When we are forced into working for less money than supports a family, we are in essence slaves. This has been the GOP game plan since Reagan.
1980-1992
- Unions are weakened, toward the long-range goal of driving down ALL wages. Most people don't notice or care b/c they aren't in a union.
- Feminism in the 60s and 70s encourages more women to enter the workforce. The GOP decries this threat to the American family structure, but that doesn't stop GHW Bush from bragging that "family income" went up during the Reagan years. Yep, real wages shrank but families had more income b/c more wives had started working.
1993-2000
- Jobs are lost by outsourcing jobs to low-cost countries. People start to notice this but are lulled by their ability to buy cheaper goods.
- Real wages actually rose slightly during this era, but a more significant "wealth effect" is derived from the increasing value of 401ks and homes.
2001-2008
- Offshoring accelerates, but luckily for the GOP a national disaster provides them with both an excuse for a poor economy and a jobs program for the unemployed (aka the US military).
- Lower interest rates and increasing home values allow many to augment their lagging incomes by refinancing and taking money out of their homes. This helps disguise the fact that wages are trending down again.
2008
- The housing bubble pops. The entire country realizes it is up sh*t creek without a paddle. Their houses are worth half of what they were worth a year ago (even if they had owned the house for a long time and had never refinanced with a risky loan or taken money out of the house), their 401ks have tanked, and their towns, counties, and states are devastated by failed investments and decreased tax bases due to unemployment and lower home values, at the exact same time that citizens' needs for government services skyrockets.
2009 - present
- An angry country elects a change agent for President. Not only is he a Democrat, he is (shudder) black. The GOP suddenly pivots - now the most important problem in the country is deficits. Governments must not spend more money than they have. Government employees must not have better wages and benefits than private workers - who of course have seen their wages and benefits tank due to outsourcing. Governments must not increase their deficits by providing assistance to the hordes of unemployed and underemployed people around the country. These policies, where implemented, work against federal efforts at stimulus. The resulting slowness of recovery is then blamed on the President. Wages continue to slide.
- The Epitome of Wall Street is nominated as GOP candidate for president. His solution: to return to the policies that crushed our economy in the first place. Capital trumps labor. Corporations are people, my friends! Corporate-controlled media present that as a viable choice. Vote for slavery, Peasants!