The Well-Being of Working Class Americans Hit a Downturn in 1980
In mathematics, a “point of inflection” is the point at which a function stops falling and starts growing or stops growing and starts falling. In the language of calculus, we say that a point of inflection is where the second derivative of the function transitions from positive to negative or vice versa.
The well-being of the common American hit an inflection point with the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan as president of the United States. After decades in growth following WW2, instantaneously, we had huge tax breaks for billionaires on the basis of “trickle-down economics,” i.e., the idea that rich people, if they were made even richer, would hire more people.
For some reason, this idea was widely accepted, certainly not by economists, but by the working class, who couldn’t put together the notion that no one hires people except when they’re hit by market forces.
Where do you get pizza? Do you think for a second that the owner of a pizzeria wants more employees to make and deliver your pizza than is absolutely required to keep his customers happy? No, and guess what. That applies to everyone, from the local mom-and-pop shop to the Fortune 500.
The content of the meme here is partially true. Trump still has about 35% support, but that’s down from 51% when he was elected. So, more than 12 million American voters who put him in office have realized that he’s nothing more than a criminal conman.
If I were to make a guess about the near-term future of the United States, I would say that it will take a great many years before the people of the world stop harboring deep concerns to the effect the U.S. can be trusted again, because this nation:
What an idiotic statement we see here at left.
Perhaps we’ve identified the central problem in the U.S. government.
Well, the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the constitutional provision that it’s our Congress that sets tariffs.
What do progressives hope for, given the runaway criminality of the U.S. president?
What do victorious professional sports teams, top-flight musicians, and certain congresspeople have in common?
The United States is a pariah nation in the world today, and that doesn’t sit well with about two-thirds of the American people.
Arthur C. Clarke makes a good point here.
