread. merrily Mar 2014 #42
Perhaps a sarcasm smiley would help. bemildred Mar 2014 #48
Wait, why are we blaming our political system when it is our economic system fasttense Mar 2014 #12
+1. Plutocrats, really, it's the money, it drives them nuts when they have too much. bemildred Mar 2014 #15
It is our economic system that sucks, but it's our political system that sets the rules. reformist2 Mar 2014 #17
You have to stop the politicians from pandering to the capitalists, not the merrily Mar 2014 #26
"The politicians were just going along with the highest bidder." merrily Mar 2014 #20
The only addition to that statement dotymed Mar 2014 #44
Quite right, they will never give up. nt bemildred Mar 2014 #46
I agree with a lot of what Reich says and it's not new. merrily Mar 2014 #11
K&R&Posted to FB & will likely be covered on my show this wk. nt stevenleser Mar 2014 #13
All these years shilling for NAFTA, "free trade"...Reich is a hypocrite or an idiot. Which is it? Romulox Mar 2014 #14
One major theme should be that we don't need more jobs, we need better paying ones. reformist2 Mar 2014 #19
+1. nt bemildred Mar 2014 #47
"It can also be understood as the greatest propaganda victory radical conservatism ever won" n2doc Mar 2014 #22
You mean the present day treadmill goal of trying to achieve the unachievable goal? Javaman Mar 2014 #23
+1 Great post. Thanks. merrily Mar 2014 #28
kick, kick, kick..... daleanime Mar 2014 #24
Gee Bobby ...glad ya woke up to tell us what we already know. L0oniX Mar 2014 #27
He should know. He was economic advisor to the Prez during repeal of Glass Steagall, merrily Mar 2014 #31
I blame Clinton 100% for 2008. Forced to sign the repeal? Not likely. L0oniX Mar 2014 #32
ITS ALL CLINTON'S FAULT Evergreen Emerald Mar 2014 #33
Try a fact-based refutation. It's much more effective. merrily Mar 2014 #39
Unfortunatly, fact based refutation does not matter Evergreen Emerald Mar 2014 #49
I call Oscar Mayer. This thread refers to things like NAFTA, repeal of Glass Steagall merrily Mar 2014 #53
It's not clintons fault... Javaman Mar 2014 #41
Agree. merrily Mar 2014 #54
of course he should of veto'd it, but alas...nt Javaman Mar 2014 #56
I saw him defend it on, of all shows, The View. merrily Mar 2014 #58
He was far from forced. According to Wyden, Clinton merrily Mar 2014 #38
Yeah, he worked hard to get it, against lots of opposition. bemildred Mar 2014 #50
"Why didn’t we share the gains from globalization and technological advances more broadly?" gulliver Mar 2014 #45
Everybody thought the lower prices on tchotchkes would make a difference. HughBeaumont Mar 2014 #60
Everyone thought they could *pay* lower prices while retaining their existing high wages. Romulox Mar 2014 #61
k&r for the truth, however depressing it may be. n/t Laelth Mar 2014 #51
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