Since Nixon, Republicans have shifted wealth from working Americans to the morbidly rich. Dems should repeat that simple affordability message everywhere, every day, without apology or hesitation…
The middle-class criteria are an important measure of where we are as a country. But I would like to hear more talk about the shameful poverty and homelessness that is all around us and taken for granted. There is no remotely sane or rational justification for the way these millions of people are treated and ignored in this country in the third decade of the 21st century. This will be our legacy and will be written about in history books as a shocking level of indifference and discrimination for centuries.
Very excellent point! It is shameful that we, one of the richest countries in the world have people living on the streets. Not to mention those living paycheck to paycheck, just one accident or illness from becoming homeless. Just the stress of that potential is debilitating. We cannot be free if over half our citizens live with that fear.
When I look at a country that shows us how to live better, it is the Scandinavian countries that show the best choices. These are always the happiest countries at the top of the list year after year. Why can't we model some of their government in this country? It would put more people on a more even footing here and give everyone a chance at a better life.
Yes, very well said. Of course, the reasons why things are as they are aren't so easy to understand and the history is convoluted and complex. However, the most obvious correlations are extremist right-wing thinking, philosophy, and propaganda. The billionaires and their messengers have convinced huge numbers of people that the poor are responsible for the ugly circumstances in which they find themselves, that they are lazy or morally deficient, and that they are inferior. They use race and xenophobia along with religious dogma to promote these myths and lies. It will take a lot of work and activity and commentary such as we have going here to change the narrative and common imagery. Our schools must be made more hospitable for real interaction, dialogue and intellectual analysis, and even dissident voices, but do not get me started on that.
Those "conservatives" in power since 1980, mark that as a sign of the success of their policies. "It's their own fault they live that way." "They want to live that way."
Talking of pissing contests. I am in one now with a commenter on To the Contrary, Charlie Sykes, substack. Never Trumper Reaganites who can't face the reality that MAGAts are the children of Reagan. I should know, back in 1980=91 I was a Reaganite conservative, until he appointed Caspar Weinberger ad Sec of Def, violating his campaign promise nto to appoint any member of the CFR or Trilateral commission, hen that is about all he appointed to his cabinet.
The Professional Air Traffic Controllers union (PATCO) had been clamoring for. modern equipment, better wages and working conditions Reagan promised to support them, but after election reneged on his promise.PATCP wemt pm strole om Aigist 1091. amd Reagan fired them.
ATC is the most stressful of jobs, it is a miracle that there aren't alumimum rainshowers around the clock. Controllers, then, and I suspect now, worke four days 12 hour shifts with 58 hours off, hardly enough time to rest up, pursue a hobby, take care of business, and the pay is not that great, not for the stress,not for the responsibility.
If you saw what actually went on inside a control tower, you would never fly again.
That calm modulated voice heard over he earphones, is not what is going on inside the tower.
I couldn't be stopped from surfing on over to Charlie's substack to read and "like" your comments in the recent post, "The GOP's Decade of Surrender"! Nice work.
Upon wading into his cesspool of lies and myths about Reagan, I see it's another bastion for those possessed by The Gipper (Grifter). At least some of the true believers there who comment expose themselves to their need for education of the truth.
BTW, a google tip to all here, a simple example, for anyone to save time surfing ...
It is indicative of the mindset of a cult. The fool accused me of not backing up my opinion, when all I did was back up my opinion. They won't accept anything unless it comes from a hallowed source.
I have emailed Charlie sykes, before he had his own substack, when he was part of Bulwark (the Never Trumper Republicans) and have asked him what exactly he dislikes about progressives?
Is it Health care for all? Insuring that no one in America went hungry, starved or froze o death? That everyone had access to a free education? That a person wouldn't go bankrupt to pay off medical bills? That a person wouldn't die of old age, and still not pay off their education loan.? That a handful of unworthies were not able to game the system and become billionaires with yachts,private bunkers, personal airplanes, while the rest of the population, tread water to keep breathing? What is his complaint about progressives?
As one of those who can brag about being fired by Reagan, I can say that, yes, ATC is just about the most stressful job ever. But it is not quite as bad as you say - with the right support and enough quality staffing it is a manageable profession. However, it does require important abilities and temperament, and produces physical and mental stresses, which is why you can't even get into the tower or higher classes after 31 years of age, and mandatory retirement is 59 (55 before the strike).
Thank you for the explanation as it is hard to find solid stats on the internet to use for talking points regarding the middle class. Some resources on the internet talk about the percentage of people that say that they feel that they are middle class. A lot of us assume that we must be, but we sure don't feel like we are. People that have led a "comfortable" life just don't seem to get it. The caller from yesterday understands why it works for him, and doesn't understand why people don't just live the same life that he has. We all do better when we all do better - Paul Wellstone.
“Since Nixon, Republicans have shifted wealth from working Americans to the morbidly rich. Dems should repeat that simple affordability message everywhere, every day, without apology or hesitation…” Dem leadership should also say just what they intend to do about it. But they don’t, and evidently won’t, do either. They prefer to stifle and undermine those in their ranks who embrace the goals of that message. (James Carville has threatened - on FOX “News” no less - to leave “his” party because of those types. I’m willing to accept his offer). Corporate Democrats, through their overt comments or subversive silence, driven by greed or cowardice, unwittingly provide voting guidance: whoever they decline to support is quite likely who we need, whereas whoever they champion is likely offering more of the flawed same. From coast to coast and across the heartland, voters are increasingly catching on, as witness the success of inspiring candidates compared to the Democratic Party’s wretched poll numbers. Chuck Schumer and James Clyburn (and presumably Kirsten Gillibrand and Hakeem Jeffries) much prefer Haley Stevens over Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, a fact which speaks volumes. We’ll see.
In this post, Thom Hartmann averred that no fewer than 4 of his books deal with the class war, which is the most salient feature of the poorly regulated capitalist system that we have now. Routing the unions out of any serious participation in decision-making was the actual beginning of the feudalistic dictatorship that we have slid into like a rat into a sewer.
This comment is not @ all relevant to today's report but worth noting for all of us. Yesterday Palantir( Alex Karp) reported earnings and they were up some 95%. More Gov't contracts for a company that believes in a surveillance society. What does that mean,Palantir -Trump will know when you demonstate,when you protest,when you speak against the " Nazi" gov't,you can become become a target. Karp does not believe in Democracy as Peter Thiel one of the founders of Palantir does not.There are 2 very important articles written about this(Asia Times) The Most dangerous man in America isn't Trump-its Alex Karp. The 8/4/26 issue of the Guardian about the Palantir Manifesto.
I want to share a quote I just saw on The Guardian. It is so hard these days to pinpoint where we went wrong, what we are doing wrong - is there one key element that is causing this crisis of the declining middle class, as well as the poisoning of politics, the media, education, health care, or just about every facet of social order we became accustomed to for a while after WWII ended?
This quote is not by Mark Twain, or Freud, or Gandi, or Willie Nelson. It is by Samuel Paparo, Head of the US Pacific Command. He was speaking at a global security meeting in Malaysia, discussing China claiming to have legitimate right to control the waters in the Indo-Pacific region. But think about how it applies to pretty much all of the destruction of rights and benefits, and the destruction of the middle class, in the US (and worldwide) today.
"That's not the rule OF law. That's the rule BY law. The distinction between law as a tool of order vs. law as a weapon of raw power is the defining fault line of our time." (emphasis mine)
IMHO, that covers just about everything going on today. Unless we can retake control of the legal process and professions, we will never be able to restore decency in our societies.
I'm tired of hearing about the Middle Class. In her 2016 campaign, Hilary Clinton was always screeching about the Middle Class. Kamala did, too. I think they wanted the MC vote. I wonder why they avoided talking about the people who were below MC -- the Poor.
If there is a great wealth gap, if dollars have left the MC and gone to the Upper Class, then haven't prior MC's slid down to now be Poor? (Poor peoples' campaigns of MLK and recent
ones don't seem to inspire much support.)
Working Class might be a better term, but what's the definition of that? Anyone who works for someone or something else? Too broad; it would contain lots of very rich people. But if we limited WC to those whose labor creates value, then we'd miss out on too many allies, like nurses, teachers, etc. And this type of WC moved to other countries as factories closed and relocated to somewhere else. Bernie Sanders talks about the working class. I think he means everyone who isn't rich. Or does he mean just blue collar folks?
Do we form a party that's for the 99% or even 90% ? Do we go with Democratic Socialist?
Democrats have a great challenge figuring all this out.
AI art adds nothing to your writing. We are facing proliferation of data centers that suck water energy to the detriment of local residents to feed this fascination of having a machine do your research and cobble together ugly art. No art would be better than this. I have a vivid imagination that will suffice on my part.
Fed's QE Responsible For Wealth Inequality And Demise Of The Middle Class
The ever widening wealth gap in US and now the widespread specualtion(equity market, Polymarket etc) is at least in part due to the necessary money printing ie QE to bail the economy out of the dysregulation of the banking industry that led to the Great Recession in 2008. The intermittent QE over the years has led to a deluge of $$$ into the system where those in corporate and equity markets could take advantage of the large slosh of $$$ coming into the system.
This was in retrospect an irresponsible but understandable policy brought about by the fiat currency system created by past administrations from FDR to Nixon to Reagan. Each time there was some recessionary problem QE with its accompanying large cash infusion led to the progressive loss of the purchasing power of the dollar.
This QE policy over time has led to uncorrectable inflation with the purchasing power of the currency to 4 to 6% of what it was in 1971 in terms of gold when Nexon pulled the final international mooring of the currency system off a gold standard.
One of the most common criticisms of the proposals is that income taxes aren’t why Americans are struggling. The loss of the purchasing power of the dollar measured in gold is 4-6% of what is was in 1971 when the country was finally unmoored from a gold standard.
So the reason for America’s affordability problem for the average consumer is not taxes but the loss of the purchasing power of the currency not offset by increased wages. To stop the accelerating loss of purchasing power, a return to a gold standard would clearly help.
But an increase in the minimum wage would go a long way in helping affordability. Getting rid of the filibuster in order to restore the damaged social safety net and providing universal health care would be major steps in addressing affordability.
Any relief will have to wait until the fascist Republicans and their veto power are out of office in 2029 but in the meantime thoughts on how to address affordability remain on the table.
Also, if you pay taxes, you feel you have a stake in the governing of the country - your tax dollars are paying for tRump cheating his way out of paying his. If you don't pay any taxes, you feel less connected.
The middle-class criteria are an important measure of where we are as a country. But I would like to hear more talk about the shameful poverty and homelessness that is all around us and taken for granted. There is no remotely sane or rational justification for the way these millions of people are treated and ignored in this country in the third decade of the 21st century. This will be our legacy and will be written about in history books as a shocking level of indifference and discrimination for centuries.
Very excellent point! It is shameful that we, one of the richest countries in the world have people living on the streets. Not to mention those living paycheck to paycheck, just one accident or illness from becoming homeless. Just the stress of that potential is debilitating. We cannot be free if over half our citizens live with that fear.
When I look at a country that shows us how to live better, it is the Scandinavian countries that show the best choices. These are always the happiest countries at the top of the list year after year. Why can't we model some of their government in this country? It would put more people on a more even footing here and give everyone a chance at a better life.
Yes, very well said. Of course, the reasons why things are as they are aren't so easy to understand and the history is convoluted and complex. However, the most obvious correlations are extremist right-wing thinking, philosophy, and propaganda. The billionaires and their messengers have convinced huge numbers of people that the poor are responsible for the ugly circumstances in which they find themselves, that they are lazy or morally deficient, and that they are inferior. They use race and xenophobia along with religious dogma to promote these myths and lies. It will take a lot of work and activity and commentary such as we have going here to change the narrative and common imagery. Our schools must be made more hospitable for real interaction, dialogue and intellectual analysis, and even dissident voices, but do not get me started on that.
Those "conservatives" in power since 1980, mark that as a sign of the success of their policies. "It's their own fault they live that way." "They want to live that way."
The puppet is turning the U.S. into Russia; therefore, we can look to present-day Russia for our future middle-class percentages.
By Russian standards, about 30–32% of their population is considered middle class.
If you use a stricter, “core middle class” definition, it drops to about 9–10%.
If you use a broader “consumer middle class” definition, it rises to about one‑third.
Brace yourself.
#VOTE for cutting the commie puppet's strings.
#SEND Don Jr. to Oman to pilot his $1,000,000,000 drones, and Eric
Talking of pissing contests. I am in one now with a commenter on To the Contrary, Charlie Sykes, substack. Never Trumper Reaganites who can't face the reality that MAGAts are the children of Reagan. I should know, back in 1980=91 I was a Reaganite conservative, until he appointed Caspar Weinberger ad Sec of Def, violating his campaign promise nto to appoint any member of the CFR or Trilateral commission, hen that is about all he appointed to his cabinet.
The Professional Air Traffic Controllers union (PATCO) had been clamoring for. modern equipment, better wages and working conditions Reagan promised to support them, but after election reneged on his promise.PATCP wemt pm strole om Aigist 1091. amd Reagan fired them.
ATC is the most stressful of jobs, it is a miracle that there aren't alumimum rainshowers around the clock. Controllers, then, and I suspect now, worke four days 12 hour shifts with 58 hours off, hardly enough time to rest up, pursue a hobby, take care of business, and the pay is not that great, not for the stress,not for the responsibility.
If you saw what actually went on inside a control tower, you would never fly again.
That calm modulated voice heard over he earphones, is not what is going on inside the tower.
I couldn't be stopped from surfing on over to Charlie's substack to read and "like" your comments in the recent post, "The GOP's Decade of Surrender"! Nice work.
Upon wading into his cesspool of lies and myths about Reagan, I see it's another bastion for those possessed by The Gipper (Grifter). At least some of the true believers there who comment expose themselves to their need for education of the truth.
BTW, a google tip to all here, a simple example, for anyone to save time surfing ...
SITE: charliesykes.substack.com "user name"
It is indicative of the mindset of a cult. The fool accused me of not backing up my opinion, when all I did was back up my opinion. They won't accept anything unless it comes from a hallowed source.
I have emailed Charlie sykes, before he had his own substack, when he was part of Bulwark (the Never Trumper Republicans) and have asked him what exactly he dislikes about progressives?
Is it Health care for all? Insuring that no one in America went hungry, starved or froze o death? That everyone had access to a free education? That a person wouldn't go bankrupt to pay off medical bills? That a person wouldn't die of old age, and still not pay off their education loan.? That a handful of unworthies were not able to game the system and become billionaires with yachts,private bunkers, personal airplanes, while the rest of the population, tread water to keep breathing? What is his complaint about progressives?
As one of those who can brag about being fired by Reagan, I can say that, yes, ATC is just about the most stressful job ever. But it is not quite as bad as you say - with the right support and enough quality staffing it is a manageable profession. However, it does require important abilities and temperament, and produces physical and mental stresses, which is why you can't even get into the tower or higher classes after 31 years of age, and mandatory retirement is 59 (55 before the strike).
I'm a former airline supervisor. I know for a fact that I could never do their jobs. Respect.
Thank you for the explanation as it is hard to find solid stats on the internet to use for talking points regarding the middle class. Some resources on the internet talk about the percentage of people that say that they feel that they are middle class. A lot of us assume that we must be, but we sure don't feel like we are. People that have led a "comfortable" life just don't seem to get it. The caller from yesterday understands why it works for him, and doesn't understand why people don't just live the same life that he has. We all do better when we all do better - Paul Wellstone.
“Since Nixon, Republicans have shifted wealth from working Americans to the morbidly rich. Dems should repeat that simple affordability message everywhere, every day, without apology or hesitation…” Dem leadership should also say just what they intend to do about it. But they don’t, and evidently won’t, do either. They prefer to stifle and undermine those in their ranks who embrace the goals of that message. (James Carville has threatened - on FOX “News” no less - to leave “his” party because of those types. I’m willing to accept his offer). Corporate Democrats, through their overt comments or subversive silence, driven by greed or cowardice, unwittingly provide voting guidance: whoever they decline to support is quite likely who we need, whereas whoever they champion is likely offering more of the flawed same. From coast to coast and across the heartland, voters are increasingly catching on, as witness the success of inspiring candidates compared to the Democratic Party’s wretched poll numbers. Chuck Schumer and James Clyburn (and presumably Kirsten Gillibrand and Hakeem Jeffries) much prefer Haley Stevens over Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, a fact which speaks volumes. We’ll see.
In this post, Thom Hartmann averred that no fewer than 4 of his books deal with the class war, which is the most salient feature of the poorly regulated capitalist system that we have now. Routing the unions out of any serious participation in decision-making was the actual beginning of the feudalistic dictatorship that we have slid into like a rat into a sewer.
“I love you, sir.”
THAT MIGHT BE THE FINAL QUOTE EVER SPOKEN WHEN THE UNITED STATES WAS STILL A DEMOCRACY, BACK IN 2026.
This comment is not @ all relevant to today's report but worth noting for all of us. Yesterday Palantir( Alex Karp) reported earnings and they were up some 95%. More Gov't contracts for a company that believes in a surveillance society. What does that mean,Palantir -Trump will know when you demonstate,when you protest,when you speak against the " Nazi" gov't,you can become become a target. Karp does not believe in Democracy as Peter Thiel one of the founders of Palantir does not.There are 2 very important articles written about this(Asia Times) The Most dangerous man in America isn't Trump-its Alex Karp. The 8/4/26 issue of the Guardian about the Palantir Manifesto.
I want to share a quote I just saw on The Guardian. It is so hard these days to pinpoint where we went wrong, what we are doing wrong - is there one key element that is causing this crisis of the declining middle class, as well as the poisoning of politics, the media, education, health care, or just about every facet of social order we became accustomed to for a while after WWII ended?
This quote is not by Mark Twain, or Freud, or Gandi, or Willie Nelson. It is by Samuel Paparo, Head of the US Pacific Command. He was speaking at a global security meeting in Malaysia, discussing China claiming to have legitimate right to control the waters in the Indo-Pacific region. But think about how it applies to pretty much all of the destruction of rights and benefits, and the destruction of the middle class, in the US (and worldwide) today.
"That's not the rule OF law. That's the rule BY law. The distinction between law as a tool of order vs. law as a weapon of raw power is the defining fault line of our time." (emphasis mine)
IMHO, that covers just about everything going on today. Unless we can retake control of the legal process and professions, we will never be able to restore decency in our societies.
Send today's song to the DNC for their conventions and individual campaigns to use!
I'm tired of hearing about the Middle Class. In her 2016 campaign, Hilary Clinton was always screeching about the Middle Class. Kamala did, too. I think they wanted the MC vote. I wonder why they avoided talking about the people who were below MC -- the Poor.
If there is a great wealth gap, if dollars have left the MC and gone to the Upper Class, then haven't prior MC's slid down to now be Poor? (Poor peoples' campaigns of MLK and recent
ones don't seem to inspire much support.)
Working Class might be a better term, but what's the definition of that? Anyone who works for someone or something else? Too broad; it would contain lots of very rich people. But if we limited WC to those whose labor creates value, then we'd miss out on too many allies, like nurses, teachers, etc. And this type of WC moved to other countries as factories closed and relocated to somewhere else. Bernie Sanders talks about the working class. I think he means everyone who isn't rich. Or does he mean just blue collar folks?
Do we form a party that's for the 99% or even 90% ? Do we go with Democratic Socialist?
Democrats have a great challenge figuring all this out.
AI art adds nothing to your writing. We are facing proliferation of data centers that suck water energy to the detriment of local residents to feed this fascination of having a machine do your research and cobble together ugly art. No art would be better than this. I have a vivid imagination that will suffice on my part.
Fed's QE Responsible For Wealth Inequality And Demise Of The Middle Class
The ever widening wealth gap in US and now the widespread specualtion(equity market, Polymarket etc) is at least in part due to the necessary money printing ie QE to bail the economy out of the dysregulation of the banking industry that led to the Great Recession in 2008. The intermittent QE over the years has led to a deluge of $$$ into the system where those in corporate and equity markets could take advantage of the large slosh of $$$ coming into the system.
This was in retrospect an irresponsible but understandable policy brought about by the fiat currency system created by past administrations from FDR to Nixon to Reagan. Each time there was some recessionary problem QE with its accompanying large cash infusion led to the progressive loss of the purchasing power of the dollar.
This QE policy over time has led to uncorrectable inflation with the purchasing power of the currency to 4 to 6% of what it was in 1971 in terms of gold when Nexon pulled the final international mooring of the currency system off a gold standard.
One of the most common criticisms of the proposals is that income taxes aren’t why Americans are struggling. The loss of the purchasing power of the dollar measured in gold is 4-6% of what is was in 1971 when the country was finally unmoored from a gold standard.
So the reason for America’s affordability problem for the average consumer is not taxes but the loss of the purchasing power of the currency not offset by increased wages. To stop the accelerating loss of purchasing power, a return to a gold standard would clearly help.
But an increase in the minimum wage would go a long way in helping affordability. Getting rid of the filibuster in order to restore the damaged social safety net and providing universal health care would be major steps in addressing affordability.
Any relief will have to wait until the fascist Republicans and their veto power are out of office in 2029 but in the meantime thoughts on how to address affordability remain on the table.
Also, if you pay taxes, you feel you have a stake in the governing of the country - your tax dollars are paying for tRump cheating his way out of paying his. If you don't pay any taxes, you feel less connected.