What Happened to the Middle-Class Prosperity of the 1950s? | Victor Davis Hanson
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- Опубликовано: 3 окт 2024
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I'm 77 and think the best years are behind us. Thank You for taking the time to make this video.
Forcthe middle class perhaps but its the best of times for the elites!
We definitely have a big hole to dig out of.
72 here.. Never going to have that type of life again. Until society reboots it's self. I mean a universal reboot. Complete - new power up type. Everything shuts off and starts from scratch.
I am 84 and I know that I have had the best generation. I worked hard and was lucky to have jobs to go to in a stable, united country ( England) It is never going to be the same again, it's over.
As he said the years after WW2 were a unique situation we Don't really want to recreate.
I grew up during the 1950's and 60's in central Maryland on a farm. My Dad worked as a machinist in a paper mill. Our Mother raised three boys by staying at home. We had everything we needed and wanted for nothing. My parents bought their first home in 1948 seven years after they married. It was a beautiful cape cod style home with a picket fence and 15 acres of land. In 1953, they bought a 48 year old farm house with 125 acres of land.
They upgraded the house with central heat and furnished it with beautiful antiques.
We enjoyed vacations every summer and frequently traveled to visit relatives around the country. My Dad bought a new car every three years, and my Mother always had an older car to haul us kids to sports, school events, Cub Scouts, 4-H and church functions.
Today, an equivalent lifestyle for a family of five, you would have to earn $150,000 or more.
Did your parents use credit cards and live in debt up to their eyeballs buying stuff they didn't need? Maybe your mother packed a lunch for your father for work.Maybe neither parent went to Starbucks for lattes.Maybe your parents were old fashioned and didn't live above their means.
All the blue collar middle class jobs were moved to China, where's the middle class, its in China. If it makes people feel any better the middle class in China is now larger than the entire population of the US.
Closer to $250k now.
YEAH, WELL, THOSE TAX CUTS BY RONALD REAGAN, CONTINUED BY W BUSH AND TRUMP ARE THE REASONS THINGS WENT DOWN HILL.
@@douglasrizzo9210 correct $150k not enough $250k more accurate.
My dad had to work two jobs in the 50s and 60s for his wife and three kids with braces attending parochial schools. My mom got a part time job when I was a teenager to help out. We would go with many friends to the Sierra resorts every summer. When dad bought his dream 1968 Lincoln Continental 2 door Coupe, he gave me his 63 Ambassador. I was 16 and that gave me independence and besides there were no computers/games/cell phones/etc - so cars were fun back then. I had more fun back in simpler times.
@@davidlightman9551 You May think it’s silly. However, those of us who lived through those “silly” times will be able to survive something like an EMP strike. We won’t be looking at our blank cellphone screen wondering what to do.
Under Reagan the debt to GDP/ income ratio was only ~20+%, DOWN from ~30+% under Carter. after that all the states became greedy for tax money .... and then the ratio exponentialy rose to the present ~55-70% depending on the state's politics.
The answer is simple, the federal government (both parties) saw the middle-class as their personal piggy bank.
The Congress looks at the middle class as their personal ATM. They spend our money, like drunken sailors. My apologies to drunken sailors.
And now they have outstripped that. Where are they going to go now? Who are they going to steal from next?
Вообще-то, по-моему мнению к среднему классу в Америке можно причислять лишь тех людей, которые имеют свой дом купленный за наличные деньги, или по ипотеке через банк, которую они полностью погасили перед банком. Они имеют свой бизнес, или стабильную и хорошо оплачиваемую работу. А если люди полностью в кредитах, то они уже никак не могут относится к среднему классу. Но парадокс в этом деле заключается в том, что люди имеющие огромные задолжности перед банками причисляют себя к среднему классу, потому что это престижно и повышает статус самоуважения. Но стоит только этим людям потерять работу, как они в одно мгновение лишаются жилья и увеличивают армию нищих. Вот поэтому правительство Америки презирает средний класс и между собой их представителей называет разными ругательными словами. И самое парадоксальное, что термин "Средний класс" выдумала ваша верхушка богатеев, потому что им необходимо в народе погасить недовольство и внести некоторый раскол в их ряды. А чего, когда народ разобщённый им легче управлять. Вот такие дела у вас, американец.
@@douglastaylor3348 - There will be two classes……wealthy and poverty. The wealthy, includes our dear, crooked politicians. They will live well, we will get whatever the government sees fit to give us……not much.
@@douglastaylor3348The children. They have been actively stealing from the next generations for decades.
I grew up in the 60 early 70s in Los Angeles, my dad drove a cement truck mom stayed home 3 kids they bought a home we weren't rich but had what we needed had horses motorcycles. Then big government big business taxes illegal immigration low wages destroyed paradise
The Corporations and Oligarchs have soaked up all the money. Simple
Indeed. They found a way to milk the commoner dry.
Well said.
This is obvious by now. Goverment collaborated more and more with corpos and oligarchs and the middle class was and still is their prey.
not the corporations, but the government. Corporation can't tax me, I don't have to give them any money. The government takes most of my income
@@sten260 You act as if corruption, I mean lobbyism, wasn't a thing. It's one big apparatus by now, a "deep state".
America's favorite farmer and most trusted author VDH God bless you and may God bless our republic
In the 1940s through the '70s, until he retired, my grandfather was able to support himself, his wife, and three children on his income as a building contractor (he had his own business). It irritates me to no end when I see that, whenever people wax nostalgic for the 1950s and early '60s (before the rise of the counterculture), people _inevitably_ start squawking about how it was only good if you were white, straight, and male. It's beyond tiresome at this point. _None_ of us, except for a tiny handful of fringe extremists that no one takes seriously, is pining for a return of Jim Crow, segregation, and anti-miscegenation laws, or the other less attractive aspects of those old days. But we _are_ nostalgic for an era when a single, blue collar income could comfortably support a family of five, and our schools still taught students to love their country and be proud of it, not to hate it and regard the whole enterprise as irredeemably racist and thoroughly corrupt. We are nostalgic for a time when it seemed like we could do anything, and everyone fully expected their children would have more opportunity and a better standard of living than they did. We are nostalgic for a time of greater law and order, when the streets of our major cities were clean, safe, and were not hollowed-out urban hellscapes, boarded-up, crime-ridden, and covered in feces, used needles, and homeless encampments.
The degeneration of our society has many causes, but the destruction of the productive, taxpaying middle class is surely one of the more prominent ones. The undermining of the nuclear family is up there as well. And hand in hand with that is the growth of the welfare state, which itself badly sabotaged the nuclear family among the poor, and created an entitlement mentality. Now our spending is so out of control it truly beggars the imagination. I have been asking people for years how long they think a trillion seconds is. Invariably they will give me a guess of anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, rarely, very rarely, someone will guess a period of some months.
A trillion seconds is 31,688 years. That means that a trillion seconds ago, we still shared the planet with Neanderthal man, and Vega, not Polaris was the pole star. My point has always been to show people what an incomprehensibly huge number one trillion is -- so big that nobody really understands just how big. At all.
And we are _32 trillion_ dollars in debt. This is _madness._ For more than half a century, people have been voting for the impossible, and one day, when this house of cards we are building comes down, we are going to be stuck dealing with the disastrous possible. I just hope the collapse comes after I am gone.
A technique employed by those with a competing ideology (socialism/wokeism) is to make problematic or probelmatize their competition in order to deflect and shift the argument to an area in which they can hold a moral high ground. To say the 50's era was better than the times we live today may be a untidy or shorthanded way of talking about the economics (or social aspects), which can quickly get hijacked into how 'racist' the era was. It's a clever technique and it's easy to get sucked into the vortex of a skewed logic/false premises and having to argue from bad footing on constantly changing ground.
It's sad to see just how 'comfortable' people have become to the size and scope of government, the amount of social influence and control that is exerted on the citizenry. It produces the issues you mentioned, and leaves us with the self-inflicted and practically unimaginable debt described above. That issue alone leads me to wonder if there is a better reason to end universal suffrage so that the serious and sober-minded can resolve things.
@@HoldenMcG I agree about what universal suffrage has wrought. There was a reason that voting, in the early days of our republic, was restricted to people who owned property (the precise details and stipulations varied by state) -- it was an attempt to make sure the vote was exercised by those with a stake in society, who would therefore presumably use it more wisely, as they would be the first ones to suffer from bad government policy.
The main problem with attempting to anything remotely resembling an attempt to reinstitute such limitations is the absolute inevitability of being branded a racist, when such a proposal gets (again, as inevitably as the night follows the day) compared to Jim Crow-era poll taxes and other such measures that were intended to keep black people from voting. The major reform that I'd like to see enacted -- though It hasn't got a hope in hell of getting passed -- would be for anyone receiving any form of welfare benefits to forfeit their right to vote until such time as they are no longer receiving any such benefits, and are once again entirely self-supporting. As Geo. Bernard Shaw said "A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul." So Paul shouldn't be able to vote in favor of such policy, because he _always_ will.
@@Hibernicus1968 I can see that concept as a valid stipulation for voting. I would also argue for an assessment that includes a basic understanding of civics and economics. I'm not talking any thing difficult, just an understanding of exactly where the government gets its 'revenue.' I can't tell you the number of people that think the government is somehow producing something that makes money and have a complete disconnect between paying personal income tax (and corporate taxes that are ultimately passed on to consumers). It's an odd look that some gets when you tell them that the government doesn't produce a single thing that isn't first stolen from someone else.
You have my vote for president!
Are use the energy, 1 trillion seconds and people are gobsmacked how long it actually is
My father would say , never let the landlord know you had a part time job other than your full time job . Your rent will go up .
My take away from this is the presenter is saying the prosperity of the middle class in the 1950's was due to America's ability to produce goods and services for a world that was destroyed by WWII. And that overtime increasing globalization, trade deficits, and government deficit has eroded the middle class standard of living. The conclusion seems to be the prosperity of the 1950s for Americans was a unique situation that has been diluted due to that prosperity spreading out to the rest of the world over the last 75 years. That doesn't bode well for our ability to fix it.
I may be wrong, but it seems companies focus on Shareholder Value and Executive Management Salary/Incentives at the expense of Labor. It seemed in the 1950's the ratio of CEO to average worker compensation was more favorable to the worker and allowed for a healthy middle class. Additionally, women entering the work force after WWII had the effect of reducing overall wages due to the law of supply and demand.
Cost of living & doing business has driven offshoring, discipline, work ethic & values declined. As morality declines, law & law enforcement costs skyrocket, as does bad behavior in contracts & cheats, resulting in much heavier costly government oversight & regulations, including legal liabilies
Just scratches the surface of all that has gone wrong.
Women were famously working *during* WWII. They were encouraged to become "housewives" to give up their jobs for the returning soldiers. It was in the mid to late sixties that women were encouraged to reenter the workforce.
As late as 1960, 60% of the entire world's industrial output came from the U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois. There was a concerted effort, not by the people of the United States, but by those who control its policies, to spread this wealth to more of the world.
Because it effectively halved wages (by doubling the work force)
You are mostly correct, however, it is a baldface lie that women didn't work prior to WW2.
Both women and CHILDREN worked in the factories of the North during the late 1800s and both they and men in factories worked paycheck to paycheck. Factory working women on strike with men were actually picking up rifles and getting into gun fights with Pinkerton forces brought in by factory bosses to crush the labor strikes.
Overtime women left the hell of low paid factory work and laws forced American children out of factories working 12 and 16 hours a day and into schools.
WW2 ended with the USA being the ONLY industrial country not bombed to hell. This is no secret and widely known in the history of America's economy. What the video speaker fails to mention is how the returning WW2 veterans built the labor unions up into strong forces which gave "workers" a bigger cut of company profits and thus grew the American middle-class in which 1 blue collar man could support a large family of kids plus a stay-at-home wife.
Offshoring manufacturing to China and Mexico as well as pushing women into the workforce plus open border policies now... have all been meant to slice the throats of blue collar labor pay.
Companies became international and they then move alot of jobs to 3rd world countries as the wages were 10% of what they paid in North America. The govts at the time did nothing to stop it. Pure profit motive no loyalty to any country just the bottom line.
2 incomes : 1 to pay taxes and 1 to live off of.
Even that’s getting harder.
Women voting so the government can take advantage of them, eat this fruit of your ego and party time. I say
That is because people do not not know how to handle the money they make. Buying stuff they should not that is aligned with their income…like hugh pickup trucks they they think makes them look cool with big tires and running boards. All dumb, instead of investing in a better home for their wife and children. Securing their family is not the goal. Looking cool is!
The debt due to costly unnecessary wars. Defense department gets whatever they want!
@@glendavis1266 the middle class has lost buying power and is being marginalized on purpose as the left chases CCP neo fascism.Your argument is their argument. You've been fooled
The Democrats destroyed it with higher taxes and their liberal “freebie” programs encouraging poorer folks to stay home, sit on their duffs and get a check.
So the balance was altered. Now there are more takers than earners. The only ones benefiting are the wealthy upper echelon and the elected government scammers.
I can listen to this dude ? All day.
Four things: 1) globalization began to destroy US industries in the 60s, 2) Immigration Reform Act began flooding America with low wage workers, 3) imperial overreach, beginning with Vietnam, and 4) growing the government
In the 1980's, electronic manufacturers moved overseas. First computers, then test equipment, the electronic design. Now we make nothing.
US manufacturing is the biggest now than in our entire past. Furthermore, US tech and ideas create more wealth than manufacturing, thus our increasing prosperity depends on shifting the LESS productive manufacturing to other nations. You are willfully ignorant.
I was born in the early 70’s by mistake, I have 6 older siblings, the youngest of which is 11 years older. My father always told me things were getting tougher for people and I would have to work harder to succeed than my siblings. The reason was the government. He was the vice president of an international bank.
Yep bankers would blame the gov while they are one of the largest recipients of corporate welfare. CEOs sent their factories to China. Not the politicians.
We bought our first home in 1980, it was a 3BR, 2BA, 1400 sq. ft. on a nice lot in a new neighborhood. We purchased it for $59,000 on a combined income of about $36,000. That same home now 43 years old sold for $320,000 about a year ago. If the income to home cost ratio were the same, you would have to make a combined income of $97,000. Not many people in our small town have that income. I worked in a lumber mill @ $11/hr and my wife worked as a data entry clerk @ $7/hr.. Those same jobs total combined income in our town today would produce about $60,000. It's very hard for young people to start out these days unless they have a professional job.
Just a few years later y'all wouldn't have been able to buy that home because of the astronomical interest rates
Same here. My wife and I bought our first home (used) in 1982. 3 bedroom 1 bath 1400 SF ranch home with attached garage in the country on 1 acre of land for $32,000. That very same house sold 2 years ago for $179,000. (That same house today is probably worth $200k) $200,000 divided by $32,000 = 6.25. My wage in 1982 was about $6 hour. $6 X 6.25 = $37.50. The job I had at the time now pays about $20-22 hour. Inflation is killing young couples. Yet, 36% of Americans believe Joe Biden is good for America.
You have your points. In my opinion the biggest mistake the US ever made was to give corporations the same rights as individuals. The US has gone downhill ever since.
The owners of corps have rights. Your conservative hatred of property rights is noted.
@TeaParty1776 Hope you're not calling him a conservative because Conservatives aren't against property rights lol
@@dubjubs Conservtives have attacked property rightss since they voted for the 1890 Sherman Antitrust Act,the most destructive attack on property rights in US history. They currently support SS , Medicare. and the Feds counterfeiting of money and credit that decrease the value of the "money" in your pocket. Your mind is inside a mystical bubble where ideals replace concrete reality. But I am sure that you can point to a teeny, tiny conservative support of property rights. And how can a woman have a right to a bank account if she has no right to her own body? Look out at reality, not inward. Focus your mind.
I grew up in a rural community. The town was thriving in the 60s and 70s. The businesses were run locally and there were no empty storefronts on Main Street. There was a JC Penney store, but no chain restaurants and the drugstores were family owned. People weren’t rich, but many we called “well-to-do”. Rural America has been especially hard hit. The big corporations moved in with franchises and megastores. Local businesses that ran successfully for decades closed up. The money was sucked out and went to the corporate centers in big cities.
The towns and villages that are successful now are “cute” little places to visit. There’s kind of a neo-hippie vibe going which is kind of nice. But it’s the working poor now rather than a vibrant middle class.
I'm not even American, and i felt that. That's just sad! 😢
Politicians pissed it all away.
I only knew about victor from watching tucker. Love the way he explains things. He can explain in a very simple way. Even a child could understand the issues he discusses. Love that
Yes children love simple explanations to complex problems
@@scottprather5645 is that a slam against victor. If you are slamming victor, you need lots of help
We didn't have 20 million illegal citizens from South of the border in our country in the fifties either.
But we need physicians, engineers, and astronauts.
...doing all the work white people won't do, like picking crops, doing farm work, working with cattle at meat packing plants, cleaning hotel rooms, doing backroom work at restaurants, parking cars, doing low-level (dangerous) construction work, cleaning septic tanks.....seen any blond/blue-eyed types doing this stuff recently?
@@1mouseman And you ain't gonna get white people to pick the crops 12-14 hours a day. Or scrub toilets. Or do ANY kind of actual physical labor. And I've been white all my life...white people just stand around and bitch about everything. Praise Jesus & my gunz!
True. We also had an AMERICAN culture and societal norms. I don't know what to call it now. I don't recognize my country
illegal ALIENS
Women entering the work force significantly increased the labor pool and depressed wages.
Actually wages were not depressed - they crashed. Poverty level wages presented as middle class - the great con of the 1980s.
And if course we’ll blame women and not capitalist pressure on families. Because family is socialism and needs to be made transactional.
@@charlesheller4667 So this channel is pro Reagan, pro Thatcher, and anti woman...... We should learn from 1945. Fascism ? Never again !
@@SunofYork Fascism is inevitable in a post-nation multicultural state dominated by corrupt fiscal policy.
@@selohcin 40,000 Londoners were killed under Fascist bombs and the normals are here to remind people. Fascists' have always been big losers in England... Fascism means a one party State and a Führer for life. The English will not sign up for that and neither will Americans. Hungary is your only hope. Rent a van and drive it, taking your pals with you...
In 1987 I took an entry level job no college education for $10 an hour. Bought a Jeep Wrangler for $11,895 and my payment were $242 a month. So after taxes I’d come home with about $310. I’d have $68 left. Gas was $1 a gallon. So $20 a week for gas. A deli sandwich cost $5 so lunch cost me $25 a week. I’d have $23 left over my insurance on my Jeep was $100 a month with $250 deductible. So two weeks out of the month I’d have to invest, save or do as I wanted. Today that entry level pay is $15 an hour, the Jeep cost $40k, gas is $4 a gallon, insurance on a new Jeep is $250 a month with $500 a deductible. It just simply can’t be done. $10 an hour in 1987 with the rate of inflation is $26.91 an hour. People with college degrees aren’t making $26.91 out of college.
Are you seriously trying to compare the '87 Wrangler two door, half doors, with an anemic four banger, manual transmission, no A/C, AM/FM radio, side mirror optional for additional cost, and rear bumper optional for additional cost to a 2024 Wrangler four door, full doors, with 6 cylinder, auto, A/C, and tons more? I mean, this is like comparing Apples to discarded burger wrappers. Its nowhere near the same vehicle. Jeep does not make a modern equal today that directly compares to the YJ back then that you bought for that price. I think even the floor rug was optional back then. Funny how people conveniently forget those details. But I remember for sure having to pay extra for the right side mirror and rear bumperettes. Crazy today to think a side mirror and rear bumper is an optional cost. Also, the auto loan interest rates in the late 80's for a younger person with little credit was 17% plus. With no credit it was more like 20%. Yes, that's right, 20% interest on an auto loan! People seem to forget that as well.
@free-qe6wx Not like interest rates are much less nowadays especially Credit Cards. I remember having about 15% when I got mine but it's now down to 10.25% after years of no late payments and always paid in full. You're right that we can't compare...because you actually HAD OPTIONS back then unlike now where you're forced to pay the price for features you don't want
@@dubjubs I know, its very frustrating. Tesla forces you to pay for all the FSD hardware, $3k plus, regardless of if you want FSD or not. They also force you to pay for additional battery and motor capacity that you won't get unless you pay extra for an "upgrade" down the road on some vehicles. Yeah, that sucks, but it makes the point that you really can't directly compare vehicles from 30+ years ago to vehicles of today. Same thing goes for houses and other goods and services. Your typical single family starter home in the 80's was a lot less sqft, carpet's throughout, low ceilings, Formica cabinets and countertops, inefficient A/C's, inefficient water heater's, crappy windows and doors, and low-quality everything. Your typical single family starter home today gives you a lot more, and the interest rates then were insane vs recent history. You also got taxed more in your income and received less government assistance. Your transportation costs were a lot higher percentage of your total monthly expenses as well. I'm just saying this was a totally different reality back then for a typical family/household. Medium income or medium priced anything from then to now is not a fair comparison unless you account for all these things.
Yes, many people don't realize that adjusted for both inflation and cost of living, even a relatively small wage went a lot further before circa 1990.
@@KungPowEnterFist I didn’t have a stripper Wrangler. It was loaded with a straight six. Dana 44 rear, 30 front. CD player was the thing back then. Hard top and hard doors. By the way I bought a five speed manual because men drive five speed. A stripper wrangler was about $9200. Let’s face the music. Today’s wranglers are designed for women. Before I had a Wrangler I had a AMC Jeep CJ7 Renegade also loaded with a straight 6 manual transmission hard top and doors. No woman would ever drive a CJ. It’s handling would scare her shitless. It was the tough utility true off-road Jeep no wrangler ever had. High center of gravity and a jarring suspension that make long journeys a living hell but loved by every CJ owner. Back in the day Id give the Jeep wave two or three times a week and always to the same dude.
I made sacrifices such as not going out for meals, no home internet, no cell phone and was able to rent a 1 BR apartment for $700/mo at age 24 on under 30k salary in 1999, saved money for 10% down payment on a townhouse I bought 3 years later for 164k on a mortgage of 6.875% after working hard and earning a promotion with salary bumps to 44k. But now that same apartment, 25 years older, rents for $1442/month and the area isn't as nice anymore. The townhouse I bought in 2002 sold last spring despite being 21 years later for 364k. That same 1999 job pays about 50k/year now...maybe 55k...tops. my 2002 job 75k. Wage hasn't gone up nearly at the same rates. There's no way a 24 year old today can afford that apartment nor will he be able to put money away for 10% down payment for that townhouse in 3 years. The math just doesn't add up. I already cut the fat out of the budget back then...there wasn't much left except for cable and gas/electric.
Too many greedy people in business who want max profit. Too many people with their hands out who contribute nothing. Too many corrupt politicians in a bloated government. We need another Reagan Revolution.
Your comment matches my life experience, give or take a year or a few dollars. It was my sacrifices of eat out/greater lifestyle, etc. that stretched my income to make life livable. I couldn't buy any property due to lack of cash, and the loss of my job in the mid -80's, took my 4 years to build back. My wife started working in 1996 and we used a little inheritance money to put down on a house, and thank God our jobs held for the next 8 years. No magic gifts back then; it's only through personal scarifice that we made it (and that was being good at a job and working hard).
The Reagan revolution is partly responsible for the situation we're in. If you're tax cut gave you an extra thousand a year income, but gave the wealthy a fifteen thousand extra most will use that to buy investments, houses, farmland, etc. They will then rent to the highest bidder so unless you have more money than someone else, guess what.
Jimmy Carter national debt just under one tril. He refused to spend tax money. When RR was elected the deficit exploded. And here we are today. ( GWB the same.)
@@davidmende4438its a little more precise to say Carter maintained status quo (same debt, high tax, stagnant economy). RR reduced taxes and regulation. Goal was to reduce deficit but his democratic congress (Tip O Neill & co) refused to cut spending. So economy exploded and deficit ran up. GHWB kept the new status quo, but 92 recession lost his re-election bid. Economy turned around. Clinton at first tried typical big gov't things and lost congress but in 96 was smart - won re-election and presided over last balanced budged by working with republican congress and great late 90s economy. All presidents since have basically had runaway deficit spending. Moving more and more in wrong direction. Need to cut regulation not grow it, and a congress with the stones to actually cut spending
> Too many greedy people in business who want max profit.
This is where conservatism meets communism. Stalin, shake hands with Hitler.
• Welfare
• Civil Rights
• Integration
• Affirmative Action
Exactly
And drugs
I often joke about what would happen if can't feed 'em don't breed 'em was a law.
time to rebuild the middle class by providing ourselves with what we need and not letting other countries do it.
be prepared to pay more and have less...which I am actually fine with if it brings sanity back to our country.
@@aedsell already have been I'll pay quite a bit more if I can get it made in usa even if it means I wait awhile longer to pay for it
Living within your means is the only way to rebuild the middle class.
First you have to vote these dirty Democrats out of office or it isn’t gonna happen.
Thank YOU
100% correct, but there is more as to what happened to the middle class of the '50' and '60's. What also happened was the invention of designer sneakers, cable tv, cell phones, starbucks coffee, etc, etc. These "wants" have become "needs" for us. We didn't have all these monthly expenses back then. Only the rich had two cars, now everone in the family has to have one. The average house size was around 909 sq feet, now it's 2300, even though families are smaller! Much of our loss of wealth is self inflicted. However, the single biggest reason for our loss of middle class, is the breakdown of the family. Today, there are two family homes to support one family, whereas families used to stay together, and single parenthood was far less common.
Pretty soon the middle class will have to send their 8 year olds to work to pay mortgage.
True- but all those things could, and should, have been made in America.
I gave a 👍 but I think we are talking about a secure head of household salary compared the price of commodities.
True. The Govt decided it want to be the parent for all children by encouraging the rise of the single mama welfare state. Who needs a man to provide when Uncle Sugar can send you a check for everything you're "entitled" to? The sad thing is Uncle Sugar is still pretty stingy, but he's able to send just enough to where two-parent household aren't necessary. Overall, it's pretty sad.
I agree@@michaeldalton8374
A couple things. The wealth gap exploded and loans allowed home (and education) prices to explode putting prices out of reach of regular incomes.
Plus quality of goods and services plummeted as prices rose. "Get more for less" now is the work ethic while contentment is considered a quaint concept only used when expedient through showcasing a normal person out to provide but not dominate, perhaps for some news segment by those who through their normal actions and focus, only truly praise the wealthy.
The wealth gap is like the pay gap. Meaningless without context. As we found with the pay gap when you look at the variables and control for them the pay gap almost completely vanishes. I'd wager the same is true for the wealth gap.
It doesn't take much income or investment over a career to retire as a multi-millionaire and yet most people don't because they prioritize other things. That's perfectly fine until those same people cry "wealth gap" as though their outcome had nothing to do with their decision making.
> The wealth gap exploded
conservatism=communism. The wealth gap is from more productivity from the most productive people that benefits people of lesser productivity. How much are you benefited from the least productive people? How much are you benefited from Sam Walton,Steve Jobs, Bill Gates? You live in the wealthiest economy in history but your conservative soul is in a dirt-poor village 5000 years ago. Do you agree that, "Blessed are the poor?"
My dad has to be spinning in his grave over the debt. He was worried back in the 80s about all the spending Reagan did to defeat the Soviets etc. and he was a Republican. He also talked a lot about supply and demand, inflation that also we see a troublesome resurgence of for the same reason. He would be upset about essentially 'open borders'. Does anyone not connect the dots? How literally 'taxing' on us it is to have to support and accommodate too many people who wish to wake up in their countries and decide, I will go there! What happened to national pride? My does everyone wish to leave their countries, what is wrong collectively with 'people' running them? Everyone who comes here, often not alone, needs housing, medical care, schooling etc. Our systems are maxed out., the cost is unreal. Of course the standards or ways some of us remember the good old days, where a relatively modest income could support a family home etc. Now it is too many people saying I take what you have, and government thinking if you are a minority that you have been deprived is just nonsense. Let the chips fall where they may. My suburban town was not on the map, was crime free, unlocked doors etc. Now is has become an urbanized less safe international mecca of those escaping, the unmanageable big cities or their own countries. All gov can think is higher taxes to pay and/or tax the rich more, for they are profiting for so much demand, and can't care precisely for how they profit from the demand. Gov has to stop manufacturing overseas (big mistake), even if we pay more for goods. We all have too much stuff precisely for it is cheaply produced in China making them essentially a wealthy threat for it. Hopefully this will impact too much 'demand', close the borders and all immigration for a long while or the whole house of cards could fall.
So when will Republicans call for ending SS, Medicare, EPA, welfare for all classes, public schools, and religion sleazing into laws?
[opposing] inflation....[wanting tariffs] even if we pay more for goods.
Ill bet you have a sleazy, greasy oily conservaative rationalizatiom for evading contradictions. Unless, of course, you compartmentalize so your right hand doesnt know what your left hand is doing. Conseervatism is drooling as culture. The con-man Trump and the suffering loser, Jesus, are your perfect symbols. Where is Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin in your traditions? No room for the independent mind? Stupidity is not a moral virtue.
I worked all through my 20s and well into my mid 30s never having a vacation of any kind. Spent over a decade in my career before ever having a dollar leftover after paying bills. Every sunstantial raise in salary has been met with ever increasing fuel, food, and house payments. Its been an upward struggle that i know my parents didnt have to fight.
Go on vacation it will do you good
Our politicians sent all of our good jobs overseas. I grew up in a UAW family. In the 50's-60's one income from a union job was more than enough.
People and companies bought cheaper steel, plain and simple
Yes, and only one person had to work unlike today where both husband and wife have to work.
One income was all you need when you have a uaw job. The go-slow union job.Its a racket
union busting was the foundation of the plundering of the people by the millionaires so they could become billionaires. they did not earn that money, they stole it from you.
It was not your government that did it. It was the companies that wanted bigger profits. And it is what happened all over the western world.
The middle class today just got the MIDDLE FINGER from this Democratic regime 😩😖👀
and from the Republican one several years now. 2017 tax cut went largely to top 1 percent.
The middle class is getting the middle finger from both parties. The establishment Republicans aren't doing anything good for the middle class. They ignore the middle class while participating in unchecked govt spending, enthusiastically supporting the military industrial complex, and working hard to protect their corporate interests.
@@Barbara-jn2gw sorry Barbara but you have a very misinformed opinion, cutting all taxes brought a tidal wave of jobs back to the us
I thought it was Covid & the Fact that Many Left their Jobs behind... No One is Running the World Right Now... We are waiting to see where Earth Strikes Back Next.. Love Self, Peace..!!!
@@gregkunkel8704$15 an hour 🤔🤣
It is very simple to see what happened. Go to any Levitt town . They still exist. Try to find a new house built like those now. Industry created a consumer desire for 2 cars, a big house, tons of clothing, expensive items for recreation. People (especially women) bought it. Women are still work out side the home and trying to be the cool mom. It is killing them.
The middle class has been taxed into Obscurity😒
У вас американцы больше нет сребнего класса, так как на смену ему пришёл новый продвинутый класс - тунеядцев! Эти низко павшие люди живут на пособие от государства.
And then inflated into oblivion.
This one's actually really easy. Government ate up all the prosperity the Middle Class had by instituting numerous government programs and taxed the people to the limit to pay for them.
Well.... The private sector encouraged and employed millions of immigrants who undermined unions and pay rates...
But it should be mentioned, that Goverments were influenced by corporations and oligarchs, it's an unholy pact.
did we run out of natural resources or simply put a legislative fence around them?
Maybe not a legislative fence but a fence errected by the agencies in DC who essentially put so many regulations in place making it impossible to use all the resources in the US wisely. They continue trying to break the oil and natural gas industry. Non of this legislated. It’s maddening and crazy!
Smartest and most precise channel on YT. A must watch for everyone. I'm 65 and have witnessed this growing up in a middle class family in suburbia. I sure didn't want for much growing up in the 60s 70s and good manufactering jobs were everywhere. I and others seen this coming in the late 70s into 80s. America. Truly the last great empire and its over. What comes next for the world will be unrecognizable and something worldwide has never happened on this scale ever in world history and it ain't good.
What a great mind and great intellect this man has. "A prophet without honour..."
You can easily track the decline of the USA by simply estimating the TAXES (visible and invisible) applied to its citizens, and the progression of National DEBT. My current estimate of combined taxation and govt. fees is approx. 55-65% taxes, etc. on individual income .... visible taxes -income, sales, etc. ; then, pass along taxes, exise tax costs, licenses, compliance and regulatory fees, etc. etc. etc. ... and then contemplate that ~60% of the population entirely supports 40% of entitled population that provides absolutely NO 'value added' to the economy.
debt fuels economy, but each debt created requires the successive generation to work even harder/smarter in order to repay it.
@@khairulhelmihashim2510 DEBT indeed fuels an economy; but, after the ratio of debt to GDP exceeds about 80%, the beneficial 'multiplier' of that debt 'reverses' and debt become more 'detractive' to an economy ... because the cost of that debt now begins to expand exponentially.
US debt to GDP is now130+%.
Japan is the sole exception with debt to GDP @~270% .. solely due to GREAT RESERVE of Japanese wealth of their people in 'personal savings', unlike no other nation on earth.
My father was a mill worker. Mother was a floral designer and part-time seamstress. We did not starve like some of our neighbors because my father worked much overtime and was the town handyman. No, it was not middle class nirvana!
It really depended on where you lived and what your father did for a living. Things were very different in, say, Appalachia than they were in Chicago.
My dad earns $240k a year and we live in a house that was previously owned by a FUCKING MILKMAN.
Your dad was a fucking mill worker. The very fact that he was able to support your family in the first place, would be considered a physical IMPOSSIBILITY in todays world.
Do you realize how insane that sounds???
YOUR MOTHER WAS A FLORAL DESIGNER???? Thats the equivalent of working at Starbucks and supporting a family
I kinda remember the Reagan presidency a little differently. This is when American jobs began to be shipped to other countries like Mexico and China where labor is so cheap it could be called slave labor and this was done with the help of the government. This is also when wages here became stagnate and the pay for CEO's began to sky rocket until a CEO earned a thousand to ten thousand times more than a worker in his corporation. No I don't think Reagan was good for the average American. That is why I am not a Reagan Republican but I am an Eisenhower Republican. Eisenhower kept the taxes on the wealthy high and he used that money to build the interstate highway system the most costly infrastructure project in history. It was this project that basically created the American middle class of the 50's and 60's. Here's how it worked: 1.The wealthy paid high taxes, 2. That money was pumped through the pockets of the workers who were earning union wages that built the highways, 3. The wealthy owned or controlled the companies that got the contracts to build the highways so they got their money back after it had benefited American workers. Here's how it works for a Reagan Republican: 1. The wealthy get tax cuts, 2. They use that money to invest in the latest "financial innovation", 3. The only people who benefit are the wealthy and their brokers. And thus the great income inequality of the present day America is created, (along with the homeless and the other social ills created by the concentration of wealth in the upper .01 %). By the way it is also the cause of the growing national debt.
interesting analysis. im far from an expert, but that sounds very plausible to me.
Yes, this is also how I see it. Instead of trickle down economics, the common American got a golden shower by Wall Street.
If government represents the people, the citizens of this country, I don't recall, as a registered voter, ever being consulted through ballot or any common conversation about any of these changes. California has empty buildings and apartments. There are social workers tied to a desk, phone and computer. Not one is being used in the capacity of organizing to help and house the homeless.
But most of the "homeless" in California, (and elsewhere,) fall into three groups. The first are addicts (at one time primarily alcoholics, but these days increasingly drug users, whose habits are being enabled by city governments.) The second, the profoundly mentally ill, who at one time would have been housed in State run psychiatric hospitals, most of which were closed beginning in the late 1960s, in the belief that psychopharmacology would be a more effective, humane, and cheaper approach to the long term care of such unfortunate individuals. And three, those who choose to be layabouts because so long as they get food in their bellies and have a place to get in out of the cold and the wet, see little point in working, when they can beg or get a government EBT card. Now the only way you get the seriously mentally ill off the streets is to rebuild the psychiatric hospitals and obtain court orders to involuntarily commit them. But we're not going to do that. As for the addicts, you can't help them until they decide to help themselves. However, providing them with free needles and ignoring their public alcohol or drug use, certainly is counterproductive. As for the bums, reestablishing anti-vagrancy laws and cutting off taxpayer funded meal tickets, would be a good start.
i dont recall ever voting for the sale of U.S.land to china; how about you?
As George Carlin said about solving housing “there is no money in it”.
Lots of money in drugs, human trafficking, cheap labor and war.
Gee, I notice he didn't mention anything about tax cuts for the rich so they pay less than the people who work for them. He just gave a quick mention of exporting almost all manufacturing overseas, which leaves us with mostly low paying service jobs. He also doesn't mention the fact that the money that the entire middle class once had is now in the hands of about 400 people.
It’s hillsdale college. They are still trying to peddle corporatism, low taxes for the rich and trickledown economics as a viable solution for economic freedom for all.
Best comment yet. 👏
The rich pay most of the taxes. The middle class gets most of the welfare state goodies, like SS and Medicare. The poor pay no taxes. The superior productivity of the rich funds the increase in new companies and new jobs. The middle class has moved upwards.
Yeah I'm sure it was those tax cuts that did that and not the millions of immigrants and women we put into the workforce that sent wages through the floor, totally.
btw most billionaires and corporations don't even pay any taxes because they all use loopholes or offshore their money. raising taxes just fucks over everyone else.
@@jellyfrosh9102 conservattives are not born stupid. they choose it as a learning style. they can be judged and condemned More immigrants-> more new businessess and the renewal of American ambition and independence that conservatives have been killing w/100 years of voting for Leftist big govt and calling for mindless faith in fantasies of the impossible supernatural. Conservatism is moral cowardice, the hatred of independent juddgment. Like a pig in slop, the conservative wallows in the past. w./no self-respect. The 50s are a moment in history. WE have more jobs and more wealth now. Your justified hatredsd of the Left blinds you to the need for independent judgment. Conservatives hate the Americaan spirit of independence. They want the Christian DArk Ages of mindlessness. Wages have been increasing since the 1950s and corps have been decreasing prices (when you subtract bigger govt thatt conservatives support. Conservatives vote for SS and Medicare
the biggest Fed spending.
The rich pay virtually all Fed taxes, the mniddle class is vanishing into the upper middle and the poor pay no Fed taxes. Confess! You hate using your mind! Trump, the sleazy, nmindless blowhard con-man, is the perfect symbol of conservative self-contempt and hatred of America. Go back to the Old World.,You dont deserve America.
i think the biggest hurdle in maintaining a good middle class size and quality is home affordability. less money to spend on recreation, education, quality food, children etc.
I have a wife and 1 child we both work and live check to check. We have to pay for the cars we drive which are nothing special at all. We live with my parents and have medical bills we can't and probably never will pay off. It sounds like people actually had a chance years ago. Now it's all a struggle and we're loosing!!!!
We also need to lower the blood alcohol content to .05 from .08 as recommended by the NTSB in 2009. Utah did this in 2017 and experienced a 44% reduction in alcohol crashes and a 19% reduction in alcohol crash deaths. In five years Insurance companies will adjust their rates downward.
That’s bullshit. DUI’s aren’t the primary cause of high insurance rates.
Still hasn't fixed accidents on the roads from cell phones users which are the majority of our crashes. DUIs went up including people using mouth wash with alcohol in it
@@dubjubs Mouthwash should not be swallowed and consumed as it has denatured chemicals to prevent consumption that cause kidney damage.
@@alwillk Alcohol is the leading cause of automobile crashes at about 45%. So if we can reduce this large number by 44%, lower insurance rates will follow. We need to change insurance Statutes so Sober Adults can receive discounts on insurance premiums. Only Utah has done this and sober adults get a 25% discount. Sober Adults are being overcharged by one third.
Unfortunately, the tide toward big government is just too strong. Reagan was a brief interruption, but once he was gone the tide swept back in.
In other words, we didn't keep a close eye on what the government was doing. They were giving aid with no set end to it. They were starting to push social programs and the growth of the federal government. And people trusted the government. Our bad.
And conservatives trusted the government. Your bad.
@@TeaParty1776You're party is the shining example of "trust the Government". Weaponizing the FBI, IRS, and ATF? Dem policies
Our leaders and politicians have lost this idea, "What will this legislation do for the (typical and dare to say religious) family? Instead, its, "How will this get me re-elected. Will it please my donors? How does the speaker want me to vote?" The legislator needs money from the controlling member. The answer is to move power back to the states. Not eliminate the federal government, just readjust.
The Pennsylvania state legislature has to be one of the worst forms of government in the country, mainly because of Grand Obstruction Party
Yes, eliminate or greatly restrict lobbying, implenent term limits, and give the power back to the states as it was originally intended.
Нет никакого возврата власти каким-то там штатам. Ишь что удумали сепаратисты. Вся власть должна быть у Федерального правительства, а то дай вам побольше прав, так сразу провозгласите независимость от Центральной власти. Нет уж, голубчики , не бывать этому, а посмеете пикнуть, так сразу в морду и.в тюрму, лет так на сто каждого. Чтобы другим не повадно было раскрывать рот, об какой-то свободе выбора!
Yeet the lobbyists.
A prosperous middle class is a threat to the ruling class of elites and therefore must be prepressed through government policy.
A prosperous middle class is a threat to the Christian ideal of poverty and suffering.
@@TeaParty1776Huh?
@@dubjubs Are you claiming that the crucified Jesus the moral basis of the politics of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?
For parallel commentary I recommend Joel Kotkin's The Coming of Neo-Feudalism. His theme is the death of the middle class largely due to the contempt of the Clerisy and the Oligarchy for ordinary people.
A new version of bourgeoisie & clergy vs working class fable by Marx etc? Just what we need right now!
I agree 100% with MrTheLittleGuy.
I would also say that once companies started focusing solely on profit and increasing value for shareholders, the middle-class American was screwed.
If it lands on my lap to give a simple and quick explanation, then I’ll take up that responsibility. It’s really is this simple , buying votes with public money is a very very expensive proposition.
Agreed with his analysis, but I'd add two other things that contributed directly and indirectly to current state. One was the huge bulge of the baby boomer generation emerging as a demand factor in the mid 60's plus concurrently the female empowerment factor which acted like an effect multiplier. 1950's 3 kids, stay at home, basic simple living requirements, single car, simple smaller house, smaller mortgage, had changed by mid 70's to two car garage, kids in smaller classes, trips to Disney land, big house, more furniture, credit cards and more more more. And suddenly the wife that had to now also work to pay for it. A social and demographic inflation piled unwittingly onto the deep macro economic factors.
We waste too much time on apologizing for who we are.
Seems like one of the problems with middle class prosperity is that we aren’t satisfied with being middle class. Maybe just a little bit more. Then, just another little bit more. That moves the middle class gauge one way or the other and now we begin seeing a split in society. The haves and the have nots.
What happened? Time saver: Corporate greed and CEO/executive compensation.
Well, NAFTA was also a big part of the disaster. It opened the flood gates for companies to take their business overseas. It was a rapid decline after that. We're at the point where practically everything's manufactured overseas. We need to start bringing back manufacturing to the states and incentivize companies to do so. One of the problems is the sky-high corporate taxes.
Half correct. NAFTA was bad, but corporate taxes are lower than they were back then. It’s the Labor costs that force companies to outsource jobs. I can pay a guy $6 a day (minimum wage in Mexico) to make the same thing here for $45 a day in the US?
@@alwillkCorporate propaganda. Corporate profits used to be much lower when stuff was made in the US. They off-shored not because they had to, but because they are greedy and corporate profits have gone higher and higher with each passing decade.
Elites abandoned the commoners. No excuse for that, just greed and corruption.
This is how I see it:
In the early 1700’s the industrial revolution in England started, and came to a relative standstill some 150 years later. Germany and the United States took over, with a fresh new beginning of new initiatives, production methods. Steam was replaced by electricity, improving the production output in volume and quality.
In the beginning of the 1900’s oil began to be dominant, facilitating the transport of people and products over longer distances. In Germany the internal trade grew and central government got a larger span of control because of the new techniques and win-win-effects. The rising German influence in the world was a thread to Great Britain at sea and on other continents.
The internal expansion within the USA stimulated the industry. By the end of the 1800’s the production could even be exported across the Atlantic.
WW1 and WW2 initiated enormous expansions in trade volume, that lasted some 75 years.
Since the 60s of the last century, the big American companies (oligarchs if you will) outsourced their production to low-wage countries. This was beneficial for the saving/investing shareholders and financial institutions, but unfavourable for the working and consuming middle class: lowers wages, loss of jobs.
The low-wage countries no longer work as cheaply as in the past, so import prices rose. The middle class with their stagnant or even declining incomes have to pay more for their consumer goods, which are sometimes even taxed with import duties to protect their own languishing industry.
The US trade and balance of payments have been negative for decades, so the US as a state has become impoverished. However, this was camouflaged by initially the decoupling of the dollar from gold by Nixon in 1971, by the devaluation that followed, and later by the unlimited issuance of new (petro)dollars. This was possible due to the growing world trade.
BRICS is now putting an end to this. In addition, the volume of world trade is no longer growing as strongly due to mutual sanctions and boycotts. The US is still collecting billions through fines (Volkswagen, Bayer-Monsanto, Deutsche Bank, Philips, diesel scandal) and now with the sale of weapons to replace the arsenal lost in Ukraine.
On the other side of the world in the long term Asia is now the producing and therefore earning continent. They have or buy raw materials and energy from Russia and sell finished products internally or to Russia. Win-win.
The US is now pushing Europe, Japan and Australia to safeguard its own interests, but they are being dragged into the malaise that the US itself has caused.
The earning power of the US and Germany has gone elsewhere, like it went from Great Britain 175 years ago.
the saving/investing shareholders and financial institutions that funded increasing jobs and wagess and lower prices and better products.
The GOP gave it to billionaires.
Brilliant albeit brief analysis of America in today's world. Something happened when Nixon signed the US off of the gold standard in 1971 and 29 years after Reagan dismantled the banking rules set up in The Great Depression, bank meltdowns in 2008 happened. Throw in the pandemic of 2020 that has torpedoed business real estate and you literally have some sort of a post-appocalypse. What happened to our societies; what are we really experiencing? What always sticks in my mind is that a milk man in America in the 60s could own his own home and amazingly he could afford to have his wife stay at home to raise the kids. Why did that golden era turn to dust? Our neighborhoods are changing before our eyes filling up with people who have left their countries to crash land in ours and no one seems to know how to get the world back to everyone being able to have a good life.
Clinton actually did much more de-regulating than Reagan. In any case, literally all over the world, in the 1980's, neo-liberalism started to dominate. So blaming Reagan is basically pointless. It would have made no difference who was in charge.
@@ryanjacobson2508 GGGGGGGGreat to hear from you. I have written a book called The Treatise of Teknomix with which i have introduced an idea for an alternative economic to replace capitalism. However; I am not in business or have a degree in economics, so it's a lay-perspective. But I was paraphraising the economist Paul Krugman who said that 29 years after Reagan and Thatcher dismantled banking regulations allowing banks to take huge risks, 2008 happened. All I wanted to do was offer a possible proto-type so that we could build an economic system in tune with our times.
it's a worldwide capitalist competition on who can produce more at the lowest possible cost. so, the average milkman slowly felt he's becoming uncompetitive in the ever growing, demanding market.
I was too young then to be paying attention, but if Russia was insignificant after WWII, why was the Cold War such an enormous part of every day life in the 50s?
Maybe they weren't insignificant. Consider that they possessed a political ideology that they wanted to export the world over and that they had nuclear arms.
The USSR economy was insignificant but they had a nuclear arsenal. The cold war really took off in the 60's through the 80's. The 'arms race' was partially a strategy to break the economy of the USSR.
What really needs to be asked is how they were able to recover and become a threat so quickly after WWII. They were provided capital, and lots of it.
@@kalburgy2114And food, and tools, and vehicles, and machinery, and engineers…
We need to hold a Convention of States as outlined under Article V of the US Constitution.
USA is a corporation, silly bird. neither Convention of States, nor the US Constitution are applicable. Learn the difference between de facto, and de jure.
We need to return to individual rights as in the Declaration.
Don't forget all the spending on the Military Industrial Complex in the 60s, plus the Vietnam War, the Great Society programs and the insane spending to put a few men on the moon. Thank you LBJ.
You think the Republicans would not have engaged in the Vietnam war? LBJ ran as the peace candidate against Goldwater.
Eisenhower got us in Vietnam and Nixon kept us there until congress passed the the case-church amendment in 1973. Now LBJ is definitely to blame for escalating. But, other administrations fucked up too.
@@drmodestoesq LBJ was behind the "Great Society"
And Victor Davis Hanson is a vociferous advocate of getting American involved in the Middle East's interminable squabbles. He was a great supporter of Bush's invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Ask the average American if that 7 trillion should have been spent on America's crumbling infrastructure or a backed up toilet of a war halfway across the planet....I would place a wager on what most Americans would say. @@jellyfrosh9102
He talks about increasing bureaucracy at the airport and expensive wars overseas, yet he was a vocal supporter of Bush during both of his terms.
The prosperity of American (and European) middle class ended when factories moved to Asia and Mexico
He doesn’t mention the richest 10% are getting richer while the middle and the bottom are struggling to pay rent and groceries. Who is running this “big government”? Follow the money, brother.
He left out the part where in the 50s, corporate taxes were sky high. Now they pay next to nothing.
$24.6 Trillion is debt to securities, like Treasury bonds and notes, bought by banks, insurance companies, state and local governments, foreign governments and private investors. Probably Black Rock has a very large portion of these.
The rest of the actual debt of $6.8 trillion is to foreign countries - with Japan the largest (yep... Japan at $1.1 trillion).
Debt to China is second at $859 Billion, and the U.K. at $668 Billion.
Belgium and Luxembourg (what??) come next with total of $650 Billion
Then Switzerland at $290 Billion (must be for all the chocolates and watches).
The next 4 are surprising as well:
Cayman Islands - $285 Billion
Canada - $254 Billion
Ireland - $253 Billion
Taiwan - $234 Billion
When looking at these you can also see the diplomatic and strategic military outlook of U.S. policies. The debt to Canada might be trade deficit and maybe could be lowered with the right policies but Canada is still a huge protector of the north borders and more importantly a deterrent to Russian nukes over the north pole. Taiwan's debt insures that the U.S. protects it. European allies U.K. BeneLux, Swiss and Ireland are necessary for overall European security so those debts are not going away anytime soon.
The real problem is the debt to bankers and investors. How did that happen? How can they be repaid? Just wait for the next real estate meltdown where the government seizes properties to be resold for pennies on the dollar to Black Rock.
People forget about the effect of WW2 on the world's economy. Pretty much all of the industrialized world was reduced to rubble, while America was entirely untouched. During the war, America built countless factories, dug new mines, increased agricultural areas, increased oil and fuel production, and built new infrastructure to bring these all together. Then there was the fact that despite having only a few percent of the world's population, becoming the de facto source of weapons, machinery, food, and fuel caused America to accumulate 67% of the world's gold supply. Since America had a virtual monopoly as a manufacturer and source of food and raw materials, it's rather obvious that it would prosper. America's prosperity began to fall as other industrialized economies rebuilt, became less dependent on America for products and materials, and, because of the size of the American economy, had to find ways to compete against it, being more efficient, and producing high quality products.
Hanson: "...during the Reagan administration therre was...a cessation in the growth of government." Reagan became president in 1981 and federal spending was $5.42 trillion. When Reagan left office in 1989 federal spending was $9.32 trillion. That doesn't look like a cessation in growth of government to me. To me, it looks like nearly a doubling in the size of government during Reagan's presidency. Maybe Hanson is thinking of a different President Reagan...
Hanson peddles nostalgia. Not facts.
@@LanceAlot-qw7jf
Hanson re-writes history to his own liking. If that conflicts with the facts, too bad for the facts.
Housing cars and education costs have skyrocketed since that timeframe there is no way one person can make a living that covers these increases because these increases are not even close to what wages are. 400,000 average house cost. A car payment has gone from 100 to 400 ontop of insurance at 250 per month ontop of educational debt and payments its rediculous
Revisionist history. Reagan is the primary person who pushed costs down onto middle class and lower, and created more wealth at the top. His tax cuts, his actions against unions, and worst of all, his marketing of “personal choice” as a tool to trick good Americans into hating others, and defending billionaires. These are the things that put us on the path we are on. Also, you incorrectly stated we ran trade deficits post WWII; we ran surpluses until we shifted capital and jobs out. To get strong again, we need to become a producer, not a consumer, and we need to raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires. It’s plain and simple; except we have hundreds of thousands of propaganda artists like yourself, working hard to trick people into believing lies. Look to what made America strong then. It was jobs, it was re-investment, it was compassion; all of these things are missing from the GOP agenda, and without them, we will not solve America’s problems.
Since 1970 the average CEO compensation has risen by 940%. The average laborers compensation has risen by 12%. Gee, I cannot figure out why folks are living in the street.
I enjoy your presentation and equally regard your perspective. Thank you for glimpses into rational thought in an era of invented pandemonium.
We also live in the era of people spouting bullshit theories like “Invented pandemonium.”
I'm 77 and have had a good life. Growing old now is a challenge, but am grateful to being born not too late to live during the best years of American prosperity. Now is not a good time to start out in life for the young. America will never experience again the freedom and affordable life of those few post war decades.
Great video. Really quite simple. The government will always spend 120 percent of what we send them. Until that changes we will always be in debt and have the adverse effect on productivity we are seeing.
Thank you. Devistating. I recall my professor in an undergrad finance class in 1970, suggesting that SS should be 70% 10 year Treasuries, 20% NASD, 10% SP. It would reward people with over a $1,000,000 in retirment. Alas, the Goose that Laid the Golden Egg was eaten bilaterally!
I like your work - - but! In late 1970, early 1980s a judge legislated from the bench. He ruled that the law mandating spending American tax dollars collected in America that was being spent exclusively in America on products made in American was unconstitutional! This started spending American tax dollars all over the world for the first time. Six months later 8,000,000 manufacturing jobs were lost. Never to return! Hence Detroit, New York, Pennsylvania, Chicago, Seattle, etc. This country is now suffering from King Charles II syndrome. All the blood will be gone, and we will die, soon. I know this because I was there. This needs to be reversed. Stop propping up the world on the backs of hard working middle class Americans.
If any commenters have info relating to this please fill in the blanks. Help put things right!
Thank you, Sincerely!
In short: The US spread itself too thin until cracks started to form, and the stuff it used to fill in those cracks (institutions both federal and private) started to rot, and now it has to put on the breaks and try hard not to tear itself apart as it slows down to a manageable level...
Will it manage?
The money has become so inflated that’s why.The education system is lazy and to greater degree inept.Wasteful spending by all forms of government is also destroying the infrastructure needed to preserve what is left.Good management is most evident in good governance.
У вас, американец, весь этот бардак потому происходит, что у вас больше нет американского народа. Теперь по территории Америки шляются разные национальности и народы. И у каждого из них свой менталитет и им глубоко плевать на основы вашего общества. Ибо для этой разномастной публики главной причиной пребывания в вашей стране - это как можно больше срубить бабла и свалить на родину.
Eliminating the gold standard was the beginning of the end.
@tkmad7470 I respectfully disagree. The creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913 was the beginning of the end. But there are many more choices to choose from:
The U.S. then becomes a debtor nation (the Bible says the debtor is a slave to the creditor/but who is the creditor ?)
The assassination of JFK
The creation of the military industry complex
The infusion of money into politics
Allowing the Republic to become a corporation
Removing God from public education
Being an unrepentant nation for the sins of the genocide of native Americans and slavery
This nation has been at war for 222 out of its 239 years (needless killing)
The legalization of same-sex marriage
The legalization of abortion (the killing of innocent life) has led to many of the problems this nation has faced.
Military overreach and the expansion of the American Empire
Forgetting Canada aren’t you? The country was strong after the war, contributed to much of the rebuilding in Europe, and had the world’s third largest navy.
Thank God Hillsdale. People who learn. Imagine. That.
Hillsdale is a propaganda machine pretending to be a university.
Good grief. Hanson cotributes nothing but his idealized verdion of history. Worships Reagan and Trump. He is an idealogue with no constructive thought but a mythic past. He us not a firebrand just a dud.
Outstanding video ‼️
The world of starter homes and autos seems to have vanished. No more 'first rung of the ladder' to comfortably establish oneself. Companies these days are looking for
25-year-olds with 30 years of experience!!
This is why someone joked that the job classifieds basically say "Now hiring virgins. Minimum 5 previous sexual partners required."
Simple: the same people who were raised pampered during thise years now feel entitled to keep that status and exploit the new productive generation. If younger people are not getting anything, then it is not worth working anymore.
Everything seemed to change after Eisonhower forced intergration and the insane cost of LBJ’s social programs were passed along.
No. LBJ's Vietnam is what, in my view, killed his Great Society!
One answer pure and simple,
Society stopped going to church!
In one word………DEMOCRATS.
What percentage of the government and its spending makes literally no difference to we the people? Aside from putting us more in debt of course... We should have ousted much of the government a long time ago, when they started making decisions based on funneling money and corporate interests. Easier said than done I realize.
Ronald Reagan and neoliberalism happened to it
The major parties in collusion with corporate interests that fund them both in equal measure have convinced working people to hate and fear each other instead of challenging authority or cooperating to our mutual benefit. It's the oldest strategy in all of politics. Hire one half of the poor to dispatch the other half. Democrats do it. Republicans do it. And we fall for it.
The problem started with Ronald Reagan enabling the new style of Capitalism. His time was the start of a shift from Capitalism back to Feudalism where instead of prosperity is distributed to all the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. There is a constant flow of capita toward a few. If you wish, it demonstrates how the real trickle down economy works. The wealth go to the rich and they trickle down on the rest.
When Victor Davis Hanson speaks I always listen.
Always a slightly different view of the truth from which my thinking benefits.
Expanded view of the TRUTH.
Hanson was wrong about Bush's invasion of Iraq and he continues to be wrong about so much.
@@LanceAlot-qw7jf Your opinion. Don’t know what you’re talking about so you may be correct.
@@SouthernGirl999 Hanson thinks Bush's invasion of Iraq was a great idea and still does
Excellent insight!
People who'd experienced the Depression and WW2 were grateful for every good thing that came their way. A vocal minority of 'spoiled children' who came of age in the 60s were angry, resentful, rebellious and destructive. They attacked the prosperous society that had nurtured them. Add civil rights and forced integration, feminism and the disastrous Vietnam War into the mix, and things started getting pretty toxic.
A decline in basic morality and a loss of trust in institutions coincided with economic changes and eroded the basic fabric of citizenship. People in the Anglosphere - not just America - underwent a transition from citizenship to consumerism. That is the reality in a nutshell - we are no longer citizens, we are consumers.
None of this is very surprising. It follows a well-established historical pattern. Read The Fate of Empires by John Glubb. It's free online.
Good video for highlighting the disappearing middle class around the world...
You’ve outlined the problems, but glossed over some of the realities. Remember, marginal income tax rates were much higher in the 50’s than they have been since. Deficits ballooned along with the tax cuts. We fought the Cold War, built highways and sent men to the moon- and actually paid for it.
In addition, the middle class dream was far from universal. Single women and most minorities were locked out. A third or so if the workforce was unionized. Craft unions, especially excluded all but white men.
The elderly and the poor often went without healthcare. Even the vaunted middle class struggled with those costs if they were unlucky enough to get seriously ill. My parents ended up with $10,000 dollars in medical debt (around 100,000 in today’s money).
History seen through rose colored glasses is not history.