Reagan Set Up The Death Of The Middle Class, But China Was The Clincher

[unhappycamper]

http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/dave-johnson/58654/reagan-set-up-the-death-of-the-middle-class-but-china-was-the-clincher

Reagan Set Up The Death Of The Middle Class, But China Was The Clincher
Economic Policy
by Dave Johnson | September 30, 2014 - 9:44am

~snip~





Conservative policies transformed the United States from the largest creditor nation to the largest debtor nation in just a few years, and it has only gotten worse since then.





Working people’s share of the benefits from increased productivity took a sudden turn down.





This resulted in intense concentration of wealth at the top.





And forced working people to spend down savings to get by.

[pscot]

1. The blockheads took over

when they elected Reagan.

[appal_jack]

2. MFN status for China was granted by Clinton

I agree that Reagan was a pivotal actor (see what I did there?) in the destruction of the Middle Class. However, it started well before him, certainly under Nixon as the Treasury was emptied to pay for the Vietnam War, maybe earlier (Chris Hedges traces it back to the early 20th Century, basically as soon as the Middle Class formed in America).

While it's worthwhile to focus on particularly evil Republicans like Nixon and Reagan, too many Democrats have been willing players in the hollowing out of our country as well. Particularly, Bill Clinton reneged on his campaign promises about the Middle Class & China, granting China Most Favored Nation trading status in 1994:

http://tech.mit.edu/V114/N27/china.27w.html

This + NAFTA (plus too many other venal moves to mention) defines the Clinton legacy for me.

-app