What "Great Again" means

[Politruk]

When Trump says, "Make America Great Again," whatever he means by it, I'm sure what is white working-class followers hear is a return to the golden age from WWII to the mid-1970s, when for the first time in history the distinction between the middle class and the working class faded, and it was possible for a white man, at least, who had only a high-school education to earn a middle-class income through manual labor, live in the 'burbs, own two cars, and send the kids to college. An American economy of broadly shared prosperity. "Guys like us we had it made! Those were the daaays!"

A return to those conditions is probably impossible, because too many of the high-wage low-skill manufacturing jobs have been offshored to countries with cheaper labor, or eliminated entirely by automation, and because most of the labor unions that kept working-class wages high have been marginalized or destroyed.

Does anyone see a way broadly shared prosperity could be restored?

 

[Bn2f]

Does anyone see a way broadly shared prosperity could be restored?

Tax the rich.
If the welfare gap continues to increase, and it is, then taxing those with earnings of 500-750k and above is a must and not a hypothetical question for an economic class.

 

[Politruk]

Tax the rich.
If the welfare gap continues to increase, and it is, then taxing those with earnings of 500-750k and above is a must and not a hypothetical question for an economic class.

But then do what with the revenue? How can it be spent so as to provide the unskilled and unskillable majority with the chance to earn a middle-class income?

 

[Bn2f]

But then do what with the revenue? How can it be spend so as to provide the unskilled and unskillable majority with the chance to earn a middle-class income?

Don’t think finding ways to fund job skills education is the problem. We have a political party that feels public education is a waste and be better served if that money allocated by the government went into the pockets of their high dollar donors wanting to privatize education.

 

[Politruk]

Don’t think finding ways to fund job skills education is the problem. We have a political party that feels public education is a waste and be better served if that money allocated by the government went into the pockets of their high dollar donors wanting to privatize education.

Well, that's not gonna help anybody earn a middle-class income.

 

[Typo Fu Master]

When Trump says, "Make America Great Again," whatever he means by it, I'm sure what is white working-class followers hear is a return to the golden age from WWII to the mid-1970s, when for the first time in history the distinction between the middle class and the working class faded, and it was possible for a white man, at least, who had only a high-school education to earn a middle-class income through manual labor, live in the 'burbs, own two cars, and send the kids to college. An American economy of broadly shared prosperity. "Guys like us we had it made! Those were the daaays!"

A return to those conditions is probably impossible, because too many of the high-wage low-skill manufacturing jobs have been offshored to countries with cheaper labor, or eliminated entirely by automation, and because most of the labor unions that kept working-class wages high have been marginalized or destroyed.

Does anyone see a way broadly shared prosperity could be restored?

This thread is about what you believe the term means.

 

[Typo Fu Master]

Does anyone see a way broadly shared prosperity could be restored?

Instill a sense of pride at being American in every household. United we stand, divided we fall. I honestly don't have a lot of faith in this right now.

Encourage people to work together, but try to make sure each individual can handle themselves in a crisis. Safety nets are nice but not guaranteed.

 

[Politruk]

Instill a sense of pride at being American in every household. United we stand, divided we fall. I honestly don't have a lot of faith in this right now.

Encourage people to work together, but try to make sure each individual can handle themselves in a crisis. Safety nets are nice but not guaranteed.

Well, that's not gonna help anybody earn a middle-class income.

 

[Typo Fu Master]

I'm guessing you speak from experience?

 

[Politruk]

I'm guessing you speak from experience?

I've known a lot of people with middle-class incomes. None of them got there by taking pride in America.

 

[Wylie3]

Divided you will fall as the Orange turd is doing a good job at polarizing everyone, definitely no middle ground to unite and stand on.

 

[Politruk]

Divided you will fall as the Orange turd is doing a good job at polarizing everyone, definitely no middle ground to unite and stand on.

The ground we need to unite and stand on is far to the left of middle.

 

[YDB95]

Divided you will fall as the Orange turd is doing a good job at polarizing everyone, definitely no middle ground to unite and stand on.

There already was no middle ground. The only fundamental thing Trump changed was that he says the quiet part out loud. And that's why his cult is so utterly loyal to him: he made it OK to be openly bigoted for the first time in two generations.

 

[JohnEngelman]

Don’t think finding ways to fund job skills education is the problem. We have a political party that feels public education is a waste and be better served if that money allocated by the government went into the pockets of their high dollar donors wanting to privatize education.

If the rich do not spread their money by paying blue collar workers generous wages, they should be taxed in order to fund increases in domestic spending, such as public health care.

 

[Politruk]

Of course, an alternative and defensible interpretation is that "Great" really means "white."

 

[Politruk]

If the rich do not spread their money by paying blue collar workers generous wages, they should be taxed in order to fund increases in domestic spending, such as public health care.

That will help ordinary people get by -- but it's not going to create any high-wage low-skill jobs.