Robert Reich: Democrats have abandoned the white working class

[bendog]

What does the GOP do for the working class?

Robert Reich is criticizing his own party's failings. He takes it as a given the GOP does nothing for the middle class.

I can't stand the guy. I absolutely and thoroughly detest that man. But I understand his desire in wanting to clean his own house.

Yes, he's saying there's no real difference between either party when it comes to white working class people who don't have advanced degrees or affirmative action.

 

[ClosedCaption]

I think abandon might be the wrong world. Killed them is more in order.

Oh dear!

 

[ClosedCaption]

View attachment 60533

Thats why we're number one*!

*at nothing other than jailing our own citizens

 

[CrusaderFrank]

What does the GOP do for the working class?

The GOP teaches the working class the value of hard work and frugality,

by doing everything they can to see it work more and more for less and less.

Dems tell us that unemployment checks and EBT cards are the twin engines powering the Obama economy

 

[Papageorgio]

What does the GOP do for the working class?

The GOP teaches the working class the value of hard work and frugality,

by doing everything they can to see it work more and more for less and less.

What does this have to do with Reich, a Clinton appointee?

 

[Papageorgio]

What does the GOP do for the working class?

Robert Reich is criticizing his own party's failings. He takes it as a given the GOP does nothing for the middle class.

I can't stand the guy. I absolutely and thoroughly detest that man. But I understand his desire in wanting to clean his own house.

Yes, he's saying there's no real difference between either party when it comes to white working class people who don't have advanced degrees or affirmative action.

The left claim that the left cares about all working class people. Are they lying?

 

[NYcarbineer]

What does the GOP do for the working class?

The GOP teaches the working class the value of hard work and frugality,

by doing everything they can to see it work more and more for less and less.

What does this have to do with Reich, a Clinton appointee?

It has everything to do with this thread because the political purpose of this thread is to dupe working class people into believing they'll get a better deal with the GOP in power.

 

[NYcarbineer]

Obviously some of you RWnuts didn't bother to read the article, because you didn't bother to read what Reich said about HOW the Democrats supposedly abandoned white working class Americans:

Both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama ardently pushed for free trade agreements, for example, without providing the millions of blue-collar workers who thereby lost their jobs any means of getting new ones that paid at least as well.
They also stood by as corporations hammered trade unions, the backbone of the white working class. Clinton and Obama failed to reform labor laws to impose meaningful penalties on companies that violated them, or enable workers to form unions with a simple up-or-down votes.
I was there. In 1992, Bill Clinton promised such reform but once elected didn’t want to spend political capital on it. In 2008, Barack Obama made the same promise (remember the Employee Free Choice Act?) but never acted on it.
Partly as a result, union membership sunk from 22 percent of all workers when Bill Clinton was elected president to fewer than 12 percent today, and the working class lost bargaining leverage to get a share of the economy’s gains.
In addition, the Obama administration protected Wall Street from the consequences of the Street’s gambling addiction through a giant taxpayer-funded bailout, but let millions of underwater homeowners drown.

He's blaming the Democrats for not fighting hard enough for unionism, or protectionism, or against the rich, the bankers, et al.

IOW, he's blaming Democrats for acting too much like Republicans.

 

[Indeependent]

Robert Reich can kiss my a$$; the a-hole engineered the back stabbing of Americans.
I DO NOT forgive the greedy bastard.

 

[bendog]

What does the GOP do for the working class?

The GOP teaches the working class the value of hard work and frugality,

by doing everything they can to see it work more and more for less and less.

What does this have to do with Reich, a Clinton appointee?

It has everything to do with this thread because the political purpose of this thread is to dupe working class people into believing they'll get a better deal with the GOP in power.

papageorgio is sort of a one track guy, i.e. dems r bad. jmo. I choose not to respond anymore.

 

[bendog]

Robert Reich can kiss my a$$; the a-hole engineered the back stabbing of Americans.
I DO NOT forgive the greedy bastard.

huh? Reich's been pretty much an equal opportunity critic, imo. The DLC chose a pro-free trade agenda that did not require trading partners to allow worker rights, like freedom to unionize. Yeah, he was in Slick's cabinet but sometimes secretaries don't prevail. And, arguably, had Slick gotten universal coverage through, workers would have gained there.

 

[initforme]

Reagan started the attack, its been going on since he took office. Both parties are guilty. That's the reason sanders, even though he has no shot to win, is growing and adding followers. More and more workers are realizing they have been getting the shaft as the uber wealthy rake it in without having to work for it. But that's class warfare and that is in american so they so. Well get ready for class warfare to grow exponentially.

 

[the_human_being]

 

[TooTall]

What does the GOP do for the working class?

The GOP teaches the working class the value of hard work and frugality,

by doing everything they can to see it work more and more for less and less.

Check out the graph in this link.

Real Median Household Income in the United States
Real Median Household Income in the United States

 

[80zephyr]

Obviously some of you RWnuts didn't bother to read the article, because you didn't bother to read what Reich said about HOW the Democrats supposedly abandoned white working class Americans:

Both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama ardently pushed for free trade agreements, for example, without providing the millions of blue-collar workers who thereby lost their jobs any means of getting new ones that paid at least as well.
They also stood by as corporations hammered trade unions, the backbone of the white working class. Clinton and Obama failed to reform labor laws to impose meaningful penalties on companies that violated them, or enable workers to form unions with a simple up-or-down votes.
I was there. In 1992, Bill Clinton promised such reform but once elected didn’t want to spend political capital on it. In 2008, Barack Obama made the same promise (remember the Employee Free Choice Act?) but never acted on it.
Partly as a result, union membership sunk from 22 percent of all workers when Bill Clinton was elected president to fewer than 12 percent today, and the working class lost bargaining leverage to get a share of the economy’s gains.
In addition, the Obama administration protected Wall Street from the consequences of the Street’s gambling addiction through a giant taxpayer-funded bailout, but let millions of underwater homeowners drown.

He's blaming the Democrats for not fighting hard enough for unionism, or protectionism, or against the rich, the bankers, et al.

IOW, he's blaming Democrats for acting too much like Republicans.

Umm. No shit. I recently was a a very conservative board, and the topic of government/business cronyism came up. NOT ONE of the respondents was happy about how the politicians from both sides have climbed into bed with big business.

The establishment GOP will(hopefully) be at the end of its days.

Mark

 

[80zephyr]

View attachment 60588

And with mechanization, computers, 3D printing, self driving vehicles, etc. its only gonna get worse. We are always going to have too few jobs and too many people. Why some Americans want to bring even more people into this country simply baffles me.

Mark

 

[NYcarbineer]

View attachment 60588

Looks like we need to go back to Clintonomics.

 

[the_human_being]

Then you have these in ever increasing numbers:

 

[Papageorgio]

What does the GOP do for the working class?

The GOP teaches the working class the value of hard work and frugality,

by doing everything they can to see it work more and more for less and less.

What does this have to do with Reich, a Clinton appointee?

It has everything to do with this thread because the political purpose of this thread is to dupe working class people into believing they'll get a better deal with the GOP in power.

When you say better deal, what would be better? So far the Democrats want the working middle class to work harder so they can support the Democrats giving free hand outs to the rich and poor.

 

[auditor0007]

The gop did this far before the democrats did. The gop destroyed the middle class! Both parties kind of suck.

Bernie is the only option when you think about it.

Isn't it sad that people never learn? When things get back, they begin to back socialists, and then they suffer from the results. Bernie, like all the others, will run out of other peoples money. By that time, the country will be just a memory.

Mark

Bernie's form of socialism would not hurt the country one bit. It is not socialism as you think of it, but you already know that. Secondly, any talk of socialism would not be taking place if it were not for the fact that the majority of Americans have been left in the dust with the policies of the past thirty years that began with Reagan's redistribution of wealth from the lower and middle classes to the top ten percent. While I really don't believe that it was Reagan's intention for that to happen, the fact is that the conservative tax polices of Reagan that have been doubled down on a number of times from conservatives is what has led us to this point. The worst thing about it is that it has not helped any Americans other than the well to do. Everyone else has taken it on the chin. Bernie is just the beginning. If we do not begin to help see to it that all Americans benefit from our increased productivity, then Bernie Sanders will only be the precursor to what we can expect to see in the future of Democratic politics.