Trump is the anti-Reagan. Reagan did not kiss up to communist dictators or start pointless trade wars. Trump is destroying everything Reagan bequeathed to us.
Reagan, with Limbaugh and AM radio, was key in criminalizing poverty and government as unAmerican. He succeeded in redefining Greed and looking out for oneself and one's own as virtues. He succeeded in associating anything government as bad, defunding education, health, and many other public services that had nourished the middle class. We are now paying that price with largely stupid, mean, tribal citizenry.
I lived those years. Reagan was key in criminalizing poverty and government "government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem" and encouraging the push for local control, with all of its racism and other -isms in exchange for having local communities do their own funding. He was practical and backed down from what he truly wanted to do when unpopular, but that doesn't change his true intentions or the cultural impact he had, with ancillary voices like Limbaugh's furthering his messages.
I also lived through those years. I mostly reject your interpretations of Reagan's intentions.
I agree he wanted to decentralize power and return it to the states, in accordance with the clear intent of the Constitution - but in that respect he mostly failed. And he never got around to encouraging states to raise their own revenue - I suspect that might have been part of his program for years 7 and 8, which fell victim to his encroaching Alzheimer's. In the end, his Republican successors turned to a dogmatic program of tax cuts at all levels, both federal and state - something that is sometimes falsely attributed to Reagan.
Encouraging states to raise their own revenue? He was speaking Jim Crow the whole time. We certainly have different interpretations the guy. He had big money's interests and advertised for them effectively, started out as GE's mouthpiece. He knew what he conveyed when he used certain terms and phrases. I remember the impressions the Gipper's softly spoken unkind words left:
Reagan also trumpeted his racial appeals in blasts against welfare cheats. On the stump, Reagan repeatedly invoked a story of a тАЬChicago welfare queenтАЭ with тАЬeighty names, thirty addresses, [and] twelve Social Security cards [who] is collecting veteranтАЩs benefits on four non-existing deceased husbands. SheтАЩs got Medicaid, getting food stamps, and she is collecting welfare under each of her names. Her tax-free cash income is over $150,000.тАЭ Often, Reagan placed his mythical welfare queen behind the wheel of a Cadillac, tooling around in flashy splendor. Beyond propagating the stereotypical image of a lazy, larcenous black woman ripping off societyтАЩs generosity without remorse, Reagan also implied another stereotype, this one about whites: they were the workers, the tax payers, the persons playing by the rules and struggling to make ends meet while brazen minorities partied with their hard-earned tax dollars. More directly placing the white voter in the story, Reagan frequently elicited supportive outrage by criticizing the food stamp program as helping тАЬsome young fellow ahead of you to buy a T-bone steakтАЭ while тАЬyou were waiting in line to buy hamburger.тАЭ [from Salon]
I watched my father go from a thoughtful, liberal Republican to a right-wing parrot of Rush Limbaugh and FOX talking points. The contrast between the man who taught me to think for myself and the man who railed against welfare queens and femi-nazis and тАЬgovernment is the problemтАЭ was difficult to reconcile. I agree, Reagan and the rise of rant radio and cable тАЬnewsтАЭтАЩ was the beginning of our demise.
I watched what it did to my peers, who began extolling the virtues of Greed and of looking out for oneself and one's own as the embodiment of Responsibility. Madalyn O'Hare became the devil incarnate due to taking prayers out of schools, which did not happen in the Bible Belt. The myth of Welfare Queens had snooty kids who wouldn't touch cafeteria food complaining they wished they could get government cheese too. Like the Magas of today, they had zero self-awareness and no understanding of what it meant to be low-income. Entitlement they had in spades, much as they railed against the nonexistent entitlement of the poor (with some exceptionsтАФthere will always be aggressive people out to game systems in any group). In the southern Bible Belt, the new Reagan-Limbaugh morality dovetailed nicely with undying Jim Crow values.
OMG! Me too re the Greed! I can still remember my gut reaction to the cover of Time Magazine in the 80s (after the movie Wall Street came out). The headline was "Is Greed Good?" ...And the main article did, in fact, claim greed WAS good! I thought at the time that we were in real trouble. And here we are.
If Trump makes the dollar weaker, won't that make our goods cheaper and get other countries to do more importing, which Trump simplistically thinks will improve our standing? Wasn't that a key factor in calculating tariffs?
It is true that a weaker dollar would make US exports more attractive to buyers in other countries. But I don't think that was part of Trump's plan. He can't think that many moves ahead.
True. Trump is irrationally obsessed with bilateral trade balances. It seems his whole formula for tariff rates was based on bilateral trade balances. Trump is essentially a mercantilist - a school of economic thought that was discredited nearly three centuries ago.
"A weakening dollar means that imports become more expensive, but it also means that **exports are more attractive to consumers in other countries** outside the U.S. Conversely a strengthening dollar is bad for exports, but good for imports."
ahh...nope weaker dollar means we spend more for the stuff we import, like 8 million barrels of oil a day. Hundreds of billions in electronics. Its a self defeating proposition, for the average consumer
You're talking about what *we* import. When talking about other countries importing our products (our exports), a cheaper dollar, all else being equal, could help equalize that export-import imbalance that Trump is stupidly obsessed with to the extent that he doesn't (can't) integrate other key indicators of economic health.
Couldn't agree more with JVL's assessment of the US citizenry, but the rot began in the 1980s with Ronald Reagan and Rush Limbaugh.
Trump is the anti-Reagan. Reagan did not kiss up to communist dictators or start pointless trade wars. Trump is destroying everything Reagan bequeathed to us.
Reagan, with Limbaugh and AM radio, was key in criminalizing poverty and government as unAmerican. He succeeded in redefining Greed and looking out for oneself and one's own as virtues. He succeeded in associating anything government as bad, defunding education, health, and many other public services that had nourished the middle class. We are now paying that price with largely stupid, mean, tribal citizenry.
I'm not defending Limbaugh. I'm defending Reagan. Stop trying to conflate them.
I lived those years. Reagan was key in criminalizing poverty and government "government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem" and encouraging the push for local control, with all of its racism and other -isms in exchange for having local communities do their own funding. He was practical and backed down from what he truly wanted to do when unpopular, but that doesn't change his true intentions or the cultural impact he had, with ancillary voices like Limbaugh's furthering his messages.
I also lived through those years. I mostly reject your interpretations of Reagan's intentions.
I agree he wanted to decentralize power and return it to the states, in accordance with the clear intent of the Constitution - but in that respect he mostly failed. And he never got around to encouraging states to raise their own revenue - I suspect that might have been part of his program for years 7 and 8, which fell victim to his encroaching Alzheimer's. In the end, his Republican successors turned to a dogmatic program of tax cuts at all levels, both federal and state - something that is sometimes falsely attributed to Reagan.
Encouraging states to raise their own revenue? He was speaking Jim Crow the whole time. We certainly have different interpretations the guy. He had big money's interests and advertised for them effectively, started out as GE's mouthpiece. He knew what he conveyed when he used certain terms and phrases. I remember the impressions the Gipper's softly spoken unkind words left:
Reagan also trumpeted his racial appeals in blasts against welfare cheats. On the stump, Reagan repeatedly invoked a story of a тАЬChicago welfare queenтАЭ with тАЬeighty names, thirty addresses, [and] twelve Social Security cards [who] is collecting veteranтАЩs benefits on four non-existing deceased husbands. SheтАЩs got Medicaid, getting food stamps, and she is collecting welfare under each of her names. Her tax-free cash income is over $150,000.тАЭ Often, Reagan placed his mythical welfare queen behind the wheel of a Cadillac, tooling around in flashy splendor. Beyond propagating the stereotypical image of a lazy, larcenous black woman ripping off societyтАЩs generosity without remorse, Reagan also implied another stereotype, this one about whites: they were the workers, the tax payers, the persons playing by the rules and struggling to make ends meet while brazen minorities partied with their hard-earned tax dollars. More directly placing the white voter in the story, Reagan frequently elicited supportive outrage by criticizing the food stamp program as helping тАЬsome young fellow ahead of you to buy a T-bone steakтАЭ while тАЬyou were waiting in line to buy hamburger.тАЭ [from Salon]
I watched my father go from a thoughtful, liberal Republican to a right-wing parrot of Rush Limbaugh and FOX talking points. The contrast between the man who taught me to think for myself and the man who railed against welfare queens and femi-nazis and тАЬgovernment is the problemтАЭ was difficult to reconcile. I agree, Reagan and the rise of rant radio and cable тАЬnewsтАЭтАЩ was the beginning of our demise.
I am in your same position.
And surrounded by тАЬanti-antisтАЭ with my spouse and inlaws.
YESTERDAY was the first day any of them actually listened to me.
Silver linings ЁЯди
I watched what it did to my peers, who began extolling the virtues of Greed and of looking out for oneself and one's own as the embodiment of Responsibility. Madalyn O'Hare became the devil incarnate due to taking prayers out of schools, which did not happen in the Bible Belt. The myth of Welfare Queens had snooty kids who wouldn't touch cafeteria food complaining they wished they could get government cheese too. Like the Magas of today, they had zero self-awareness and no understanding of what it meant to be low-income. Entitlement they had in spades, much as they railed against the nonexistent entitlement of the poor (with some exceptionsтАФthere will always be aggressive people out to game systems in any group). In the southern Bible Belt, the new Reagan-Limbaugh morality dovetailed nicely with undying Jim Crow values.
OMG! Me too re the Greed! I can still remember my gut reaction to the cover of Time Magazine in the 80s (after the movie Wall Street came out). The headline was "Is Greed Good?" ...And the main article did, in fact, claim greed WAS good! I thought at the time that we were in real trouble. And here we are.
For sure the alarms going off while everyone else seemed perfectly at ease with the new 'morality'.
Agree that the Demagogue-In-Chief will thrive in a rough economy. Tribalism will explode. Hope we're wrong.
If Trump makes the dollar weaker, won't that make our goods cheaper and get other countries to do more importing, which Trump simplistically thinks will improve our standing? Wasn't that a key factor in calculating tariffs?
It is true that a weaker dollar would make US exports more attractive to buyers in other countries. But I don't think that was part of Trump's plan. He can't think that many moves ahead.
The export-import imbalance is part of Trump's idiotic obsession. He seems unable to understand there are other aspects to economic health.
True. Trump is irrationally obsessed with bilateral trade balances. It seems his whole formula for tariff rates was based on bilateral trade balances. Trump is essentially a mercantilist - a school of economic thought that was discredited nearly three centuries ago.
Interesting
Mercantilist Policies:
Encouraging Exports: Governments would subsidize industries to produce goods for export, and they would also seek to find new markets for their goods.
Discouraging Imports: Governments would impose tariffs (taxes on imported goods) to make foreign goods more expensive and protect domestic industries.
Establishing Colonies: Colonies were seen as a source of raw materials and a market for manufactured goods, further contributing to the nation's wea
ThereтАЩs too much of an imbalance with us importing for that to be the case I believe. China will be able to set the agenda-
ThatтАЩs the real problem.
And we have lost wealth, standing, power and credibility.
"A weakening dollar means that imports become more expensive, but it also means that **exports are more attractive to consumers in other countries** outside the U.S. Conversely a strengthening dollar is bad for exports, but good for imports."
www.investopedia.com/terms/w/weak-dollar.asp#:~:text=A%20weakening%20dollar%20means%20that,exports%2C%20but%20good%20for%20imports.
Also-
China leadership perfectly willing to let their population suffer and starve-
So they have that тАЬeconomicтАЭ advantage over us. Not exactly apples to apples.
That seems to be where we're heading
China тАЬreliesтАЭ on us to buy their stuff. They donтАЩt import US goods at nearly the same rate.
ahh...nope weaker dollar means we spend more for the stuff we import, like 8 million barrels of oil a day. Hundreds of billions in electronics. Its a self defeating proposition, for the average consumer
You're talking about what *we* import. When talking about other countries importing our products (our exports), a cheaper dollar, all else being equal, could help equalize that export-import imbalance that Trump is stupidly obsessed with to the extent that he doesn't (can't) integrate other key indicators of economic health.