"he tried to spark attacks on President Joe Biden by asking on social media if people feel better off now than they were four years ago."
From a standpoint of economics, security, and optimism, do you feel better off than 40+ years ago, BEFORE the "Reagan "Revolution"? Still waiting for tax cuts (primarily for the rich) to "pay for themselves" and for boundless prosperity for ALL?
"he tried to spark attacks on President Joe Biden by asking on social media if people feel better off now than they were four years ago."
From a standpoint of economics, security, and optimism, do you feel better off than 40+ years ago, BEFORE the "Reagan "Revolution"? Still waiting for tax cuts (primarily for the rich) to "pay for themselves" and for boundless prosperity for ALL?
Actually, pretty much every Republican reading that would come to the instant conclusion that they absolutely were better off 4 years ago. Why? A Republican was in charge, and that is all that is necessary for them to feel better about everything. In my experience, liberals constantly wish that conservatives would stop *being* stupid, while conservatives view liberals as *inherently always* stupid.Any idea coming from a Democrat is guaranteed to be bad (because Dems = 100% stoopid, unchangingly) so a Dem in charge means guaranteed disaster. They will incorporate every bit of info available into this schema, reject the info that does not, and in the absence of objective evidence settle for fiction. A liberal will evaluate the success of a Democratic administration by whether it delivered needed change to the country, and usually find it lacking, while a conservative will evaluate the success of a Republican administration by whether it merely existed, and find it superlative.
Meanwhile, Independents think everyone is stupid for not getting along and just cutting the baby in half already. They don't get that babies don't work that way because they haven't paid attention to anything since the last election for midwife.
The desire for a hierarchical caste system. It's soul crushing, but offers an illusion of certainty in a changing and uncertain world. It's the urge to impose ones sense of personal order on the Universe, rather than to attempt to dance with it in give and take. Resilience seems to me like sailing with the wind, and even against it. Reality can crush us like bugs, but most of the time, fortune favors the prepared mind.
I think all of us have a degree of vulnerability to circular cult thinking, but for some for some it becomes a delusional trap that manipulators cultivate, the notion that only one's cult upholds the "truth" and all else is lies or treachery. Once in the vicious cycle, the way out is typically enforced by implicit or explicit psychological and/or physical violence. They "love" Big Brother'.
It's always a mix, and there never was a "golden age". That said, while many things have improved since Reagan was king, a number of hard won elements of economic opportunity have backslid, including the portion of the population in the middle class. Many jobs are less secure, and wages have not kept up with productivity. Upper management pay and wealth has skyrocketed however. Yesterday Heather mentioned that "In the U.S. that ideology has since 1981 moved as much as $50 trillion from the bottom 90% to the top 1%.", and that impacts our whole society. Why do so many who suffer economically support those who support that direction of transfer?
Good guaranteed benefit pensions like my dad got, have become a rarity. Inexpensive state colleges? Not cheap any more. There is a current Guardian piece on John Oliver's take on student debt. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/mar/18/john-oliver-student-debt My daughter and her husband (who is a agrologist) are deeply worried about climate abuse, and know more about it than most. The de facto aristocracy of billionaires in large part gave us Trump, who is threatening the continued existence of the republic. And I could go on.
Some of these problems could lead us into uncharted territory. I'm cautiously optimistic, but expect a rough ride for the future, and some real risks. And I think that many of our greatest, current problems can reasonably be connected, at least made significantly worse, by "Reaganomics". Finally, we are seeing some substantive resistance to that momentum, but it still has a lot of supporters, and it's long past the time to ask who has it helped and who has it hurt. Have we as a society made progress because of or in spite of plutocratic turns of law?
"he tried to spark attacks on President Joe Biden by asking on social media if people feel better off now than they were four years ago."
From a standpoint of economics, security, and optimism, do you feel better off than 40+ years ago, BEFORE the "Reagan "Revolution"? Still waiting for tax cuts (primarily for the rich) to "pay for themselves" and for boundless prosperity for ALL?
Actually, pretty much every Republican reading that would come to the instant conclusion that they absolutely were better off 4 years ago. Why? A Republican was in charge, and that is all that is necessary for them to feel better about everything. In my experience, liberals constantly wish that conservatives would stop *being* stupid, while conservatives view liberals as *inherently always* stupid.Any idea coming from a Democrat is guaranteed to be bad (because Dems = 100% stoopid, unchangingly) so a Dem in charge means guaranteed disaster. They will incorporate every bit of info available into this schema, reject the info that does not, and in the absence of objective evidence settle for fiction. A liberal will evaluate the success of a Democratic administration by whether it delivered needed change to the country, and usually find it lacking, while a conservative will evaluate the success of a Republican administration by whether it merely existed, and find it superlative.
Meanwhile, Independents think everyone is stupid for not getting along and just cutting the baby in half already. They don't get that babies don't work that way because they haven't paid attention to anything since the last election for midwife.
Yep. The тАЬterm limits, balanced budgetтАЭ crowd.
The desire for a hierarchical caste system. It's soul crushing, but offers an illusion of certainty in a changing and uncertain world. It's the urge to impose ones sense of personal order on the Universe, rather than to attempt to dance with it in give and take. Resilience seems to me like sailing with the wind, and even against it. Reality can crush us like bugs, but most of the time, fortune favors the prepared mind.
тЭдя╕П
I think all of us have a degree of vulnerability to circular cult thinking, but for some for some it becomes a delusional trap that manipulators cultivate, the notion that only one's cult upholds the "truth" and all else is lies or treachery. Once in the vicious cycle, the way out is typically enforced by implicit or explicit psychological and/or physical violence. They "love" Big Brother'.
People always think they were better off "before".
People have short and nostalgic memories and big problems "now".
It's always a mix, and there never was a "golden age". That said, while many things have improved since Reagan was king, a number of hard won elements of economic opportunity have backslid, including the portion of the population in the middle class. Many jobs are less secure, and wages have not kept up with productivity. Upper management pay and wealth has skyrocketed however. Yesterday Heather mentioned that "In the U.S. that ideology has since 1981 moved as much as $50 trillion from the bottom 90% to the top 1%.", and that impacts our whole society. Why do so many who suffer economically support those who support that direction of transfer?
Good guaranteed benefit pensions like my dad got, have become a rarity. Inexpensive state colleges? Not cheap any more. There is a current Guardian piece on John Oliver's take on student debt. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/mar/18/john-oliver-student-debt My daughter and her husband (who is a agrologist) are deeply worried about climate abuse, and know more about it than most. The de facto aristocracy of billionaires in large part gave us Trump, who is threatening the continued existence of the republic. And I could go on.
Some of these problems could lead us into uncharted territory. I'm cautiously optimistic, but expect a rough ride for the future, and some real risks. And I think that many of our greatest, current problems can reasonably be connected, at least made significantly worse, by "Reaganomics". Finally, we are seeing some substantive resistance to that momentum, but it still has a lot of supporters, and it's long past the time to ask who has it helped and who has it hurt. Have we as a society made progress because of or in spite of plutocratic turns of law?
I hear you.