the above-posted video titled 'Who Stole the American Dream'. In fact, it was so interesting (to me) that I considered doing an OP on it. Just never seemed to find the time.
Every member here knows all too well about the current depressingly abysmal state of our middle class. And most, if not all of us can also identify a number of pivotal points in the recent past that led to how we got here. However, 'Who Stole the American Dream' goes into much greater detail, unraveling many seemingly innocuous events, that in hindsight were actually concerted efforts by corporate interests to undo all of the protections put in place by FDR.
The author begins the interview (about 6+ minutes in) by saying (paraphrasing) "This is not the book I set out to write. The book I planned to write, in my contract w/my publisher, was going to be titled 'The Dream At Risk.' So I started out w/the notion that the middle class is in a lot of trouble... he goes on to describe the problems... But as I got further into it, I said to myself, this did not just happen to the middle class; this was done to the middle class".
The 1971 'Powell Memorandum' plays a huge role in all of this. The memo, written by Lewis Powell, a former corporate lawyer, former Director of the US Chamber of Commerce, (and later on) SCOTUS member, basically served as a tactical playbook for pretty much all of the class assaults that have taken place ever since.
In case anyone is interested, here is some further info on Powell and the memo. But please watch the video! It is time well spent, Imho.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_F._Powell,_Jr.
http://billmoyers.com/content/the-powell-memo-a-call-to-arms-for-corporations/
http://reclaimdemocracy.org/powell_memo_lewis/
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