The Best time to be an American

[Oerets]

A time when the tax rates for the ultra rich was 50% or higher, Unions were at their strongest and a women was able to stay home with the kids because a man made a liveable wage. Cars were 100% American made and gas was cheap.

Lets talk about the 1950's a time when few will argue the U.S. was at a moment in greatness it would seem. A Republican was in the White House for most of the decade. Just though I'd through that in........

We had turned around from a depression through government stimulus spending in the previous decade. Building a strong infrastructure as a base for future growth. The schools and teachers are good and parents a partner to the child's education.

A worker could expect to work for a company their whole working career with a nice retirement at the end. Send their kid to collage for little money or with real aid from the government.

Boy we sure have improved in the last sixty years........ I know healthcare and advances in science have made life more comfortable but still we could maybe learn from looking at what our country had going back then.



Barney

[finnbow]

I know healthcare and advances in science have made life more comfortable but still we could maybe learn from looking at what our country had going back then.

Barney

It wasn't great if you were black or if you disliked "duck and cover" drills.;)

[bobabode]

I had a cool poster up that read like an official duck and cover from the civil defense folks until you got to the last line. "Place your head firmly between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye!":D

[finnbow]

One could argue that the mid '90's were better than the halcyon days of the 1950's. We weren't at war with anybody, running a budget surplus and the stock market was booming.

[Oerets]

I was aiming to make a point that at a time when unions were strong and government spending was greater along with taxes at high point. Things were better for most Americans. Regulations were in place to protect the average person also. Like the phone company and the airlines just to mention a few.

True there were plenty of negatives but over all things were good for most.

It just seems that with the weakening of unions and the lowering of tax rates the average American quality of life has suffered.

Barney

[Rex E.]

Utopian 50's talk......

Paging Bluestreak........Paging Bluestreak ........ ;)

[Oerets]

It wasn't great if you were black or if you disliked "duck and cover" drills.;)

Granted!

But it was the start of the equal rights movement was it not?


Barney

[BlueStreak]

A time when the tax rates for the ultra rich was 50% or higher, Unions were at their strongest and a women was able to stay home with the kids because a man made a liveable wage. Cars were 100% American made and gas was cheap.

Lets talk about the 1950's a time when few will argue the U.S. was at a moment in greatness it would seem. A Republican was in the White House for most of the decade. Just though I'd through that in........

We had turned around from a depression through government stimulus spending in the previous decade. Building a strong infrastructure as a base for future growth. The schools and teachers are good and parents a partner to the child's education.

A worker could expect to work for a company their whole working career with a nice retirement at the end. Send their kid to collage for little money or with real aid from the government.

Boy we sure have improved in the last sixty years........ I know healthcare and advances in science have made life more comfortable but still we could maybe learn from looking at what our country had going back then.



Barney

Then, in the 1960s those idiots Goldwater, Weyrich and Reagan launched a movement determined to "fix" all of that...................................:mad:

You don't think outsourcing has been a great boom to American industry, Barney?

(Yeah, me niether. Actually, it appears to have been a giant fucking disaster.)

What makes you think a bilionaire should have to pay any more taxes than you do?

(Oh, I dunno. Maybe 'cuz they can, and doing so gets a lot of stuff done, or at least it used to, before Republicans decided it was "so(c)ialism".)

What makes you think you should have a pension when other people don't?

(Why don't I have a pension when others do? Or, are pensions just another "perk" reserved for the privilged few who don't need them, like tax free income?)

Don't you want to put a stop to other people living off of your paycheck?

(No. I think we all live off of each others paychecks in one way or another. And if you put a stop to it, civilization grinds to a halt. No consumerism-no economy.)

:)

Dave

[BlueStreak]

Utopian 50's talk......

Paging Bluestreak........Paging Bluestreak ........ ;)

I don't think Barney is engaged in "utopia talk" at all. He's acknowledged that it wasn't perfect and I'd have to agree. There have always been problems, but to deny that economically we had a stronger industry and higher standard of living is denying the truth.

All through the 1950, '60s and '70s my old man raised a family of NINE on one bluecollar income. Then came St. Ronnie and the great republican revolution.

Try raising a family of nine on one bluecollar income now.............:rolleyes:

But, at least the 1%ers have a lighter tax load. PHEW! Thank God for that! (Where's that "sarcasm" smiley?)

Dave

[BlueStreak]

And just to beat Pete to the punch;

WW2 had something to do with that.

Dave

[merrylander]

And just to beat Pete to the punch;

WW2 had something to do with that.

Dave

And the GI Bill had a hell of a lot to do with giving us the technology lead.

[Oerets]

Grover Norquist let's not forget this mental midget, who would not allow for the stimulus spending required during WWII. Just cut the governments revenue, starve it and shrink it down...

Half the nation would be speaking German or Japanese today.:D




Barney

[bobabode]

Grover Norquist let's not forget this mental midget, who would not allow for the stimulus spending required during WWII. Just cut the governments revenue, starve it and shrink it down...Barney

Like what happened after the war to end all wars? After a decade of boozing and hyper inflation due to Wall street buggering any and everyone, we got the Thirties....

[JJIII]

Don!!! Where are you?

[d-ray657]

Don!!! Where are you?

Hey, I have a life. :D Our son picked out a pretty good Italian Restaurant in Lawrence for his birthday meal. The Chicken Marsala was very rich.

Regards,

D-Ray

[JJIII]

Hey, I have a life. :D Our son picked out a pretty good Italian Restaurant in Lawrence for his birthday meal. The Chicken Marsala was very rich.

Regards,

D-Ray

Sounds like a nice evening. We do appreciate the things you do for the site.

[BlueStreak]

Like what happened after the war to end all wars? After a decade of boozing and hyper inflation due to Wall street buggering any and everyone, we got the Thirties....

Ahhhh, the 1920s.................

Is it just me, or is every period of freewheeling, lassez faire capitalism follwed by a disasterous collapse? :rolleyes:

[Boreas]

Ahhhh, the 1920s.................

Is it just me, or is every period of freewheeling, lassez faire capitalism follwed by a disasterous collapse? :rolleyes:

It's not just you.

John

[icenine]

As Finnbow said the 1950s were a very mixed bag...African Americans in the South could not vote and still faced the aparthied of separate (and certainly not equal) accomodations and schools. Plessy vs.Ferguson was still in effect. I think Citizens United will probably be mentioned as perhaps the second worse decision of the Court behind Plessy vs Ferguson.
Interestingly enough LBJ as the Senate Majority leader and Eisenhower were able to work together to get Civil Rights Act of 1957 passed. Not as stong as LBJ's later Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s it did recognize the need to ensure voting rights in the South.
Too bad both Parties cannot work together today like Ike and LBJ could sometimes.

[Boreas]

Too bad both Parties cannot work together today like Ike and LBJ could sometimes.

Or Reagan and Tip O'Niell. Seems to be a pattern, Democratic legislatures working with Republican executives for the good of the country. Doesn't work the other way, though.

John

[piece-itpete]

Looking at Bush Jr, more like the Dems do what the GOP wants :p

Things were more expensive as a percentage of income overall in the 50s. 5 tv sets and 2 cars in a 2500 sf house? Rich. Think about it.

And just to beat Pete to the punch;

WW2 had something to do with that.

Dave

:D

Pete

[derekva]

As a point of fact, the civil rights movement started long before the 1950s; Eleanor Roosevelt made life difficult for FDR by being an outspoken proponent for civil rights for African Americans. On the other hand, the civil rights movement hadn't gotten very far by the 1950s, there was very little in the way of feminism and Dog help you if you were gay (or an athiest or Communist).

Oh, and FWIW, it's easy to have a booming economy where everyone gets a piece of the pie when you are the only major industrialized power that remained more-or-less untouched infrastructure & industry-wise by a 6 year (more if you count Japan vs. China) world war. This, of course, would bite the US in the ass in the 1970s and 1980s when our antiquated factories would have trouble competing with the factories built in Japan and Europe in the 1950s.

-D

[Oerets]

As a point of fact, the civil rights movement started long before the 1950s; Eleanor Roosevelt made life difficult for FDR by being an outspoken proponent for civil rights for African Americans. On the other hand, the civil rights movement hadn't gotten very far by the 1950s, there was very little in the way of feminism and Dog help you if you were gay (or an athiest or Communist).

Oh, and FWIW, it's easy to have a booming economy where everyone gets a piece of the pie when you are the only major industrialized power that remained more-or-less untouched infrastructure & industry-wise by a 6 year (more if you count Japan vs. China) world war. This, of course, would bite the US in the ass in the 1970s and 1980s when our antiquated factories would have trouble competing with the factories built in Japan and Europe in the 1950s.

-D

Welcome to Political Chat Derekva.

I agree somewhat in the U.S. took their eye off the ball and let the edge we enjoyed be lost. Thinking the advantage was ours alone, not modernizing equipment and using the newest technologies.
But the facts still remain higher tax rates and strong unions seem to be good for the country as a whole. A quick glance will show what lower tax rates on the ultra rich and weak labor has done for the U.S. middle class.




Barney

[merrylander]

Welcome to the funny farm, stop in on some of the other threads as there is some debate regarding the competence of American management. Add that to outdated factories and it completes the picture. As a matter of fact had management been on the ball they would have updated their equipment rather than sit about in smug ignorance.

[bobabode]

Welcome Derekva. Let me add Ike to the list of influential people who made a stand in regards to civil rights in the (gasp;)) 1940s. A Republican at that.:D Who's that in your avatar?

[BlueStreak]

Welcome.

Dave