DUmmy proud2BDUmb Laments The Triumph Of Reagan

[GOBUCKS]

proud2BlibKansan  (1000+ posts)        Fri Aug-05-11 03:51 PM
Original message
30 Years Ago Today: The Day the Middle Class Died By Michael Moore
From time to time, someone under 30 will ask me, "When did this all begin, America's downward slide?" They say they've heard of a time when working people could raise a family and send the kids to college on just one parent's income (and that college in states like California and New York was almost free). That anyone who wanted a decent paying job could get one. That people only worked five days a week, eight hours a day, got the whole weekend off and had a paid vacation every summer. That many jobs were union jobs, from baggers at the grocery store to the guy painting your house, and this meant that no matter how "lowly" your job was you had guarantees of a pension, occasional raises, health insurance and someone to stick up for you if you were unfairly treated.

Young people have heard of this mythical time -- but it was no myth, it was real. And when they ask, "When did this all end?", I say, "It ended on this day: August 5th, 1981."

Beginning on this date, 30 years ago, Big Business and the Right Wing decided to "go for it" -- to see if they could actually destroy the middle class so that they could become richer themselves.

And they've succeeded.

On August 5, 1981, President Ronald Reagan fired every member of the air traffic controllers union (PATCO) who'd defied his order to return to work and declared their union illegal. They had been on strike for just two days.

more . . . http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/30-...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1671938
It was one of the bravest and wisest decisions an American president has ever made.

Sarah Ibarruri  (1000+ posts)        Fri Aug-05-11 03:52 PM
Response to Original message
1. THREE FRIKKIN DECADES. He's 100% correct.

Yes, he was. Reagan, that is.
Sarah Imaboobi blames Reagan for her inability to keep a boyfriend.
 
 

no_hypocrisy  (1000+ posts)      Fri Aug-05-11 03:55 PM
Response to Original message
3. Reagan hadn't been in office even eight months before he showed his true colors.
He never promised this when he campaigned.

I think his action was implicit in his oath of office.
 

truebrit71  (1000+ posts)        Fri Aug-05-11 03:55 PM
Response to Original message
4. Just one more reason to despise that miserable excuse for a human...
..His girlfriend in Britain was no better....**** them BOTH... 

Britain was, and is, a pretty inconsequential country, but Margaret Thatcher was one of
the greatest statesmen of her generation.


DUmmy ThomWV, his hands shaking as he grips his necklace of self-extracted teeth:

ThomWV  (1000+ posts)        Fri Aug-05-11 03:55 PM
Response to Original message
5. Just the name Ronald Reagan makes my blood boil.
Filthy union-busting asshole.

Does anyone need a better reason to cherish the memory of Presidnet Reagan?


DUmmy villager is on the nutcase nadin bandwagon:

villager (1000+ posts)      Fri Aug-05-11 03:59 PM
Response to Original message
6. absolutely -- and the Dems started their crave enabling then, too
...and, sadly, haven't let up, either.

Both parties have been complicit in the now-irrevocable collapse of American empire...

Makes me want to throw out.

 

Dappleganger  (1000+ posts)      Fri Aug-05-11 03:59 PM
Response to Original message
7. Interesting, just yesterday I was sharing this info with my daughter
who wanted to know when unions had begun their downward spiral in this country, and this is just what I'd told her: it happened when Reagan fired the air traffic controllers when they went on strike. Everything else has been downhill. Our kids will probably never know just how big a part that unions played in the lives of the middle class.

DUmmy Dappleganger's daughter bouncy reminds me of Jimmeh, in his debate with Reagan. He claimed his 12-year-old daughter Amy (who grew up to beauty rivalling that of Chelsea Clinton) had told him the most important issue on her mind was controlling nuclear proliferation.

 

whatchamacallit  (1000+ posts)        Fri Aug-05-11 04:02 PM
Response to Original message
11. Well Reagan's biggest fan occupies the White House now
Lucky us.

More blasphemy from the far left fringe.
 
 

FiveGoodMen  (1000+ posts)        Fri Aug-05-11 04:02 PM
Response to Original message
12. I would argue that it died just after that
When 'Murkins woke up from their Morning-in-America hangover and DIDN'T say, "What the F... Why did we vote for that piece of shit? How do we get rid of him?"

There are some terrible players behind the scenes but don't forget that your worthless, traitorous, mother****ing neighbors voted for this again and again and again.

We're a lot more screwed up than we realize.

When those stupid Murkins woke up, they reelected President Reagan in the most massive landslide in American history. Had it not been for the Constitutional prohibition, he would have easily won a third term, and then a fourth, had he not been stricken by terminal illness.

[Karin]

I did not get past the first line of P2BDumb's post.    Anne and Moore, too. 

[franksolich]

History's already judged; what the primitives think doesn't matter.

Ronald Reagan was one of the two greatest American presidents of the 20th century.

Shove that up your rectal apertures and smoke it, primitives.

(side note: in 1980, during the Republican presidential primaries, I didn't think Reagan stood a chance of beating the Incompetent One, and so I supported George Bush, whom I figured had a better chance.

(One of those instances where I didn't feel badly about being proven wrong.)

[JohnnyReb]

Well DUmmies.....awh hell, why waste the bandwidth.

[franksolich]

Well DUmmies.....awh hell, why waste the bandwidth.

How well I remember.

In 1980 I was young, and the future looked bleak, for myself personally and for America as a whole.

We were in retreat all over the world, spiraling inflation seemed to be permanent, the socialists were winning, the Democrats seemed destined to be the majority in Congress forever and ever, corruption was rampant, the ancient western values that had civilized the world were in decay, the Age of Aquarius was six years underway.

I wasn't interested in winning; I was interested only in staving off what seemed the inevitable for as long as possible.  I didn't think Reagan could win, and so even though my own values were more matched to his than to Bush's, I figured Bush had a chance to win, although the best one could hope for was a slowing-down of our decay and decadence.

We were doomed, but it was important to keep doomsday away as long as possible; to hang on.

Fortunately, my then-attitude was not the popular attitude.  I wasn't paying attention; those people whom I considered smart people, those people whom I considered "in the know," were backing Reagan, but I ignored that.  I just wanted the Incompetent One out of the White House, and so voted for Bush in the primary.

I don't regret doing it--I always liked, and still like, George Bush--but I'm very grateful I was wrong; I'm very grateful that my attitude was distinctly a minority attitude.

[GOBUCKS]

I remember feeling incredulous when I heard he had fired the PATCO morons.
People that dumb should not be controlling the movement of aircraft.

I could hardly believe that any politician would dare stand up to the union thugs.
It had never happened before.

And then I could hardly believe that he actually made it stick. It was a bigger turning point in history
than the chants at the hockey game in Lake Placid.

[ReaganForRushmore]

What Moore failed to report(as with all Libs)is that Federal employees are enjoined from striking. PATCO
thought they were invincible(They controlled the skies after all). Reagan told them to report back to work,
the majority didn't and the rest is history. When the Boss says go back to work, you go back to work or suffer the consequences.

But then again, how many DUmmies work?

[USA4ME]

Dappleganger

Interesting, just yesterday I was sharing this info with my daughter who wanted to know when unions had begun their downward spiral in this country, and this is just what I'd told her: it happened when Reagan fired the air traffic controllers when they went on strike.

Oh, it happened a few years before that.  In the 70's when the Teamsters and the UMWA and the Steel Workers were all going on strike and causing work stoppages/slowdowns, and then they were getting violent and shooting at "scaps" and threatening their families, they angered a lot of Americans who, up to that point, had either been on their side or were somewhat neutral.  The unions did it to themselves.

What caused the unions to weaken in the 80's wasn't Reagan as much as it was the stagflation (high intereest rates and high unemployment) created by the Carter years.  Volker kept pusing up the rates to head off inflationary pressures, which meant unions needed to give concessions in order to keep their jobs.  Reagan didn't want anything to do with higher interest rates, as any president wouldn't, and history accurately reports that he wasn't happy with Volker keeping rates high.  So Reagan can hardly be to blamed for the economy that weakened the unions.

.

[DumbAss Tanker]

What Moore failed to report(as with all Libs)is that Federal employees are enjoined from striking.

Yes, though 'Enjoined' might make the unknowledgeable reader think a court order was involved somewhere, when actually such strikes are simply and directly prohibited by Federal statute.  And as for the job losses, well, that had more to do with the unGodly mess The Incompetent One, Sr., had made of things than it did with President Reagan's successful attempt to recover the disaster.

[tanstaafl]

Quote

Sarah Ibarruri  (1000+ posts)        Fri Aug-05-11 03:52 PM
Response to Original message
1. THREE FRIKKIN DECADES. He's 100% correct.

Yes, he was. Reagan, that is.
Sarah Imaboobi blames Reagan for her inability to keep a boyfriend.

Actually, Sexy Sarah is still kinda stringing the horrid (but good in bed) right wing boyfriend along. The enticing minx is apparently keeping the right winger at arms length, far enough away to claim independence from his political influence, but close enough to entice an occasional roll in the hay.

[MoshMasterD]

ThomWV  (1000+ posts)        Fri Aug-05-11 03:55 PMResponse to Original message 5. Just the name Ronald Reagan makes my blood boil. Filthy union-busting asshole.

ThomWV- The President of John Hinkley Jr. Fan Club, Morgantown Chapter

[Tucker]

I wonder if they'll blame obama for destroying both the teachers and public sectors union.

[RWKindaGuy]

How well I remember.

In 1980 I was young, and the future looked bleak, for myself personally and for America as a whole.

We were in retreat all over the world, spiraling inflation seemed to be permanent, the socialists were winning, the Democrats seemed destined to be the majority in Congress forever and ever, corruption was rampant, the ancient western values that had civilized the world were in decay, the Age of Aquarius was six years underway.

I wasn't interested in winning; I was interested only in staving off what seemed the inevitable for as long as possible.  I didn't think Reagan could win, and so even though my own values were more matched to his than to Bush's, I figured Bush had a chance to win, although the best one could hope for was a slowing-down of our decay and decadence.

We were doomed, but it was important to keep doomsday away as long as possible; to hang on.

Fortunately, my then-attitude was not the popular attitude.  I wasn't paying attention; those people whom I considered smart people, those people whom I considered "in the know," were backing Reagan, but I ignored that.  I just wanted the Incompetent One out of the White House, and so voted for Bush in the primary.

I don't regret doing it--I always liked, and still like, George Bush--but I'm very grateful I was wrong; I'm very grateful that my attitude was distinctly a minority attitude.

I also remember it well.  I had a wife and two young kids, a mortgage I had just started at 18 percent, and was waiting in line every other day for gas.  The future looked bleak indeed.  Then came President Reagan.  The rest is history.  So as far as I'm concerned (having actually lived through it) the primitives can go pound sand.  They don't know their a** from a hole in the ground.

[GOBUCKS]

I just could not conceive of a politician with the courage to stand up to orgnized labor thuggery and make his rhetoric stick. During the disastrous years of Jimmeh, I had with my own two beady eyes watched union thugs throw handfuls of roofing nails onto a roadway, and flog cars with lengths of 2X4, while sheriff's deputies simply stood by and watched. The vulgar, simian power of organized labor was outside the law and politically invulnerable.

President Reagan turned that reality on its head, overnight.

[diesel driver]

I also remember it well.  I had a wife and two young kids, a mortgage I had just started at 18 percent, and was waiting in line every other day for gas.  The future looked bleak indeed.  Then came President Reagan.  The rest is history.  So as far as I'm concerned (having actually lived through it) the primitives can go pound sand.  They don't know their a** from a hole in the ground.

I had married in 1979, financed a house at 17.9%, settled in to be a dairy farmer on my dad's farm.

Gas lines weren't a problem, we could get all we wanted, but paying (at the time) over $1.00/gal. made it rough.  We signed up for Carter's PIK (Payment In Kind) program, which paid farmers in grain for what they didn't produce that year, to raise the price of corn by eliminating the surplus.  We couldn't plow those fields, plant an alternative crop, or graze them (but the cows did "get in" a time or 2  ). 

We found out later that if and when corn went above a target price (which it did), WE HAD TO PAY FOR THE CORN WE "BOUGHT" FROM THE GOVERNMENT!

Long story short, the farm declared Chapter 11, and I started driving a truck for a living.

To this day, I hate and distrust DIMS to the degree if one told me the sky was blue, I'd look to make sure.

[RockMan]

Too bad Anne doesn't realize that Reagan's biggest fanboy is her president right now.

[redwhit]

I was a fairly young sprat back then (barely double digits) and I simply couldn't wrap my head around the fact that people were mad because the air-traffic controllers were getting fired for doing something illegal.  After all, when you break the law, bad things are supposed to happen to you, right?

[BlueStateSaint]

I was a fairly young sprat back then (barely double digits) and I simply couldn't wrap my head around the fact that people were mad because the air-traffic controllers were getting fired for doing something illegal.  After all, when you break the law, bad things are supposed to happen to you, right?

You're acting as if you have common sense, redwhit.  These are DUmb****s we're posting about here.

[redwhit]

You're acting as if you have common sense, redwhit.  These are DUmb****s we're posting about here.

Yeah, I gotta work on that, huh?

[diesel driver]

I was a fairly young sprat back then (barely double digits) and I simply couldn't wrap my head around the fact that people were mad because the air-traffic controllers were getting fired for doing something illegal.  After all, when you break the law, bad things are supposed to happen to you, right?

I was the same way, watching the anti-Vietnam war protests on TV at colleges.  I wondered why these idiots were throwing rocks at police and setting stuff on fire, when they should be in class.

[Wineslob]

proud2BlibKansan  (1000+ posts)        Fri Aug-05-11 03:51 PM
Original message
30 Years Ago Today: The Day the Middle Class Died By Michael Moore
From time to time, someone under 30 will ask me, "When did this all begin, America's downward slide?" They say they've heard of a time when working people could raise a family and send the kids to college on just one parent's income (and that college in states like California and New York was almost free).


Really? That's about the time I had to quit and go to work fumigating rice because the cost of Junior College tripled along with book costs. I was too young to understand the destruction Teachers Unions were causing.

 That anyone who wanted a decent paying job could get one. That people only worked five days a week, eight hours a day, got the whole weekend off and had a paid vacation every summer.

Think again, shit-for-brains. I did the rice stint for 3 years making $3.25 an hour, 8 10-hours a day 6 days a week.

That many jobs were union jobs, from baggers at the grocery store to the guy painting your house, and this meant that no matter how "lowly" your job was you had guarantees of a pension, occasional raises, health insurance and someone to stick up for you if you were unfairly treated.

Ya shithead, a bagger made 3x more than me........................oh wait...what were the dues? Well, even after dues they made a ton, for an un-skilled job.

Young people have heard of this mythical time -- but it was no myth, it was real. And when they ask, "When did this all end?", I say, "It ended on this day: August 5th, 1981."

Beginning on this date, 30 years ago, Big Business and the Right Wing decided to "go for it" -- to see if they could actually destroy the middle class so that they could become richer themselves.

Really? This was about the time (1985) I got the job I still have. The only people I see destroying the middle class is the DUmbocraps.
And they've succeeded.

They seem hell-bent, don't they Mikey?
On August 5, 1981, President Ronald Reagan fired every member of the air traffic controllers union (PATCO) who'd defied his order to return to work and declared their union illegal. They had been on strike for just two days.