[Junk Silver]

“How the hell did we go from the Ronald Reagan years to the low point we are at currently? And baby,we ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

I’ve thought about this a lot. I think the Reagan years were just a nice bump in the downward trajectoryl that began with Lyndon B Johnson assuming the presidency. Prior to Johnson’s “Great Society” America’s poor constantly moved around the country looking for opportunities - they had no other choice. As they moved they provided cheap labor for growing industries and some found upward mobility. Once the Federal government starting subsidizing poverty this upward mobility stopped. There are numerous poor inner-city communities that have been frozen in place since the mid 1960s. I see this as the reinstatement of slavery, this time to the government dole. Also, after signing the Medicare bill Johnson is reported to have said “they’ll never be able to vote against us again.”

Once part of a society realizes that they can vote themselves a portion of everyone else’s wealth, and a part of the government realizes that they can stay in power and enrich themselves enabling this, it’s only a matter of time before a society collapses.

Reagan was a ray of hope. Unfortunately he chose Bush as his VP, which is what led to where we are now.

[yldstrk]

you are right about Reagan

wrong about Bush

[Catmom]

Great analysis. Thanks for posting.

[Nowhere Man]

I’ve thought about this a lot. I think the Reagan years were just a nice bump in the downward trajectoryl that began with Lyndon B Johnson assuming the presidency. Prior to Johnson’s “Great Society” America’s poor constantly moved around the country looking for opportunities - they had no other choice. As they moved they provided cheap labor for growing industries and some found upward mobility. Once the Federal government starting subsidizing poverty this upward mobility stopped. There are numerous poor inner-city communities that have been frozen in place since the mid 1960s. I see this as the reinstatement of slavery, this time to the government dole. Also, after signing the Medicare bill Johnson is reported to have said “they’ll never be able to vote against us again.”

Well, LBJ also said back then after he passed a lot of "Great Society" programs, "I'll have those n-----s voting Democratic for the next 200 years."