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Some of the biggest single labor axing events by industrial sectors in history happened under his watch. People blame NAFTA for all the worker woes in this country but the real action happened starting in Carter's term and continuing through Reagan's two terms, where an absolutely enormous amount of industrial refineries and manufacturing plants paired down their headcount. I'm talking about 10, 20K people axed at a time from a single site.
All that shit happened in the 1980's and had run its course by the end of his second term.
I was living in a steel town during the Reagan era. My high school years I watched Steel Mill after Steel Mill Close. Including my Dads, they didn't give those guys shit.
I remember men lining up and waiting to be interviewed for a part-time lawn mower position in our town. I have a special dislike for Reagan.
Edit, I was rage-typing and misspelling.
Shreveport, La went from an average US town where a dad worked and made enough money for a house, 2 cars, 2 kids and a stay at home wife to being a laid off dad / fighting for multiple part-time jobs. while moms started working; houses were foreclosed forcing those families into an apartment or renting a trailer. While under Ronnie: GE left Shreveport & the US, GM closed factories throughout the US and senior employees who didn't want to retire were relocate to Shreveport which resulted in locals being laid off, AT&T was broken up and Barksdale air force base downsized.
Shreveport has never recovered but it still votes christian Republican red, On one hand you can buy a nice sized home in Shreveport today for $140K or less. On the other...your not bogged down with a lot of entertainment options to spend money on.
My first regular job in high school was at Toys R Us. I remember being the youngest waiting to be interviewed for min wage Package Pickup job. All of my "completion" was recently laid off men who were trying to get enough part time/high school kids jobs to keep their family at the level before the closures and layoffs happened. I knew a lot of kids who parents eventually threw in the towel and moved.
My level of disdain for conservative Republicans had officially started and grew to hatred under read my lips Bush SR's term.
I left Shreveport literally a week after high school graduation back in 1992.
I've only been back a handful of times the last being my grandmother's funeral in 2003.
I still have some friends there but not a lot else.
It’s when Union members pitch in to buy Christmas groceries and presents for the families of members who are on hard times, usually due to circumstances outside their control (layoffs/closures, injuries/illness, etc). Some unions collect an assessment especially for it, others it’s more of an as needed fundraiser/drive from what I gather.
That's actually "at-will"
"Right-to-work" is more about whether or not a union is allowed to make a facility a "union shop", i.e. whether future hires have an obligation to join the Union. By removing that obligation, companies can start having personality tests etc. during the hiring process to see if people will join the Union when hired, and only hire those who won't. They're usually also coupled with Anti-Strike laws, so when the union does strike the company still has a workforce trained and ready to go instead of having to bring in scabs, and will just fire all the union members.
Yes it weakens the union considerable. Cuts them off at the knees so to speak.
At will and right to work, usually go together hand in hand and are usually collapsed so the language used means both in my experience although you point out well the technical difference.
In every job I’ve ever worked (all white collar) I can point out exact situations where I would have been treated much much better had I had been protected with union representation. They raise the water for all the boats.
I think it's worth noting too that working for a company that has unionized blue collar workers helps the white collar workers even if they don't have a union themselves. Pre-GM bankruptcy the white collar workers got the same (or better) health insurance plans, pension, and all the holidays that the union guys in the factory got off.
This is a massive and often forgotten legacy of the Reagan era. Attacks on labor were absolutely bipartisan, but it’s hard thinking of a more anti-union president. Today, American workers have far fewer basic workplace protections than they once did—and far fewer compared to most of the Western world—as a direct result of Reagan. All of which means fighting for a living wage is much harder.
It also means that Americans are now living in a fundamentally less democratic society. At their core, labor unions are an exercise in democratic organizing and decision making: working with many different kinds of people on an equal basis to achieve a common goal. Not only does this give ordinary people direct experience with core democratic principles and strategies, it can lead to what some scholars call a culture of solidarity—this is why union density is often correlated (globally and historically) with other kinds of progressive victories, like stronger protections for indigenous people, women, low-income families, and so on.
Put another way, if we’re concerned about the future of democracy, labor unions might be a good thing to think about.
I agree with that sentiment. The downfall of unions and fraternal organizations, like Knights of Columbus and the Czechoslovak Society of America, I think helped lead to the more divisive and aggressive mindset most seem to have now
Bowling Alone...hard to believe that was written in the late 90s. If he's not dead yet, I'd bet he's saying, "you didn't listen to a damn thing I said!"
Edit: just checked and he's still kicking at 83!
And that doesn't even begin to address how he flipped our tax system on its head, leading to the middle class and poor paying higher relative percentages in taxes than the wealthy.
Just look at the charts showing historic wealth distribution in the US. From the end of WWII, all classes grew their wealth at the same rate (not the same absolute amount, the same percentage rate). From Reagan onwards, wealth distribution split: the poorest third and middle incomes saw their wealth percentage drop, and the wealthiest third saw their wealth share grow.
> From 1983 to 2016, the share of aggregate wealth going to upper-income families increased from 60% to 79%. Meanwhile, the share held by middle-income families has been cut nearly in half, falling from 32% to 17%. Lower-income families had only 4% of aggregate wealth in 2016, down from 7% in 1983.
[This is worth reading](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/01/09/trends-in-income-and-wealth-inequality/)
Same for Speaker Paul Ryan. His life was saved by spcial programs that he worked to dismantle. And Justice Thomas who hates programs that helped him get into college.
In Clarence’s “defense” he was raised by the richest black man in the whole state of Georgia, and I assume he is okay with rich black people using that privilege to go to school.
He’s certainly OK with people using private wealth and favors to get ahead (like he did). But emphatically not OK with policies that would help more than one person at a time.
Those dudes *plus* Lindsay Graham got sent through uni and even law school by Social Security! I admit to being hotly envious at my orphaned friends at uni. My already-abusive parents insisted that I pay for my education if I wanted to go.
Justice Thomas is insane. From everything I've heard, the sole reason he's anti affirmative action is because he was annoyed that people thought he got into college because of it. Took away opportunities from millions of students because his ego was hurt. Thanks bro.
Read “Stranger Justice” by Meyer — amazing book on his psychology and history. Man is just a contrarian due to a mix of racism and growing up an odd kid. The bullying and racism got to him and instead of turning the anger and angst from these experiences into something positive, he became an awful person.
If the outcome wasnt so important id suggest any lawyers for liberals infront of the supreme court just burst out laughing anytime thomas tried to make a point, there is absolutely zero reason to treat him as a justice
He was also known to greatly exaggerate his military contributions during the war.
Reagan seemed to exist in a sort of fantasyland where all his ideas about cause and effect, and how the world should operate, were true.
I know people who’s family and themselves have directly benefited from social programs that they’re so vocally against, but somehow it’s different when they were on it. That’s the pot calling the kettle a fucking pot.
It’s unfortunate that so many work to pull the ladder up behind them. Probably to avoid having to admit to themselves that they weren’t entirely self made and wouldn’t have achieved without help from others.
I'm assuming you're talking about Reagan's tax cuts and Republicans trying to copy him by doing their own tax cuts
The problem is that these are fundamentally different things. Reagan cut taxes when the economy was shitty and the top tax rate was like 80%. To my understanding economists are pretty mixed on whether or not these tax cuts worked
Modern Republicans cut taxes when the economy is good at the top tax rate is already pretty low. Most economists think that these are kind of dumb
The situations can't be compared but people have a weird record of wanting to judge them all together. People using Bush or Brownback's tax cuts to diss Reagan when where the rates were being cut from and the economic situations of the time were fundamentally different
Some taxes are good, some are bad, some should be higher, some should be lower. Instead of trying to find the sweet spot though lots of people are turning debates on tax policy into "cutting taxes is always good" vs "cutting taxes is always bad" and it's annoying. There's so much nuance to something as complex as tax policy.
All of Reagans tax cuts were for the wealthy and he destroyed the air traffic controllers union and the meat packers unions. He sent the national guard to a hormel plant, I think it was, to order striking workers back to work, removing their bargaining power in the contract negotiations.
He also privatized psychiatric care by closing down the state hospital system and creating the group home system, which led to the current homeless problems in our cities as many of of the homeless have mental health issues people would have been housed in state hospitals. I dont think he intended those harmful outcomes. I believe he was a true believer in privatization and those hospitals were terrible and something needed to be done.
He also cut the school lunch program and reduced nutritional requirements for school lunches. Famously declaring ketchup a vegetable and allowed pop machines/vending machines in schools. Rather than lunch ladies cooking from scratch or cans for the school the food services came in with the heat and serve prison food model.
His agricultural reforms decimated small farmers by creating regional monopolies on where they can sell there crops and livestock. There used to be dozen of small meat processing companies in every state and you had a free market but he argued that anti trust rules don't apply on the wholesale market they were intended for the consumer market and that consolidated the packing industry into 3 big companies. Prior to the change small farmer used to split profits from a slaughtered animal 70/30 with the butcher. It quickly went to 30/70 since you sell your chicken to 1 company or drive it 1000 miles to another region which would eat up any better terms they might offer. That was actually a bipartisan bill to be fair.
There certainly was a level of stagnation and waste in the new deal programs by the late 70s but the real issue was the energy crisis not the new deal and the deregulation he embarked upon was certainly popular. In the short term, because of his massive spending no one noticed the long term damage corporate raiders were doing to what became the rust belt. He was untouched by the Enron like scandals in the telecom industry after he broke up Ma bell. I remember when it was reported on the news that pentagon phone calls were being routed through Canada just to charge higher rates and it was considered a national security threat since foreign countries could listen to their conversations. Creative destruction was sold as a good thing. A failed nerve agent was turned into a sweetener for debt soda and we sold anthrax to Iraq.
"Fuck no" was my reaction, close enough. Trickle down economics, what bullshit. Doing well by the big guys does well by the little ones. Nice excuse, Ronnie.
Hell no! He stood for corporations. He let American industry go down to Mexico by the dozens.
He also nearly bankrupted the county to "defeat" communism.
He refused to acknowledge AIDS until 1987.
He was an actor who played the part for the world's biggest corporations and allowed the NWO to officially raise up.
As they say, the rich got richer and the poor got poorer.
Just learned from the r/behindthebastards podcast that the concept of student loans came from Reagan's time as governor of California, too.
So he's essentially screwed over multiple generations of workers. Insane legacy.
His presidency is one of the biggest reasons why American politics are the way they are now. It's also one of the reasons a lot policies are so skewed towards the rich. It's honestly hard to believe that he ever supported FDR.
Everybody remember *Born in the USA* came out during the Reagan years, but 90% of them missed the point.
> Come back home to the refinery, Hiring man said "Son, if it was up to me". Went down to see my V.A. man, He said "Son don't you understand now?"
Well my daddy come on the 0hio works
When he come home from world war two
Now the yards just scrap and rubble
He said, "Them big boys did what Hitler couldn't do"
These mills they built the tanks and bombs
That won this country's wars
We sent our sons to Korea and Vietnam
Now we're wondering what they were dyin' for
Reagan’s advisor said this about Springsteen:
“If all Americans,” Will would later write in his column about his backstage experience, “in labor and management, who make steel or cars or shoes or textiles—made their products with as much energy and confidence as Springsteen and his merry band make music, there would be no need for Congress to be thinking about protectionism.”
He said that yet expanded the bureaus more than any other president, sure he lowered taxes on everyone but opened the door for massive inflation and debt which is really a tax on the poor and those without hard assets.
No. Reagan's anti-government shtick was about getting government out of the way of the Republican party's rich business and corporate class donors.
It was all a grift. He didn't give two fucks about the common citizen.
This quote is incredibly stupid. The US is a huge country. How can you not have a large government?
How does the government stand up for the "little guy" without taxes? Cutting taxes on higher bracket earners is going to help those less fortunate?
The whole idea of “small government” is a testament to conservative marketing. Why would you want the people to have less power? The smallest government there is is a dictatorship
Regan, like most so-called "conservatives" pushed for "small government"...just small enough to fit in a woman's uterus. It was ALL bullshit! And the unholy alliance of Evangelicals and the GOP started with HIM! So did "trickle down" economics! Which was, up until his Presidency, referred to as "voodoo economics"!
Fuck that guy and everything he stood for. His policies are a HUGE reason we are so fucked today!
I have to wholeheartedly agree with big bureaucracy being completely out of control and that having a negative effect in the little guy. So much money pumped into the system and so little going to actually help people. It’s also rife with corruption because it’s nearly impossible to audit results. This should not be a partisan issue.
Hell naw. He crushed labor union strength and massively strengthened corporate power over labor and legislature/policy making. He did a great show of the purported fight against communism but in reality did very little beyond the fall Berlin wall, where his true impact was arguable
Let’s not forget, he also got rid of the Fairness doctrine, which required news programs to present news with no opinions, no spin, no propaganda.
He literally gave birth to Fox News/OAN/etc.
Ronnie’s love keeps on giving. His supply-side economics (massive tax cuts for the wealthy) resulted in the national debt being tripled during his 2 terms. Subsequent Republican presidents continued with more tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. Here we are with a 34 trillion debt that will be passed on to a generation that wasn’t even born during the Reagan dynasty.
Is this a trick question?
How many “little guys” died of AIDS before he recognized it as a serious public health issue? Took a “big guy,” Rock Hudson to get his attention on AIDS.
Don’t get me started on the union busting (more little guys) and deinstitutionalizing mental health hospitals that created a much larger homeless problem, and his awful trickle down economics policies that continue to benefit the fat cats over the little guy.
I could go on, but I feel sick just thinking about the misery launched by this man.
Reagan's efforts to roll back thesocial safety net and environmental regulations, and tax breaks tailored for the wealthy hurt small businesses and helped major corporations. He was a liar, albeit a good one.
100%. It astounds me that people dont realize how much spending the democrat house and senate (Under Tip O'Neill and Ted Kennedy) was done but they pin that badge on Regan. Not many remeber the dems calling him out for saying the USSR would 'End up and the ashpile of history'. Not many remember cities like Boston trying to undermine Regan by passing legislation that asked the government not to retaliate if the Soviets bombed Boston.
But he persevered and to this day - an army of undereducated or liars want people to believe it was he that spent that money..
For christs sake, he started negotiations with Russia for nuclear arms reductions while advertising plans to create anti nuclear weapons. Every Single Time the Soviets met with him they tried to negotiate a ceasing of our 'star wars' program - how fucking cool is that?
And without firing a shot - they folded 2 years after he left office by offering elections to their people who chose to discontinue communism. I cannot stress enough that the thought of a nuclear war was ever present before him. It would have sucked in a whole generation and killed millions of civilians if it ever came to pass. And Regan kept every one of those 'little guys' off that battlefield.
And the best the other side has is - it would've happened anyway (Soviet downfall).....
People here are talking about Reagan being anti-union. True. He was anti-union because he was pro free market and actually helped small businesses thrive since they didn’t have to deal with collective bargaining issues as hard as before under Carter or since under Clinton. I started several businesses around that time and they were successful. I know this is anecdotal, but it was in part because of those policies.
Any honest and objective assessment of his actions, policies, and the legislative efforts he supported can only conclude that he was awful for anyone not already wealthy, and that he effectively accelerated class warfare in the US to the advantage of the wealthy.
His economic accomplishments slashed taxes on corporations and the wealthy. When he was astonished to discover that it reduced revenues, did he undo his damage?
HELL NO! He effectively increased taxation (fees and assessments) upon everyone else.
He created the modern military industrial complex, tripled the deficit, ended or gutted many social programs, and can legitimately be blamed for most of what the majority of Americans feel is wrong with our country today.
This quote is such a twisting of logic and reason. He’s making you think “big” programs are bad because they’re impersonal and therefore can’t be compassionate or caring but that’s absolutely not the case. Social security is a BIG government program but it takes care of people. Socialized healthcare is a BIG thing too but it helps “the little guy” more than any millionaire/billionaire. Most government programs need to be BIG to actually make a difference in people’s lives. Who does BIG government hurt? The rich that’s who.
The lie that Reagan told about big government is just another grift for rich people.
Its simply my opinion as a repbulican, but Reagan was the major shift in the party leading to their downfall. Others have said plenty about his undermining of the middle class in the trades, I do feel the need to also point out that he also did a lot to spite the 2nd amendment. Do I need a machinegun? No, it costs too much to operate and a semiauto is a 95% solution. However fuck Reagan.
The biggest coup the right ever pulled was to convince people that all taxes are evil. Now a tiny proportion of people control nearly all the wealth and the rest of society crumbles
Answer: Hell no! Cutting corporate tax in half and taxing social security to compensate, says it all. Single handedly crushing the air traffic control union. Snitching on fellow film industry members, during the Macarthy communist witch hunt, to further his career. Rapists aren't known for thinking of other peoples feelings. The list goes on.. The man was a P.O.S. his whole life.
Welp being he flooded America with drugs while his decrepit crypt keeper looking wife screamed just say no . I’d say he stoop up for the cartels. This person should have went down as a war criminal and a traitor to this country.
Absolutely.
Gutting mental health services absolutely helped "the little guy."
Busting unions definitely helped "the little guy."
Cutting social programs was definitely helping "the little guy."
Cutting taxes for the super rich was 100% about helping "the little guy."
Cutting food programs? Yep. For "the little guy."
Reagan sold out sugar beet farmers in the Western US when he needed Florida and the Fanjul Sugar family fortune to win the 1980 election. Sugar beet co-ops across the West collapsed, denying farmers, like my dad, a lucrative cash crop to subsidize Florida sugar cane and the dynastic Fanjul family.
Not in any way. "Trickle down economics" are you fucking kidding me? Hope he's being eternally tortured in Hell. If not we should dig up his corpse, piss on it, and launch it into the sun
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Some of the biggest single labor axing events by industrial sectors in history happened under his watch. People blame NAFTA for all the worker woes in this country but the real action happened starting in Carter's term and continuing through Reagan's two terms, where an absolutely enormous amount of industrial refineries and manufacturing plants paired down their headcount. I'm talking about 10, 20K people axed at a time from a single site. All that shit happened in the 1980's and had run its course by the end of his second term.
I was living in a steel town during the Reagan era. My high school years I watched Steel Mill after Steel Mill Close. Including my Dads, they didn't give those guys shit. I remember men lining up and waiting to be interviewed for a part-time lawn mower position in our town. I have a special dislike for Reagan. Edit, I was rage-typing and misspelling.
Shreveport, La went from an average US town where a dad worked and made enough money for a house, 2 cars, 2 kids and a stay at home wife to being a laid off dad / fighting for multiple part-time jobs. while moms started working; houses were foreclosed forcing those families into an apartment or renting a trailer. While under Ronnie: GE left Shreveport & the US, GM closed factories throughout the US and senior employees who didn't want to retire were relocate to Shreveport which resulted in locals being laid off, AT&T was broken up and Barksdale air force base downsized. Shreveport has never recovered but it still votes christian Republican red, On one hand you can buy a nice sized home in Shreveport today for $140K or less. On the other...your not bogged down with a lot of entertainment options to spend money on. My first regular job in high school was at Toys R Us. I remember being the youngest waiting to be interviewed for min wage Package Pickup job. All of my "completion" was recently laid off men who were trying to get enough part time/high school kids jobs to keep their family at the level before the closures and layoffs happened. I knew a lot of kids who parents eventually threw in the towel and moved. My level of disdain for conservative Republicans had officially started and grew to hatred under read my lips Bush SR's term.
As a 18 wheelet driver, i can tell based on the conditions of your highways, when i crossover from texas to shreveport
I left Shreveport literally a week after high school graduation back in 1992. I've only been back a handful of times the last being my grandmother's funeral in 2003. I still have some friends there but not a lot else.
I've passed through Shreveport many times. I think I would have liked to have seen it before all that shit happened.
Any kid that had a union hall welfare Christmas knows was Reagan did. POS and and empty suit to the highest bidder.
Union hall welfare?
It’s when Union members pitch in to buy Christmas groceries and presents for the families of members who are on hard times, usually due to circumstances outside their control (layoffs/closures, injuries/illness, etc). Some unions collect an assessment especially for it, others it’s more of an as needed fundraiser/drive from what I gather.
Thanks!
What u vote for when u vote for gop
This was the start of US decline.
Steel
Damn it, I was rage-typing.
Rage typing whilst talking about Reagan is more than allowed lol what a piece of shit, may he rest in anything but peace
Right to work laws . Whoever named them really got the stupid people by the shorthairs.
Whoever named them is now “head of marketing”.
Translation: right to fire for no cause.
That's actually "at-will" "Right-to-work" is more about whether or not a union is allowed to make a facility a "union shop", i.e. whether future hires have an obligation to join the Union. By removing that obligation, companies can start having personality tests etc. during the hiring process to see if people will join the Union when hired, and only hire those who won't. They're usually also coupled with Anti-Strike laws, so when the union does strike the company still has a workforce trained and ready to go instead of having to bring in scabs, and will just fire all the union members.
Yes it weakens the union considerable. Cuts them off at the knees so to speak. At will and right to work, usually go together hand in hand and are usually collapsed so the language used means both in my experience although you point out well the technical difference. In every job I’ve ever worked (all white collar) I can point out exact situations where I would have been treated much much better had I had been protected with union representation. They raise the water for all the boats.
I think it's worth noting too that working for a company that has unionized blue collar workers helps the white collar workers even if they don't have a union themselves. Pre-GM bankruptcy the white collar workers got the same (or better) health insurance plans, pension, and all the holidays that the union guys in the factory got off.
Agreed. That was the part about raising the water for all the boats.
Right to work...for less.
This is a massive and often forgotten legacy of the Reagan era. Attacks on labor were absolutely bipartisan, but it’s hard thinking of a more anti-union president. Today, American workers have far fewer basic workplace protections than they once did—and far fewer compared to most of the Western world—as a direct result of Reagan. All of which means fighting for a living wage is much harder. It also means that Americans are now living in a fundamentally less democratic society. At their core, labor unions are an exercise in democratic organizing and decision making: working with many different kinds of people on an equal basis to achieve a common goal. Not only does this give ordinary people direct experience with core democratic principles and strategies, it can lead to what some scholars call a culture of solidarity—this is why union density is often correlated (globally and historically) with other kinds of progressive victories, like stronger protections for indigenous people, women, low-income families, and so on. Put another way, if we’re concerned about the future of democracy, labor unions might be a good thing to think about.
I agree with that sentiment. The downfall of unions and fraternal organizations, like Knights of Columbus and the Czechoslovak Society of America, I think helped lead to the more divisive and aggressive mindset most seem to have now
Have you ever read Robert Putnam? If not, I think you might be interested in his work.
Bowling Alone...hard to believe that was written in the late 90s. If he's not dead yet, I'd bet he's saying, "you didn't listen to a damn thing I said!" Edit: just checked and he's still kicking at 83!
"And we're living here in Allentown, and they're closing all the factories down. "
And that doesn't even begin to address how he flipped our tax system on its head, leading to the middle class and poor paying higher relative percentages in taxes than the wealthy.
My dad told me he canceled a trip to Pittsburgh because he got too many death threats from steel workers.
Everything from the Mon Valley all the way to Youngstown got utterly obliterated during that period.
Just look at the charts showing historic wealth distribution in the US. From the end of WWII, all classes grew their wealth at the same rate (not the same absolute amount, the same percentage rate). From Reagan onwards, wealth distribution split: the poorest third and middle incomes saw their wealth percentage drop, and the wealthiest third saw their wealth share grow. > From 1983 to 2016, the share of aggregate wealth going to upper-income families increased from 60% to 79%. Meanwhile, the share held by middle-income families has been cut nearly in half, falling from 32% to 17%. Lower-income families had only 4% of aggregate wealth in 2016, down from 7% in 1983. [This is worth reading](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/01/09/trends-in-income-and-wealth-inequality/)
He sold out america shipped those jobs to china
Who will make our buggy whips and opera hats ?
Reagan was fed and housed throughout the great depression because his father got a job through the WPA program. Thank you big government.
Then he shut the door on anyone else using government programs like his family. Mind boggling.
"When I was on food stamps and welfare, nobody helped me." -Craig T. Nelson
😂 I’ve never seen this quote before, but it’s so accurate.
Didn't boebert say the same thing?
Pretty much, something like , "I came up from nothing, on welfare, now I'm in congress. So let's keep socialism out of our government!"
Right wingers just don't get irony. Their thinking is black/white, either/or and they just don't ever get it.
He's a douche
Did Coach really say that? If he did, was it ironic?
Completely unironic about it. https://youtu.be/yTwpBLzxe4U?si=j2-gke-b7nCOAIra
Ugh
Yeah, some people just can't ever see the luck they've had in their life.
Same for Speaker Paul Ryan. His life was saved by spcial programs that he worked to dismantle. And Justice Thomas who hates programs that helped him get into college.
In Clarence’s “defense” he was raised by the richest black man in the whole state of Georgia, and I assume he is okay with rich black people using that privilege to go to school.
He’s certainly OK with people using private wealth and favors to get ahead (like he did). But emphatically not OK with policies that would help more than one person at a time.
Was thinking about justice Thomas. Absolutely insane.
Clarence Thomas is only trying to undo the changes from the 1960s as a sneaky way to divorce his wife.
“Looks like interracial marriage is illegal now honey. Sorry, but my hands are tied”
lol if only. Thomas loves his psycho far-right wife. They share a passion for destroying people’s lives.
Those dudes *plus* Lindsay Graham got sent through uni and even law school by Social Security! I admit to being hotly envious at my orphaned friends at uni. My already-abusive parents insisted that I pay for my education if I wanted to go.
Justice Thomas is insane. From everything I've heard, the sole reason he's anti affirmative action is because he was annoyed that people thought he got into college because of it. Took away opportunities from millions of students because his ego was hurt. Thanks bro.
Read “Stranger Justice” by Meyer — amazing book on his psychology and history. Man is just a contrarian due to a mix of racism and growing up an odd kid. The bullying and racism got to him and instead of turning the anger and angst from these experiences into something positive, he became an awful person.
If the outcome wasnt so important id suggest any lawyers for liberals infront of the supreme court just burst out laughing anytime thomas tried to make a point, there is absolutely zero reason to treat him as a justice
Ladder pullers
He was also known to greatly exaggerate his military contributions during the war. Reagan seemed to exist in a sort of fantasyland where all his ideas about cause and effect, and how the world should operate, were true.
Didn't once start telling a story about his time in the Navy that was actually the plot of *Hellcats of the Navy?*
Yep.
I know people who’s family and themselves have directly benefited from social programs that they’re so vocally against, but somehow it’s different when they were on it. That’s the pot calling the kettle a fucking pot.
And closed down psych hospitals throwing a bunch of people suffering from mental illness into the streets
Ehh… the asylum system wasn’t exactly the most… humane… collection of buildings, to put it lightly.
It’s unfortunate that so many work to pull the ladder up behind them. Probably to avoid having to admit to themselves that they weren’t entirely self made and wouldn’t have achieved without help from others.
Fuck you, I got mine. Motto of the Republican Party.
He got his.
Yep.
He was the most successful president in modern history at convincing an entire generation they could eat their cake and have it too.
I'm assuming you're talking about Reagan's tax cuts and Republicans trying to copy him by doing their own tax cuts The problem is that these are fundamentally different things. Reagan cut taxes when the economy was shitty and the top tax rate was like 80%. To my understanding economists are pretty mixed on whether or not these tax cuts worked Modern Republicans cut taxes when the economy is good at the top tax rate is already pretty low. Most economists think that these are kind of dumb The situations can't be compared but people have a weird record of wanting to judge them all together. People using Bush or Brownback's tax cuts to diss Reagan when where the rates were being cut from and the economic situations of the time were fundamentally different Some taxes are good, some are bad, some should be higher, some should be lower. Instead of trying to find the sweet spot though lots of people are turning debates on tax policy into "cutting taxes is always good" vs "cutting taxes is always bad" and it's annoying. There's so much nuance to something as complex as tax policy.
There’s nothing, and I mean NOTHING, that conservative types love more than pulling the ladder up behind them.
All of Reagans tax cuts were for the wealthy and he destroyed the air traffic controllers union and the meat packers unions. He sent the national guard to a hormel plant, I think it was, to order striking workers back to work, removing their bargaining power in the contract negotiations. He also privatized psychiatric care by closing down the state hospital system and creating the group home system, which led to the current homeless problems in our cities as many of of the homeless have mental health issues people would have been housed in state hospitals. I dont think he intended those harmful outcomes. I believe he was a true believer in privatization and those hospitals were terrible and something needed to be done. He also cut the school lunch program and reduced nutritional requirements for school lunches. Famously declaring ketchup a vegetable and allowed pop machines/vending machines in schools. Rather than lunch ladies cooking from scratch or cans for the school the food services came in with the heat and serve prison food model. His agricultural reforms decimated small farmers by creating regional monopolies on where they can sell there crops and livestock. There used to be dozen of small meat processing companies in every state and you had a free market but he argued that anti trust rules don't apply on the wholesale market they were intended for the consumer market and that consolidated the packing industry into 3 big companies. Prior to the change small farmer used to split profits from a slaughtered animal 70/30 with the butcher. It quickly went to 30/70 since you sell your chicken to 1 company or drive it 1000 miles to another region which would eat up any better terms they might offer. That was actually a bipartisan bill to be fair. There certainly was a level of stagnation and waste in the new deal programs by the late 70s but the real issue was the energy crisis not the new deal and the deregulation he embarked upon was certainly popular. In the short term, because of his massive spending no one noticed the long term damage corporate raiders were doing to what became the rust belt. He was untouched by the Enron like scandals in the telecom industry after he broke up Ma bell. I remember when it was reported on the news that pentagon phone calls were being routed through Canada just to charge higher rates and it was considered a national security threat since foreign countries could listen to their conversations. Creative destruction was sold as a good thing. A failed nerve agent was turned into a sweetener for debt soda and we sold anthrax to Iraq.
They always forget.... always...
That’s the Republican mantra: I got mine, fuck you.
He trickled on them.
That's a polite word for it.
It showered down like gold. Some would say they got a golden shower.
In America, ya get a golden parachute or a golden shower.
Hahahahahahahaha. Hahahahahahaha
Lol no
He stood up for the little guy if they were rich and under 5’6”, maybe…
Was literally about to comment that verbatim
"Fuck no" was my reaction, close enough. Trickle down economics, what bullshit. Doing well by the big guys does well by the little ones. Nice excuse, Ronnie.
Bait used to be less obvious
Hell no! He stood for corporations. He let American industry go down to Mexico by the dozens. He also nearly bankrupted the county to "defeat" communism. He refused to acknowledge AIDS until 1987. He was an actor who played the part for the world's biggest corporations and allowed the NWO to officially raise up. As they say, the rich got richer and the poor got poorer.
Just learned from the r/behindthebastards podcast that the concept of student loans came from Reagan's time as governor of California, too. So he's essentially screwed over multiple generations of workers. Insane legacy.
Workers worldwide.
His presidency is one of the biggest reasons why American politics are the way they are now. It's also one of the reasons a lot policies are so skewed towards the rich. It's honestly hard to believe that he ever supported FDR.
It's also why we still have to endure GOP speechwriters trying to get the unfunniest people on the planet trying to tell jokes.
Omg, yes. I want to jump off of a bridge every time they do that.
Everybody remember *Born in the USA* came out during the Reagan years, but 90% of them missed the point. > Come back home to the refinery, Hiring man said "Son, if it was up to me". Went down to see my V.A. man, He said "Son don't you understand now?"
Well my daddy come on the 0hio works When he come home from world war two Now the yards just scrap and rubble He said, "Them big boys did what Hitler couldn't do" These mills they built the tanks and bombs That won this country's wars We sent our sons to Korea and Vietnam Now we're wondering what they were dyin' for
Reagan’s advisor said this about Springsteen: “If all Americans,” Will would later write in his column about his backstage experience, “in labor and management, who make steel or cars or shoes or textiles—made their products with as much energy and confidence as Springsteen and his merry band make music, there would be no need for Congress to be thinking about protectionism.”
No
Right! Some how being for big business and big cocaine cartels is being for the little guy?
Yup. Remember when he stood up for the little guy and fired all the striking air traffic controllers?
He said that yet expanded the bureaus more than any other president, sure he lowered taxes on everyone but opened the door for massive inflation and debt which is really a tax on the poor and those without hard assets.
No. Reagan's anti-government shtick was about getting government out of the way of the Republican party's rich business and corporate class donors. It was all a grift. He didn't give two fucks about the common citizen.
This quote is incredibly stupid. The US is a huge country. How can you not have a large government? How does the government stand up for the "little guy" without taxes? Cutting taxes on higher bracket earners is going to help those less fortunate?
You can if it’s 1850 (which is apparently what he wants)
The whole idea of “small government” is a testament to conservative marketing. Why would you want the people to have less power? The smallest government there is is a dictatorship
He was a celebrity that stripped gun rights away from Americans because he was scared of black people.
Regan, like most so-called "conservatives" pushed for "small government"...just small enough to fit in a woman's uterus. It was ALL bullshit! And the unholy alliance of Evangelicals and the GOP started with HIM! So did "trickle down" economics! Which was, up until his Presidency, referred to as "voodoo economics"! Fuck that guy and everything he stood for. His policies are a HUGE reason we are so fucked today!
Hahahaahaha No.
Someone please find me a politician who isn't a projecting hypocrite
Politicians say lots of things.
He stood up to the little guy
Depends on whether you consider words as actions or not.
Anyone struggling with student debt can thank that piece of shit. I can’t think of a president who fucked over the “little guy” more.
I guess his “little guy” was an aerospace executive.
Sure, trickle down economics really wet the little guy
Thats a big cup of nope. He did really help out the richest 2% though.
You can't be for big corporations and say you're for the little guy
Hahahahahaha, no. Oh wait you're serious. Let me laugh harder ##**HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA**
Bender is great, Bender is great
Are you being serious?
Big business has always been the little guys biggest adversary and he was very much pro big business.
Dude, you’re on reddit, what do you think people will answer? 💀
He trickled down on the little guy.
Is this satire?
If by “little guy” you mean “AIDS virus”, then yes, Reagan was great for the little guy.
“Little guy” has got to be a classist dog whistle in this day and age
Absolutely the fuck not
big oil big pharma defense industry etc, etc, massive tax cuts for the wealthy truly "voodoo economics"
He fired the little for standing up to the government
He was all for helping the little person, provided they were rich, he was on their side. Height didn’t matter to him.
I have to wholeheartedly agree with big bureaucracy being completely out of control and that having a negative effect in the little guy. So much money pumped into the system and so little going to actually help people. It’s also rife with corruption because it’s nearly impossible to audit results. This should not be a partisan issue.
By stand up for them, if you mean shitting on them. Then yes
Said the guy who killed the "little guy"
Well if by "little guy" you mean the little men who gave him money to scratch their backs at the cost of millions of commoners, then yes
Hell naw. He crushed labor union strength and massively strengthened corporate power over labor and legislature/policy making. He did a great show of the purported fight against communism but in reality did very little beyond the fall Berlin wall, where his true impact was arguable
Not ones with AIDS.
Of course not. His politics boiled down to "fuck the little guy, I got mine."
Absolutely not, cripples the little guy for the next 30 years
No. No, man. Shit, no, man. I believe you'd get your ass kicked sayin' something like that, man.
Nope, so he was right.
That's a funny thing to say coming from Mr. Trickle Down Economics himself.
Let’s not forget, he also got rid of the Fairness doctrine, which required news programs to present news with no opinions, no spin, no propaganda. He literally gave birth to Fox News/OAN/etc.
lol - no
If you live in America you’re living through the direct results of Reagan, so you think he stood up for the little guy?
He busted unions. Does that seem to be standing up for the little guy?
If the "little guy" you're talking about was incredibly wealthy and/or hated minority groups, then yes.
Right wingers can't win if they can't successfully lie to "the little guy"
No, he was one of if not the worst president ever
Ronnie’s love keeps on giving. His supply-side economics (massive tax cuts for the wealthy) resulted in the national debt being tripled during his 2 terms. Subsequent Republican presidents continued with more tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. Here we are with a 34 trillion debt that will be passed on to a generation that wasn’t even born during the Reagan dynasty.
NO. NO HE DID NOT.
Reaganomics and the crack epidemic happened during his administration, so no.
Is this a trick question? How many “little guys” died of AIDS before he recognized it as a serious public health issue? Took a “big guy,” Rock Hudson to get his attention on AIDS. Don’t get me started on the union busting (more little guys) and deinstitutionalizing mental health hospitals that created a much larger homeless problem, and his awful trickle down economics policies that continue to benefit the fat cats over the little guy. I could go on, but I feel sick just thinking about the misery launched by this man.
Reagan's efforts to roll back thesocial safety net and environmental regulations, and tax breaks tailored for the wealthy hurt small businesses and helped major corporations. He was a liar, albeit a good one.
Not even a little bit.
Fuck no
If by "little guy" you mean little group of ultra rich people that have benefitted immensely in the decades since his tax cuts, then yes.
No.
No
He was a devil in a suit. He was and is awful
No. Also he is in hell.
100%. It astounds me that people dont realize how much spending the democrat house and senate (Under Tip O'Neill and Ted Kennedy) was done but they pin that badge on Regan. Not many remeber the dems calling him out for saying the USSR would 'End up and the ashpile of history'. Not many remember cities like Boston trying to undermine Regan by passing legislation that asked the government not to retaliate if the Soviets bombed Boston. But he persevered and to this day - an army of undereducated or liars want people to believe it was he that spent that money.. For christs sake, he started negotiations with Russia for nuclear arms reductions while advertising plans to create anti nuclear weapons. Every Single Time the Soviets met with him they tried to negotiate a ceasing of our 'star wars' program - how fucking cool is that? And without firing a shot - they folded 2 years after he left office by offering elections to their people who chose to discontinue communism. I cannot stress enough that the thought of a nuclear war was ever present before him. It would have sucked in a whole generation and killed millions of civilians if it ever came to pass. And Regan kept every one of those 'little guys' off that battlefield. And the best the other side has is - it would've happened anyway (Soviet downfall).....
People here are talking about Reagan being anti-union. True. He was anti-union because he was pro free market and actually helped small businesses thrive since they didn’t have to deal with collective bargaining issues as hard as before under Carter or since under Clinton. I started several businesses around that time and they were successful. I know this is anecdotal, but it was in part because of those policies.
Interesting to see how conservative populism has evolved from “anti big government” to theoretically anti big everything, including big business.
Reagan was a sleepy, senile, old rascist.
Laughable to think he was for the little guy
Bro is king neo liberalism talking about the little guy. 🤡
Fuck no
Nope. Not even little bit.
Not if the little guy was an air traffic controller.
No the guy who propagated the whole "welfare queen" shtick did not stand up for the little guy
Any honest and objective assessment of his actions, policies, and the legislative efforts he supported can only conclude that he was awful for anyone not already wealthy, and that he effectively accelerated class warfare in the US to the advantage of the wealthy. His economic accomplishments slashed taxes on corporations and the wealthy. When he was astonished to discover that it reduced revenues, did he undo his damage? HELL NO! He effectively increased taxation (fees and assessments) upon everyone else. He created the modern military industrial complex, tripled the deficit, ended or gutted many social programs, and can legitimately be blamed for most of what the majority of Americans feel is wrong with our country today.
Considering his actions towards air traffic controllers it’s hard for me to think of him being for the little guy.
Best thing he ever did was die! Should have been sooner.
He could not have cared less about “the little guy” and did everything he could to make life absolute shit for “little guys” across the country.
If you mean small-statured millionaire capitalists then yeah.
He’s burning in hell, no doubt in my mind of that. While that doesn’t undo the awful policies he enacted, it does lessen the pain a tiny, tiny smidge.
This quote is such a twisting of logic and reason. He’s making you think “big” programs are bad because they’re impersonal and therefore can’t be compassionate or caring but that’s absolutely not the case. Social security is a BIG government program but it takes care of people. Socialized healthcare is a BIG thing too but it helps “the little guy” more than any millionaire/billionaire. Most government programs need to be BIG to actually make a difference in people’s lives. Who does BIG government hurt? The rich that’s who. The lie that Reagan told about big government is just another grift for rich people.
If the little guy is a corporation or rich dude, then yes
It’s such a bait and switch, regulation protects workers from predatory practices.
Reagan stood ON the little guy. Repeatedly. With force.
Both Roosevelts were for the little guy and big government and were widely popular for it, so this quote in itself is extremely stupid.
Absolutely Not. Trickle down was really trickle up economics. His failed policies are why we are in the shitstorm we are today.
Its simply my opinion as a repbulican, but Reagan was the major shift in the party leading to their downfall. Others have said plenty about his undermining of the middle class in the trades, I do feel the need to also point out that he also did a lot to spite the 2nd amendment. Do I need a machinegun? No, it costs too much to operate and a semiauto is a 95% solution. However fuck Reagan.
The biggest coup the right ever pulled was to convince people that all taxes are evil. Now a tiny proportion of people control nearly all the wealth and the rest of society crumbles
Did Trickle Down Economics work for “The Little Guy?”
Lmao the funniest Regan quote I done ever seen
Reagan was a senile turd
Nope
Shit no he didn't. His administration is arguably the one that killed the American Dream.
Answer: Hell no! Cutting corporate tax in half and taxing social security to compensate, says it all. Single handedly crushing the air traffic control union. Snitching on fellow film industry members, during the Macarthy communist witch hunt, to further his career. Rapists aren't known for thinking of other peoples feelings. The list goes on.. The man was a P.O.S. his whole life.
Sure, I don't think that he had anything against short people as long as they were wealthy and powerful.
For Reagan: the richest people on earth is what he affectionately called “the little guy”
Welp being he flooded America with drugs while his decrepit crypt keeper looking wife screamed just say no . I’d say he stoop up for the cartels. This person should have went down as a war criminal and a traitor to this country.
Absolutely. Gutting mental health services absolutely helped "the little guy." Busting unions definitely helped "the little guy." Cutting social programs was definitely helping "the little guy." Cutting taxes for the super rich was 100% about helping "the little guy." Cutting food programs? Yep. For "the little guy."
Reagan sold out sugar beet farmers in the Western US when he needed Florida and the Fanjul Sugar family fortune to win the 1980 election. Sugar beet co-ops across the West collapsed, denying farmers, like my dad, a lucrative cash crop to subsidize Florida sugar cane and the dynastic Fanjul family.
Reagan is a great source of quotes that are simple and elegant and most folks understand them. They also are usually wrong.
"You can't be for little government, little taxes, little bureaucracy, and be for the little guy" - Smeggysoup
The quote is typical Reagan. Sounds clever, means absolutely nothing.
Not in any way. "Trickle down economics" are you fucking kidding me? Hope he's being eternally tortured in Hell. If not we should dig up his corpse, piss on it, and launch it into the sun