Bill Moyers Journal: The American Dream In Reverse?

[babylonsister]

Just started here in TX: check your local listings.

The American Dream In Reverse?

Are we living in a second gilded age? Yes, according to historian Steven Fraser, one of Bill Moyers’ guests on the JOURNAL this week.

“Basically, we left the financial marketplace largely unregulated – a tendency which had begun under Reagan and continued at an accelerated pace all through the years since Reagan, including under the Clinton administration... When push comes to shove, businessmen and their financial enablers may talk the talk about the free market. But when times get tough, they turn to the government to bail them out... That is this close, almost incestuous relationship between business and government.”

Bill Moyers also spoke with columnist Holly Sklar about the difficulties many workers face in trying to earn a living wage. She said:

“We’ve been living the American dream in reverse... Adjusting for inflation, average wages are lower than they were in the 1970s. Our minimum wage, adjusting for inflation, is lower than it was in the 1950s. One of the things going on is that income and wealth inequality have gone back to the 1920s. We are back at levels that we saw right before the Great Depression.”

On the ground in Los Angeles, the JOURNAL introduced Jaron Quetel, a young union member struggling to make ends meet. He said:

“Working the best job I’ve ever had in my whole life, I’m still a breath away from drowning. I’m $20 away from being on the street. I am one car payment away from being re-poed. I’m barely surviving. I’m leading a substandard lifestyle because I make substandard wages... If I wasn’t trying, if I was a screw-up, if I was taking advantage of things, I couldn’t complain. But what more can I do at this point?”

more...

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/blog/2008/06/the_american_dream_in_reverse.html

[rurallib]

1. Just finished here. It was great

I am so fucking mad at what has happened. And yet we as dems continue to let ourselves be split. We need to stick together on a core set of issues.

[OhioChick]

2. Good Read....Greedy-Ass Corporations...

"Enough is Enough." :mad:

Many good comments following the article:

"I really do think the middle class is suffering. 4 years ago, I lost my IT job to outsourcing to India. Many co-workers ended out taking jobs (doing the same work they did before) at half the wages they made one year before. I worry about my children just starting out. I am so tired of seeing the wealthy get richer. Men like Bill Gates appear to be humanitarian by giving large sums to philanthropy, but still continue to support corporate and personal greed."

K&R

[a kennedy]

3. I cried through the whole thing.....

I'm just so emotional these days.....I'm so afraid of what really IS going to happen.....such a bad financial situation, all the weather problems, and the election... ..I'm just so emotional about everything. :cry: :cry: :cry:

[babylonsister]

9. Aww, it's about to change. Didn't you get that message?

:hug: Keep your chin up and cry on my shoulder whenever you need to. :hug:

[a kennedy]

11. Thank you

and I know, change, change, change, OBAMA 08 !!! and thank babylonsister :hug:

[OhioChick]

4. What Station is "The JOURNAL on?

I kept thinking it was PBS for some reason. :shrug:

[babylonsister]

6. Yes, PBS, but it depends on where you are when it comes on. nt

[OhioChick]

8. Damn...I Probably missed it....

EST here....

[IrishBloodEngHeart]

5. Moyers is 1000 times the journalist Russert was

but when he passes, there will be no fanfare from ABC/CBS/NBC/FOX news organizations.

(on edit, i called him Russell, was thinking of my dog I just fed!)

[babylonsister]

7. Do you mean Russert? If you're going to trash him, at least get his name straight. nt

[OhioChick]

10. "Russell" Who?

:shrug:

[TahitiNut]

12. Your dog's a journalist?

:wow: Wow!

[Cleita]

13. That was such an excellent program.

I don't know how we are going to turn things around to how they were in the fifties and sixties. Back then you could survive on minimum wage and unions were strong keeping up good wages and there were good labor laws on the books. I thought we still had a long way to go then to get women's wages commensurate with men's and breaking down racial barriers to good jobs, but we have fallen back to the robber baron era it seems.

[babylonsister]

14. The term 'the gilded age' struck a cord, but so did the thinking that

it might be about over. We can hope.

[lordsummerisle]

15. That was the best Journal I have seen yet

and Bill had two very articulate guests who effectively brought out their points. One of the posters mentioned how emotional it was, and I'd have to agree...

[DCKit]

16. Hey, last Sunday wasn't a horrible show...

but I'd bet he'd have had different guests had he known. But he had a lot of good guests all the time.

Personally, I had issues with TR. In the larger picture, he kept some - no I can't. He was wired into the

[Vinca]

17. Yesterday I was reading job ads in the local paper and noticed

a small wallpaper factory in a town 20 miles away was looking for workers. After I got over the shock there was an actual manufacturing plant within the borders of this country, I looked at the wages: $7.50 an hour. $7.50 an hour! And you have to be able to lift 40 lbs. with ease. Gas is $4.09 a gallon so it would cost a person from my town more than an hour's work just to get to and from the job in the average car. Idiotic.