Being essentially a lazy lout who hates the thought of actually doing hard research...sorry, I was researched out years ago in grad school... I would like to offer a chronology of what I have observed in my adult life, as well as my analysis of the consequences of the events that I plan to place in chronological order.
I should tell you that my bias in my remarks is based upon my murky childhood memories of living in a project house and later in a variety of working class neighborhoods where people actually sat on their front porch at night and visited with their neighbors. There was no money; there was a neighborhood bar on most corners, and there was a tremendous sense of community. Alas, it is my belief and bias that we have lost our sense of community in the United States.
1960's: An idyllic time when our nation and its citizens saw relative prosperity. Working people were respected, unions were strong, people had pensions, one could rear a family, have a car and a house and an annual vacation on one paycheck. Mom could be a full time mom and nurture/rear her children for their benefit and more globally speaking the benefit of society.
1970's: The pox of Vietnam first expanded, then diminished. We spent money that we did not have...just as we are doing today...on a war that never needed to be fought. As a Vietnam vet...Blackhorse, Cambodian border, An Loc, 1969-70, this is a particularly poignant memory and time for me. I was to be numb emotionally...I really, really craved this...for many decades, and in many respects until today I still wish to be numb. (Ladies, this is what gives rise to the opinion of some that the only emotion that we men can feel is physical pain). I confess to having only a blurry remembrance of the 1970's, but as I ponder, I have vague recollections of hyperinflation and most importantly, a remembrance that it was a time where workers became commodities. It was a time, as I recall when pensions became passe; worker loyalty to the company meant nothing; where unions were busted at worst and dis-respected at best and where the seeds for the demise of middle class worker bees were planted.
1980's: A decade rang in by a good man, Pres. Carter and then ran into the ground by a movie star, Pres. Reagan. This was a decade that is glamorized by many today, but the reality of this decade was much different than the popular beliefs of today would tell us. Pres. Reagan talked one game and walked another. He created the bogus supply side economic theory which is preached and extant today. This is a self-defeating economic belief...it is a belief because it has no objective basis in reality. It was a decade where the demise of the American worker bee middle class was sealed. It was a decade of union busting and disinformation. In my opinion, excepting economic bubbles, the 1980's were the years that sealed the demise of the working class.
1990's: this was the decade of the big dog, Pres. Clinton. They were happy years and our economic success during this decade was built upon illusion. The big economic downside of the 1990's was NAFTA and its ilk, which guaranteed the export of good American manufacturing jobs. I liked Pres. Clinton, but he knowingly or unknowingly sold the American working class down the river.
2000's: The era of King George. The era of wars that never needed to be fought. The era of unfunded wars, unfunded Medicare prescription drug programs. The era of hiding economic disaster with "supplementals". The era of incompetence in government. The decade where our inattention to public education finally kicked in by providing the wealthy and the conservative individuals in our country with a large crop of ignorant worker bees who had never learned any critical thinking skills and were very trainable by the likes of FOX News. Enough said.
2010's: this is a beginning decade that started for many with great hope. Citizens United, et. al. have objectively crushed those hopes, but many still pretend to have hope. It has started as a decade where we have the best government that money can buy. Virtually all of Washington is controlled by those who have the money. Good luck worker bees. Change must occur. A reformation of the Democratic party? A third party to emerge that reflects and supports the interests of the working class in America? I don't know. I hope for enlightened government that protects working people by creating tariff reform that creates an even playing field for American business. I hope for a government that passes legislation that enables workers to collectively bargain. I hope for a government the is more Roosevelt like rather than Hoover like. We will see.
You see, my friends, even lazy louts can reflect upon the history of our times. May God bless the American worker. May God damn the ignorant tea partiers and the greedy, narcissistic Repub...and some Dem...politicians.