America Since 1980: A Right Turn Leading To A Dead End (Dean Baker's New Book)

[Hissyspit]

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/51086

America Since 1980: A Right Turn Leading to a Dead End

By Dean Baker, AlterNet. Posted April 27, 2007.

Economist Dean Baker's new book lays waste to the Reagan Revolution's unprecedented assault on working Americans' economic security.
Editor's note: this is adapted from Dean Baker's new book, The United States since 1980 (The World Since 1980).

U.S. politics took a sharp turn to the right in 1980 with the election of Ronald Reagan as president. Domestically, Reagan touted an agenda that would lead to a sharp upward redistribution of income. Internationally, Reagan explicitly rejected the "détente" framework for engaging the Soviet Union that had been accepted by the leadership of both major parties since the beginning of the Cold War. In its place, Reagan put forward a doctrine of U.S. unilateralism in which the United States basically claimed the right to do whatever it wanted, unconstrained by allies or international institutions.

The welfare state in the United States was always weaker than in West Europe, but in 1980 it was reasonable to believe that West Europe presented a model that the United States would follow. Medicare and Medicaid were still relatively new programs, having been established just 14 years earlier. Having recently seen a massive expansion of publicly provided healthcare coverage, many people believed that it would not be long before healthcare coverage was extended to the entire population. Other features of European welfare states, such as long vacations, short work weeks, and paid parental leave (generally maternity leave at the time), also seemed feasible political goals.

Reagan's election changed the political reality. His agenda was rolling back the welfare state, and his budgets included a wide range of cuts for social programs. He was also very strategic about the process. One of his first targets was Legal Aid. This program, which provides legal services for low-income people, was staffed largely by progressive lawyers, many of whom used it as a base to win precedent-setting legal disputes against the government. Reagan drastically cut back the program's funding. He also explicitly prohibited the agency from taking on class-action suits against the government -- law suits that had been used with considerable success to expand the rights of low- and moderate-income families.

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[izzie]

1. Well I must have seen this as I left the GOP at that time.

I really sat down and went over what I was voting for. I had already got behind Muskie when he ran. Took years for me to know I would never be a far right GOP person. I am still not sure if I left the party or it left me.

[Jim__]

2. Dean Baker's book on Social Security was excellent.

That book is: Social Security: the Phony Crisis by Dean baker and Mark Weisbrot.

I'll have to read this new book.

[rodeodance]

3. Rec.

[rodeodance]

4. One of his first targets was Legal Aid.

Reagan's election changed the political reality. His agenda was rolling back the welfare state, and his budgets included a wide range of cuts for social programs. He was also very strategic about the process. One of his first targets was Legal Aid. This program, which provides legal services for low-income people, was staffed largely by progressive lawyers, many of whom used it as a base to win precedent-setting legal disputes against the government. Reagan drastically cut back the program's funding. He also explicitly prohibited the agency from taking on class-action suits against the government -- law suits that had been used with considerable success to expand the rights of low- and moderate-income families.

[rodeodance]

5. Inequality soared, as the vast majority of the gains from economic growth over the next quarter cen

........The net effect of these policies was that union membership plummeted, going from nearly 20 percent of the private sector workforce in 1980 to just over 7 percent in 2006. Inequality soared, as the vast majority of the gains from economic growth over the next quarter century went to high-end wage earners (e.g., doctors, lawyers, CEOs) and profits. The wages of typical workers increased little from 1980 to 2006.

[raccoon]

6. K&R. Reagan sucked. The way the corporated media carried on

when he died, you'd have thought it was the crucifixion of Christ.

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: