"The forest was shrinking but the trees kept voting for the Axe, for the Axe was clever and convinced the trees that because his handle was made of wood, he was one of them." - Turkish proverb.
I am 69 and the current direction of the country scares me. It's not Trump that scares me as much as the large group of people that do not see the framework of facism being set. Examples: the Supreme court is playing games with the wording of law. They struck down Roe and that's after 5 justices lied about overturning Roe in their senate hearings. Yesterday they decided to play games with the immunity of the president. Justice Alito said he was not interested in the case brought before the court. WHAT? That I thought WAS what the court system is supposed to do. Many on the court are re-writing the laws which is NOT in their power to do. How about our government creating coups in many countries for our domination in those markers and those countries resources all for big AMERICAN companies. How about Bush inacting the patriot act for our protection. And then lying about WMDs to get us into war and at the same time allowing our INDUSTRIAL complex to make more money. One of the only divisions of government that has no accountability to the money it spends. Biden continues this today in supplying the Isreal government with more weapons. The presidency has gone sideways. Trump said over and over that Covid was not a threat & that everyone should get back to work to keep our economy good. Good for who? Anyone owning stock? That's limited to very few at the top. The stock market used to be the sign of the worth of a company. NOT like Trump is trying to do with his social media company and make a quick buck. Many in the house and esspecially the senate are their to make money off of the stock market. And lets not forget Citizens United. What a perfect way to allow big money to take ever our government. When did THE AMERICAN WAY become worshipping money instead of life itself? We as a country do not support struggling people and make it hard for the less fortunate to lead a life of happiness. Why are we playing with our beliefs? Many news outlets are trying to normalize hate and atrocities. In school we had fire drills but NEVER had shooter drills. What the hell? Gun manufacturers are making money while we allow our values in humanity to drift downward. Where are the hard lines we as Americans will not cross? I would say our worship of money and power have condemned us to the hell we are currently facing. Sadly!
@@thimkful But before the 80s, public opinion was strongly against that thinking, which kept them in check to a point. After the 80s, though, the public had been brainwashed into agreeing with that sentiment, which emboldened them.
As an Australian in Australia at the start of the Covid pandemic as a CEO of a company with over 1,000 workers I realised we could be in for a very rough times with a very big drop in sales revenue - I said to our CFO that our most valuable asset is our workers, they are what makes our business successful, I asked our CFO to develop a financial plan that would allow us to retain all of our staff through the pandemic, then I emailed all our staff to explain the dire situation and our plan to keep everyone employed but with the proviso that if our sales fell all staff including me the CEO and all management would have a pay reduction until the pandemic was over - this plan was extremely well received by all staff, the huge benefit for the business was at the end of the recession we had all our highly skilled staff still employed and we could immediately return to 100% production.
The same line the Dutch government took. As much as possible keep the employees employed so after the crisis you still have your qualified workforce. This strategy has worked out great, and employers still had their workers and did not have to put a lot of effort in building up a qualified staff from scratch.
@@transsexual_computer_faery It seems that at this moment a lot of Americans think that stupidity is a virtue. These folks have a club named the GOP. Seems you are a member.
Omg. He is explaining what I have been trying to say ever since Regan became president! I am 80 years old and have witnessed the destruction of the middle class by Big Business republicans since the early 80s!
It's democrats who is destroying us here is the proof when taxes were raised by a large amount by Eisenhower it took one person working to support a family of four after the big tax increase it soon went to two people working to support a family of four a big drop in liveing standards now with government bigger than ever before and more regulations on business than ever before two people working struggle to support a family of four and our debt grows by seven percent a year our economy little over two this is unsustainable and will destroy our nation because of Democrat greed vote out handout Democrats before it's to late our childrens future depend on it
Republicans are still trying to tell the average American middle and lower income earners that Reagan’s trickle down economics is in our best interest. It’s only in the interest of wealthy Americans and large corporations.
I was creamed by The Crash of 2008 -- lost my career, my health insurance, and almost all of my retirement investments at the age of 61. The government bailed out Wall St. and Corporate America, but private citizens had to find a way to recover independently. I had an affordable house, so my disabled son decided he needed to be my housemate and share all living expenses. I cooked from scratch, baked my own bread, started using homemade laundry detergent and hung my clothes outdoors to dry. We grew our own fruits and vegetables and gave up all single-use disposable paper and plastic products. My daughter jokes that I'm an escapee from a hippie commune. She's a Trumper, and despises me for my political and economic views. I'm financially okay now, still watching every dime. My town still has tent communities of seniors who never recovered ... but GM is doing just fine.
Hopefully your daughter will one day wake up from the "word drugs" tRump spreads around. And I sincerely congratulate you and your coping mechanisms, Kathryn. If that had happened to tRumpie, he would just cry and fill his diaper in a senior's home until someone fed him.
You do know that his NAFTA is a major cause of discontent among many a MAGA fan, right? Oh, you don't know. Between a good many of the MAGA crew and the likes of you, well, we are without hope...
The "people" who make *millions* of dollars a year being able to convince the people who make $60,000 a year that people who only make $10,000 a year are the problem was the biggest face palm I've ever seen.
@@WelstonDatcher There is only the one god; the god that has enough money and power behind it to force you either by fear or brainwashing to believe in it.
unions are not the problem.... the necessity of unions is. companies use to seek the loyality of their employees and reward same. somewhere along the way... that changed.
That would be a great thought in 1924 not so much in 2024. The union bosses are Democrats which mean they colluded with the company to get their kick-backs while they screw over the little guy. That's why someone that _does_ _nothing_ is better.
@@mjt1517 I have heard that many many times. And you know what? When I have dug deeper, most of those making that claim did something that the union can't defend them against, such as theft, vandalism at work, very poor attendance that they have been disciplined about before, repeated insubordination that they have been disciplined about before, things of that nature. Unions aren't about enabling employees to violate company rules, they are about preventing the employer from making up different rules for each employee. And of course, better wages, better benefits, a pension, seniority rights, accumulated paid sick leave, and accumulated vacation time.
Said a man that had to deal with a higher percentage of people hungry and out of a job than ANY other President this century - and who's "projects" are NOT what ended the Great Depression, they EXTENDED it. Without World War II, the Great Depression was on track to run WAY into the 1940s.
Yes except many who are supposedly hungry are often in the wellfare system and lack ambition & moyivation to move out of this system-:( It's a catch 22.
Plainly put, many of us are tired of watching some people eat caviar, live in mansions, sail around in yachts, have personal physicians and send their kids to Ivy League universities while we struggle to buy groceries, keep a roof over our heads, own a reliable car to drive to work, go to a doctor and send our kids to college. Having a society filled with glutinous overconsumption on one end and grinding poverty on the other end is both unsustainable and dangerous.
Weirdly, I can remember that we spent at least two decades of the 80s and the 90s WATCHING these people live in their mansions and sail their yachts on TV and in the papers, while we kept the roofs over our heads just barely, our unions and pensions went away, our health got worse as we could not afford the good food and medicine...we bought the lie! *(I didn't, you didn't, but as a culture, we bought the lie!)*
Those are all very legitimate concerns. Trump can not and will not address any of them. He is about promoting his business interests and retribution to his stated enemies. He can not govern.
@@fritzforsthoefel8031 A livable wage is what gave us the middle class in America, and unions are the only country wide organizations that are still fighting for a livable wage for the working class.
That's why whenever I see someone and get into a conversation, when we're done talking and say goodbye, I always say (for 40 years now) *_"Don't work too hard, nobody pays good enough for that..."_*
So according to you a person is an idiot to work hard enough to take a skilled job when all you have to do is drop out of school get a low skilled job and live good is that what your saying
It was so clear to me what a menace R.Reagan was. He pretended to be a nice man. He was as much a monster as Trump, and spent his administration rolling back progress. I feel lucky to have worked my way around that jerk, and gotten through without losing everything. Many people where I grew up lost everything. I credit Ronnie Reagan with a lot of what happened.
No, Reich is an individual who has expertise in one topic and thinks it makes them an expert on other topics. Much like we see with Elon Musk, and so many others. The hubris is breathtaking. There's so much, from a political perspective, that he pretends aren't there. We have tens of millions of theocrats in this country, and they vote according to Eamon religious views elevated to rule of law. 32% of Americans. The percentage is less than half that in the other advanced western nations. The rise of the theocratic right has a lot to do with how we got here. I marvel at how many ex-Republicans have now spoken out about the problem of theocracy in the Republican party. They aren't afraid to use terms such as theocrat, theocracy, etc. And yet there's this wing on the left that runs from such terms. Won't acknowledge the problem. Won't acknowledge what a threat to freedom it is. And that in itself is a serious problem. If he's going to speak politics, he needs to include the major political forces in this country. The ideologies. The number one predictor of someone being a Trump supporter is being authoritarian minded. One can't get at the roots of that through talking economics. I knew a business professor who claimed that he could understand everything, including the movement of the planets, through liking at everything as business transactions. Fortunately, NASA didn't use him for guiding space flight. It's that same sort of hubris. An intelligent person having so much knowledge on one subject that they believe their willful ignorance in another topic doesn't get in the way of them being expert on that other subject. Like Musk thinking he has any clue whatsoever regarding what freedom of speech actually entails. Or Zuckerberg & Co. flailing about with concepts of ethics and standards. Utterly clueless. Which detracts in no way from their actual intelligence, or the actual range of knowledge that they have.
I feel free with trump. Biden is letting in illegals many criminals and destroying our country . The blue states are the worst off and this professor wants to keep going in this direction
@@lonpollard902 interesting...but your idea doesn't rule out what Reich has been saying forever to those who would hear...All that you're saying isn't really a rebuttal...it's not AND/OR ....it's AND the money-minded theocracy is also a big part of the problem.....Makes me wonder why you need to negate Reich instead of seeing his value... Makes me also wonder if you yourself are doing exactly what you accuse Reich of.
I taught U.S. History in high school for 36 years. That's what made me choose the Democratic Party. I cheer each time I listen to you explain why we study history. Yes, it taught me that historically trickle down economics has never worked. It also taught me that unions are important to the working class. My father worked in an oil refinery and belonged to a labor union that he strongly supported. Although he was a registered Republican I truly believe there is no way he would support the economic policies of the Republicans today. Please keep giving us your videos. I've shred them with so many people. You explain things so well.
How can you vote for such an immoral party? Try actually reading our Constitution yourself. You would be amazed to see that our country is being turned into a fascist, communistic system. You don't know this because the airways are dominated by the Dems who are in power! (ABC NBC MSNBC CBS CNN). If you have the time, why not read Project 2025 instead of only listening to these fascistic hate mongers mangle the truth about it?
The kids who didn’t pay attention in history classes are the ones who support Trump today. It’s pretty horrifying how many personality traits Trump shares in common with history’s most infamous dictators. If people don’t wise the fuck up and start voting like their lives depend on it, we’re gonna be in serious trouble politically for the rest of our lives. Trump has already done away with so many important precedents and traditions set by the founders, and so many of the checks and balances on executive power. We need to stop the bleeding now or we’re gonna set ourselves on a path that can’t be reversed.
In your history search did you learn that Democrats were the beginning of the first KKK. They were Jim Crow. I was a Democrat until I learned their history
Minimum wage was three dollars an hour in nineteen eight it's now twenty in California nearly a seven hundred percent increase were you not aware of that
The right is about leaving people alone. The left wants to control how every community operates down to what thoughts you are allowed to share. If it is not clear, Republicans are socialist. Democrats are worse.
@@darrelldadamsYes, horrific, but every leader does it. But Jan 6 and “both sidesing” Charlottesville? Why doesn’t that attack on our republic drive all Americans away from Trump?
Thank you so much for bringing up unions. I worked for a multimillion dollar corporation as an Executive Assistant. Part of my job was to post anti union propaganda. I was sent weekly anti union propaganda newsletters to share with all managers. This same company had very few full time employees to avoid health insurance costs. I could go on and on about the anti worker policies. I encourage all young people, starting with my own daughter to only work for unionized companies. If they aren't for you they are against you regardless of the BS crumbs they throw you. Vote!!
I work for a large corporation and my job is a union position. Thanks to the union, I get a guaranteed raise and bonus every year, comprehensive, low-cost health insurance, excellent retirement benefits, protection against unfair discipline/being fired or laid off, and a say in policies and procedures. For me, being in a union provides a balance of power between employee and employer. The benefits outweigh the costs. However, I know that not all unions are as beneficial as the one that I am a member of.
In the little bitty town of Foster Oregon, there was once a Plywood Mill owned by Willamette Industries. The Murphy Lumber bought it. Out went the union because Murphy's is a union busting company. Murphy's propagandized, badgered their employees until the employees voted out a union. They wish they hadn't. Now too many employees work 6 days a week just to make ends meet. So much for union busting.
You could not have posted anti-union propaganda since they are not unions. They are now political party extensions. Why do you think Biden announced 100% EV Tariffs? Sucking that union Richard.
@@dianaolson7547 So WHY did the workers cave? WHY???? They knew what they had in their union. So they deserve what they have now. NO protection, NO decent benefits & low wages. It's really hard to have any sympathy when you vote against yourself & others!!!!! It's just ignorant..
I've had issues being ignored by employers, problems keeping jobs due to downsizing, companies going bankrupt, problems finding affordable housing! With all those negatives in my life, I didn't look towards Donald Trump as a savier! I am a Democrat and feel that's the Party who can help me!!
Reich speaks the same views as Marianne Williamson, who's on the ballot for president in about 40 states; yet, I am not aware of him ever mentioning her positions that are no different than his. Perhaps, he was too concerned about the fragmentation among voters that he feared would weaken the incumbent's chances and/or popularity still too frail.
I had a long conversation with Robert Reich when he was a dark horse candidate for Mass. Governor, and I was a newspaper editor. Smartest guy I ever met, beyond question.
@@kenashworth7672 an expression from over 150 years ago, by training a racehorse horse "in the dark" owners & trainers could enter it in a race and place bets at very favorable odds to win, since no one expected the horse to even be running in the race. So a human “Dark horse candidate” is one no one expected to even be in the political race, but has a good chance to win.
Robert Reich is a true Patriot. He has spent most his life speaking truth to power and educating people so they have a good understanding of how our government is supposed to work. He is absolutely brilliant, and one of the best legal minds of our time. Thank you Robert, for your exemplary service to our country. 💙
A true patriot who stop the invasion on the Southern border and as a lawyer enforce immigration laws and antitrust issues to stop the corporate control of the country. He is a propagandist
You are so right. Wages have gotten so far behind,. There is almost no such thing as pensions and unions so people can afford to retire. People have responded to this with anger and fear which fuels the path to dictatorship.
@lynnjudd9036 Exactly right. Trump, as bad as he is, is not the problem, he is a symptom. As a scarily relevant example, Hitler came to power even though he was considered a bit of a joke at the time, (sound familiar?) because of the horrendous economic conditions imposed upon Germany after WWI.
The support he has accrued, is a testament to how bad the education system is here in the US. Ever notice he has the most support in desolate, rural areas, where the education is not as proficient. When education lacks, critical thinking goes out the window. Why do you think they believe everything he says?
Yes it follows the old saying - keep them ignorant and keep them voting for you. Sadly it’s a repeat of the general situation that drove our ancestors to flee to the new world. Greed and indifference is lethal.
If you want education to be better you have to fund it. Teachers deserve your support. Also, in terms of history and how it is taught, this is a hard problem to fix, because wonderful, responsible, conservative history teachers teach what they were taught. I'll give you an example. I once saw a high school handout about John D. Rockefeller, that showed how much money he gave to charities, but did not mention anything about wages or profit margins. The critical question of how he got "as rich as Rockefeller" was never raised. This was from a role-model teacher who deserved her teacher of the year award. We can trace the ignorance concerning great wealth at least in part to the unions' decision to purge their socialist and communist members and buy into the capitalist system.
What’s unfounded about what he’s saying? You don’t seem to even know what socialism is. I’d hardly call a Rhode Scholar a mediocre intellect. Let’s compare your achievements by all means.
@@brianmclaughlin4419 Only socialism will save the working class Only socialism will save the country Only socialism will save democracy Only socialism will save the planet Capitalism destroys all of the above... this is FACT.
Socialists politicized labor in the early days because it's a necessary part of their underlying class-struggle schtick. They have to have oppressors and oppressed else they can't divide and conquer the masses. This strategy had little success in the west so they turned to finding oppressors and oppressed outside of economic classes. They continue to use economics to try to woo people into surrendering their wealth and liberties, but it only works on a certain percentage of the population. There's no power base there still in what remains of the west. That's why you get all this other socialist propaganda on every conceivable social issue nowadays. Even 'gender' is now politicized in the most insane way that few ever could have predicted. So, in terms of why Trump is popular, one answer I would give is that he seems to know the difference between a man and a woman, and this resonates with the portion of the population that is still somewhat rational.
Please Robert continue relentlessly explaining what happened 40 years ago! Reagan, Thatcher, right wing think tanks, salary stagnation, de-unionisation, tax reductions for the rich/enterprises, the middle class shrinking, etc.
Tax cuts for the wealthy & big corporations by every Republican administration since Reagan. Effectively transferring US Wealth to the wealthiest and weakening the Middle Class and everyone else. Republicans hate for FDR New Deal & later expansion by Johnson.
Yup! I'm constantly sharing these vids, so ppl Understand the Facts. Trump supporters will still argue. It's funny. Jesus Himself could come to Earth (like they want & all), & they're so busy hunched over Trump Bibles, w/ their Trump Sneakers, & Trump Prison Wine (up & coming) that they wouldn't even notice
The crooked SCOTUS says that judicial entities like Corporations and Unions are people and therefore have all rights that human persons have in the Bill of Rights. Though the SCOTUS ruled this nonsense in the 2010 Citizens United disaster, we have yet to see a CEO whose company went bankrupt be prosecuted for murder, or a startup Corporation that runs out of money and is aborted be prosecuted under Dobbs. The right-wing-nuts have weaponized the 1st Amendment to the detriment of our entire democratic system.
As Heather shared she kind of “lucked out” in her situation in 2008, my family experienced the opposite- as you said, we had sunk so much into a home, and in 2008 our income stopped due to a health issue (that took a year to resolve ). Our country bailed out the banks and corporations, but no one helped us. We lost everything including our home (and sadly eventually our marriage). All we needed was a little time. Our banks literally wouldn’t even answer the phone. They disappeared (until we bailed them out). Our income was from a major airline which could’ve offered support knowing the health issue would resolve. Again, they declared bankruptcy, screwed employees and yet got bailed out. The ripples continue as our kids have unplanned college debt as they try to make their way as adults. As a country we don’t discuss this recent history because corporations don’t want to remind us *they* are the ones who didn’t pull themselves up by their bootstraps. *They* got the government handout. Their workers got screwed. Thanks for actually discussing! I may be disillusioned, but I know going authoritarian is the exact wrong way to go!! 💙
I am sorry for your losses due to the oligarchy in charge at the time. It's hard to forgive such blatant greed! I hope your kids can get help with their debt and find a good path. We cannot give up on making things better and not allowing greed and power to win--together the collective can and must unite.Thanks for sharing your story!
As an American, when I look at other developed (and even some developing) countries, it seems that they are doing so much more for their people in regards to social safety nets, etc. Your comment surprises me, but I believe it.
@@yourdaddy-mq4km You don't like welfare, but you aspire to be rich like the Waltons who never paid their employees enough so that they weren't eligible for welfare and food stamps. If we thought fathers in the home would help we'd never have set up welfare so they couldn't be in the home. Do you know how much a mom with 3 kids collects when she's on welfare? Why do we think that the people who get the least are the one's who're getting the most?
That clip from 30 years ago is chilling to watch now and realize what was predicted then is a reality now. Just FYI, this radicalization of society and fierce tribalism is not unique issue to America, Europe suffers from similar fate for exactly same reason as described in the old clip.
The Trump supporters that I know weren't involved or all that interested in the political process before Trump. Most of them don't understand or care how the government operates - for instance how a bill becomes law. They certainly don't understand ideology. "Liberal" to them is nothing more than an insult they throw around like "snow flake". They don't know what fascism is I've heard them use fascist, Communist and socialist interchangeably. They support Trump simply because he told them it was okay to be an asshole. They don't have to be "politically correct" or "woke". He promised to protect them from "the blacks" and the scary LGBT community. He promised to build a wall to keep the brown people out and keep the white people safe.
We’ve single handedly destroyed our home off the backs of our children for bread and entertainment. Guess we will go to mars or pandora before we even reflect on what we have done to ourselves. That explains the throw out “democracy” vote. Democracy for what?
Most supporters are religious fundamentalists and therefore like worshipping an authoritative figure. However, most of what they engage with is surface level and performative. Therefore, they often have no strong conviction to their principles so long as they feel it gives them a better position over others.
I worked many years as top aide to a politician. When she started down the criminal path, I immediately quit. She ended up escaping prison because she got a sympathetic judge, although her husband was convicted. Our system needs to change...
This is one of the best ever. Robert you went right to the heart of the matter. The essential points to be understood. So important. Thank you Yoda master of the financial universe ✨️ 🙏 $ 🎉
I appreciate Robert Reich so much, and I applaud his prescience from 1994, but when I was a PoliSci student in the early 80s in Canada, I saw the writing on the wall - where America was heading. I knew, despite the fact I was born there, I would never live there again. I left America in Aug 1970 - think about those times, those yrs from 1963 to 1970 - and I knew by 1983 I would never again live in America. All my family, except one, has long since returned. Me? No way. I was right, and so was Aldous Huxley when he wrote "Brave New World Revisited" in 1958. I read that book in Korea in 2003, when Dubya, the unindicted war criminal, was savaging the world with his criminal regime. But thank you, Robert.
In 1979 the minimum wage in OH was $5.15/ hour. In 2019, the minimum wage in OH was $8.55/ hour. Barely a $3.00 increase in 40 years! You can totally thank Republicans for that; the party of greed and grievance. Under Fascism (Trump) this will only get worse!
Adjust it for time, and it's even worse. If they had just adjusted for inflation, even $5 would now be $24.91 per hour. So that is not an increase but a $17 loss. You CANNOT forget to adjust.
If I was considering buying a Tesla now it's completely off the table $40 billion dollars he could have kept every employee and get everybody a raise with that kind of money and still walked away with 20 billion
As a retired 73 year old man I have been searching in vain for an account of why my country has taken this downward spiral for most of my life. I am not the brightest bulb on the planet and find politics generally confusing and rife with untruthful assumption. In 24 minutes this gentleman has brought into focus the understanding I need to believe in my own intuition and sense of place in this bizarre environment we live in. Thank you sir. You have a new student.
@@EllenKlever-c7k Thank you for your reply to my comment about Mr. Reich, however, my remark was more likely a need for self preservation than any sense of bravery. Be well!
See th v-docs > "The Secret of Oz" (on the history of money, banking, the Fed & gov. corruption) and "A History of Central Banking" on Goodson's book. They enable understanding the whole-system problem & the possible solution Reich never reveals.
Gov . Kemp signed a bill restricting unions . He stated that Georgia was a right to work state . (Which in my opinion, means a right to work for less ) the article implies that Georgia will discourage pro union business , because businesses want to move here to make money !..in other words all about business , not workers , as I see it .
Unfortunately, corporate thinking divides humans into labor which is a cost to be cut, and executives which is a cost to be borne. In reality, workers of all kinds (from janitors and semiskilled to boardroom managers and executives) are another kind of asset (or capital) to be valued and husbanded for their collective contribution to whatever it is that the corporations are making.
I have always believed strongly in my heart one reason we should be grateful for immigrants, legal or illegal, is they are the only ones in this country who know what it is NOT to live in a Democracy.
We might well find out, if Trump actually gets elected. I truly believe that is his goal. He is so full of hate and vindictiveness towards people he believes have done him harm.
This is excellent. My husband and I raised 2 kids and put them through college during the decades of stagnating wages. I couldn't work because he got stuck on the afternoon shift and I only had 2 hours between him leaving for work and the kids getting home from school. GM had stopped hiring and plants were closing. Jobs were going overseas. We never felt secure. BUT we have a pension, excellent health insurance and a life insurance policy on each of us. We feel more secure in retirement than in his 40 years of employment, plus we have some savings from the part time job I finally had time to fit in. Thank you, UAW ❣️ And I'm keeping my Volt.
Unions aren't perfect, but overall, they are important in protecting workers' interests. Companies that prioritize profits don't care about the welfare of workers.
The concentration of wealth, ownership,and power continues unabated while we ponder the causes of Fascism and the Cult of Personality that is today's GOP.
I can just imagine Gorbachev sitting and listening to Ronald Reagan's plan for the country and thinking "You mean all I have to do is sit here and do nothing and this fool will destroy his own country? This has to be too good to be true."
When an election turns into a movement, like MAGA, the propaganda keeps the movement afloat. People believe, because they want to believe. Truth is pushed to the side.
@@andersa4667 I would not say *all* Western economies have this problem equally, but many of them do. It is *very* common for people to use *all* when *many* or *most* is more accurate, as well as say monopoly when oligopoly is more accurate.
Same for Germany recent layoffs wave, despite company making profits. They do whatever they want and NOBODY can stop them because lobby matters (people don't)
"...40-years of public education cuts..." What are you using to support this claim? If anything, spending on education has gone up even using constant dollars comparisons (96 mil in 1980 ; 794 mil in 2020). The sad part is that despite this, nothing has changed for the students -- their test scores have basically stayed the same for decades.
A lot of Brits thought Margaret Thatcher was a financial savior but North Sea oil came on line as she took office. She had nothing to do with it any improvement.
Reagan's people'S actually tried to replicate the assassination of Kennedy.. yet the secret service ...Reagan was berated during office about great acting not.real journalists were already bought up. Nixon days. Can't win? Buy them.Those lazy heirs.Every heir was bought instead of protecting the family history.Shame on the future generations. YES I UNDERSTAND THE LAZINESS OF THE HEIRS JUST NOT GIVING A DAMN AND TALKING ABOUT I AM A BRAND.in name only.😂 All my oil clothes made r not going to be held for liability. 😂organization of labor is dead.Hey Reich what union do you belong too?
I’ve got my cup of coffee. I’m thrilled to hear plain language of economics. I’m following you on facebook. I’d like to leave our grandchildren a country which to be loyal and proud.
Bob Reich continues to be one of the sanest and most intelligent voices in our national dialog, helping us to comprehend the incomprehensible allure of Donald Trump and MAGA. W.E. Sweet, PRS, CA
He is! But the issue I have is he is too politically polarised. He backs a team who avoid most corruption issues, promote world war, and in most cases only make things in the economy worse. People I know backing Trump aren’t bad people, they just see him as hope.
Germany saw Hitler as hope. Maybe they weren't bad people, maybe MAGA isn't bad people, but they are falling for a bad message. Trump us a hateful, corrupted, racist, twisted idea of hope.
Your ignorance is why you don't understand the allure. Labor unions are Reichs' bread and butter. However, a strong, securely controlled country has to exist first! That is what Trump is fighting for! Please don't believe Kamala's political promises. Our country is sliding into demonic territory, with homosexuality and infanticide rampant. It's not important that Trump is a poor Christian, as long as he SUPPORTS the Christians! Please vote for America!
He lies to you by withholding information it's not the rich who don't pay there fair share of taxes it's you I can offer proof if you like Democrats party of handouts that live off our children vote out handout Democrats before it's to late our children's future depend on it
I think some of these people would vote for a dictator because they believe the dictator would be their dictator. They don't realize a dictator is no one's dictator. The real villains are the bloated rich and corporate greed.
One of the many things I find frightening about all this? There are people on the right who are old enough to know that Biden simply *couldn’t* have caused a lot of the current problems. The border crisis is a case in point. Generally speaking, Trump is a symptom, not a cause, of a cancer that’s been growing for 40 years. Unfortunately, it has reached the brain.
Same here in Austria too, a majority of people always vote right wing parties since the eighties and there were a lot of scandals and corruption here too, but the right always blame the migrants for the problems and get reelected and can do politics for the rich. In the US also republicans made politics for the rich and massive tax cuts there, democrats were much more successful to reduce the deficit when they were in charge but republicans just lie and blame democrats for their poor economic performance without any facts behind these claims. So disgusting to see how this plays out and especially if you try to explain the facts to other people who are voting the political right, they don't even try to respond reasonable, they want to belief their claims and find the absurdest arguments to stay by these claims. I think we are mostly brainwashed by society and the corporations and media which influence it, to think in the way which is best suited for the people in power to become even more powerful, richer and criminal as they were.
He’s been a politician for what, 40 years? I don’t think did much to improve things. Problem is most federal politicians are bought and paid for. Look at some of their net worth on a government salary.
@@DavidCornwell-p3h I “googled” Joe Biden’s net worth. According to Forbes, he owns two houses at a combined value of $10 million. He was elected to the Senate at age 29, so that gives him 52 years of unbroken government service. I agree that most of our “leaders” are corrupt as hell! That said, given that Comer (and anyone else) has spectacularly failed to tie him to anything, I have to conclude that Biden has done poor job of stealing and taking bribes…
I’ve always believed that in the US, there seems to be a prevailing emphasis on celebrity over education, which may explain why figures like Trump or even Schwarzenegger can garner political support despite lacking prior experience.
I call it "fame-association high". A flood of dopamine you get when you feel close to a famous person. It makes fearful people feel safe. Some people are averse to education because it means having to think, and new knowledge is scary. I call them resistant. Plus there is more money to be made from people's addictions as opposed to educating them in public schools.
@@debc2237 That’s fair. But the unquestioning or cult-like support given to individuals solely based on their status as entertainers, musicians, or media personalities in the US is concerning.
Fantastic video and I love the historic perspective. So important for younger people who may not put the pieces together because it was before we were born or paying attention to politics or economics. I learned a lot and I agree you could definitely continue the conversation.
Please don’t forget that we are dealing with the fact that MAGA appeals strongly to (the now very vocal) racist, misogynist, and homophobic elements of our nation. Thanks for this great content. Keep it up.
This has ALWAYS been on a micro level. Families have been vengeful on one another, drifting apart. Years ago, it was kept under wraps out of the common good of the family name, etc. As that progressed, it became more & more a MACRO PROBLEM!
This man is a genius! The Trump era has brought out all the symptoms. I was born in 1954 in a time when the middle class could afford a home. My son is a lawyer & makes a good salary & can't afford a home. It's so sad. Keep on talking, guys!
The thought of owning a home don't even enter my mind. As a disabled veteran living on a fixed income, well maybe not all that fixed since I live in constant fear that reevaluation is just around the corner, but owning a home is simply out of the question. Things are happening too fast to keep up. The media can't be trusted so I spend a ridiculous amount of time fact checking just to be afforded the opportunity to make an informed decision at the voting box. Most people in my area are getting their political advice from church and that's a very big and dangerous problem. In my opinion America is in a dangerous downward spiral and we will take the rest of the world with us because of greed and generations of people who believe they are entitled. I'm not even gonna touch on the climate crisis, over population an religious extremism. People who work three jobs and have a family to take care of don't have time to fact check everything they see and hear on the lying media every day, so they turn to social media and couch journalist which is even worse.
My daughter founded a small environmenmtal company and brought in 2 partners. I once thought, "she makes how much and she lives paycheck to paycheck?" Then I began to add: federal and state income tax, property tax, health care for herself and her child, condo payment with PMA, interest, Home insurance, car insurance and I understood why she was always strapped; And Trumps big tax cut to the billionaires made her lot worse because she had a cut off figure of $10,000 for a deduction for state income tax plus property tax. The property tax on her small condo made it very difficult to take a deduction on her state income tax.
Mr. Reich you were the best labor secretary we have had as long as i have been working which is about 45 years.I didn't realize how prescient you were! Keep up the good fight!
As Meet the Press has been my must see on Sundays for years, Saturday morning Coffee Klatch has become my Saturday must. Am still catching up on old episodes. Robert ,you are and have been for so many years been on point with so many issues. One of the things I love about the show is when you show clips from the past. They show your views were true before and have proven themselves to be true today. Thank you Heather, you are the perfect compliment to Robert.
In school I interned for a politician and he gave me pointers on how democracy and politics work. He said that you could gauge whether government is working when the Democrats, the Republicans and other interested parties closed themselves into closed room and after arbitration the parties came out with a bill that could be presented to the fellow council members to vote on. This arbitration resulted in no interest group getting 100% of what they wanted. All parties were equally unhappy. After hearing him describe to me how the sausage would be made it would sound like authoritarian government would be a better way to get results. He would then ask me if I should expect the authoritarian’s results be my results? My politician, my boss would then quote Churchhill to me, “No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”
You mean this is as good as it gets? So, homeless people who never existed at this magnitude in the country, is not the worst? Even than our Civil war? And Churchill was full of ish.
@@ellarweegadsden8483 The problem is you THINK you have democracy. The truth is that the American system is flawed. For many years, but especially since the SCOTUS Citizens United ruling, big money has had massive sway over the parties - more over the GOP, less the Democrats, but still bad. Other anomalies like the electoral college and widespread gerrymandering compound the problem.
I'm 72 years old and I remember that whole period of corporate rating where they would go in and buy a struggling company and then just dismantle it instead of improving it
Trading "ambition for envy" is right! Nothing killed my ambition quite like my experiences in the working world. There, a good work ethic in a poor person tends to be wildly exploited.
Robert is psychic and so am I! I told my wife a few years ago, "I sure would like to meet Robert Reich." Well, a couple days later, a friend in Vallejo suggested we go see the film about Churchill. I told him, "but it's not playing here." However, we eventually found that it playing up north in Petaluma (I think that's where it was). Well, when we got out of the movie, there was Robert Reich with an attractive younger woman about to enter the room where we'd just seen the Churchill flick. I blurted out, because celebrities make me stupid, "Are you Robert Reich?" He assured me he was. What did I say? I shouted out, "I love you!" What a schmuck I am. Robert was so kind and cool. He's an American, intellectual treasure, and we're lucky to have him.
{misspelling for censor} There was a post ww two consensus that concentrated wealth led to {facsism}. As it did in {Grmanee}. The major industrial families supported Funny Mustache Guy financially. (His goons {at tacked} the anti capitalists) Major industrialists in the USA, in the 30's, plotted to install Smedley Butler as a {dictater}, and he turned them in for it.
{misspelling for censor} There was a post ww two consensus that concentrated wealth led to {facsism}. As it did in {Grmanee}. The major industrial families supported Funny Mustache Guy financially.
The problem with unfettered capitalism, in a nutshell. The income gap in the Western world is shameful. The myth of Reaganomics has bankrupted the middle class.
Reagan killed inflation and my income tripled in the 1980's. I became middle class due to Reagan. The left wants the middle class destroyed, as it's the only class that demand that laws be enforced fairly, and that's a big sticking point for the rich and poor, for whom laws are to be circumvented.
As a Child coming from Ohio with UNION STRONGHOLDS, I Was moved to the South where it was un-unionized by Force! AS A CHILD IN THE 2nd GRADE, WE WENT ON A "FIELD TRIP " TO A MANUFACTURING "MILL". WHERE PEOPLE WERE DYING OF LUNG DISEASE. I WAS SHY, BUT I SPOKE OUT FOR UNIONIZATION FOR THE WORKERS! OH BOY, THERE WAS SO MUCH ANGER FROM THE SUPERVISOR AND MY SO CALLED TEACHER. AFTER I SPOKE UP FOR THE WORKERS, ONE COULD HEAR A PIN DROP! GO UNIONS!!!
Just wait, If Trump gets in he says we need to drill in our national parks. He also said we do not need the EPA. Imagine unregulated oil wells in our parks. What oil spill? He also said we do not need the Consumer Products safety commission. That is the department that checks things like electric appliances to make sure they do not short out and burn our house down, or that toys for our children are safe. He hates any oversight, so you know he hates unions. Remember he stiffed contractors left and right, who worked on his properties. Many of which were a family business. Then he ran them broke in court and put them out of business. Many of those businesses had been handed down through the family for decades. He is a prick.
Your experience is why they say, "If you want the truth, get it from a child." As a child, you were more interested in right vs wrong, not in protecting the manufacturer's wealth. So you, @karenplante2592 told the truth based on what you saw. Brava for you! You were obviously smarter and more moral than "the adults" in the room.
@@emilerose1424 Thank You for Your most Kind Words. I ,still to this day CARRY the Pain of Others with me. I will never forget, nor will I EVER FORGIVE. GOD BLESS YOU AND YOURS.
I AGREE, unfortunately, many Repub governors weakened or dissolved unions in their state. FL is one, Jeb Bush took care of that...Walker was another!! Unions have been vilified by such governors... republicans...big money 💰
Spot on. We need a young Bernie Sanders. Someone who is angry and speaks fire against private equity and how it has gutted the greatest country on earth.
The ruling class still sees no need to permit us to have even the milquetoast social democratic concessions advocated by Sanders. They would decline the candidacy of a young Sanders just as quickly and firmly.
@@JonPienaar Bernie too old now and since he has been painted as a socialist, it is very unlikely he will be a presidential candidate that goes anywhere --- unless there is a huge economic crisis after a huge war..
I can attest to what you're saying, Dr. Reich. I'm 71 years old now, and I saw this happening first hand. As you said, things really started changing in the early 1980s. After that, I rarely got promoted at work, and raises for almost everyone plummeted. I got a BS in Business in 1981 and an MBA in business in 1991. I got more and more angry at what business was. The more I learned, the less I liked it. Seeing jobs shipped to other countries was depressing. Seeing unions fall apart was sad. The way I was treated at work got so bad that I finally left. I've not been able to stomach the thought of going back again. Now no one would hire me. I consider myself lucky. I saw over my career how mistreated workers began turning on one another, and I knew their anger was misplaced.
I still cannot fathom why Trump likes Putin so much? Putin's number one goal is to destroy Democracy all over the world and he said it himself numerous times. He says that if all Earth is a dictatorial hellhole it will be easy for individual dictators to talk to each other bypassing parliament, congress, senate and other democratic institutions. It's basically a global movement to get Power into the hands of a Russian Psychopath and his cronies one of which could be Trump and Co
And Trump is on YOUR side. He is fighting those elites that Reich mentioned! But he has alway been against Harris and Walz's brand of SOCIALISM. Their policies will only case more inflation. Do your research!
Education. Labor. Apathy. Greed. All the things that gave rise to a Trump figure, all the things that we must address as Americans. Thanks, Mr. Reich, for your historical analysis; I fall in between your age and Heather's and I saw all of it happen, the world my parents grew up in and fought for becoming a bought society.
"The forest was shrinking but the trees kept voting for the Axe, for the Axe was clever and convinced the trees that because his handle was made of wood, he was one of them." - Turkish proverb.
Amazing proverb. So sad but so true. Thanks for sharing this. People will vote for their own demise to quench their hatred.
Si true!
Just as Trump's head is made of wood, like too many of his followers heads.
Brilliant. Thank you
Beautiful quote. Thanks. Am gonna circulate it.
I am 69 and the current direction of the country scares me. It's not Trump that scares me as much as the large group of people that do not see the framework of facism being set. Examples: the Supreme court is playing games with the wording of law. They struck down Roe and that's after 5 justices lied about overturning Roe in their senate hearings. Yesterday they decided to play games with the immunity of the president. Justice Alito said he was not interested in the case brought before the court. WHAT? That I thought WAS what the court system is supposed to do. Many on the court are re-writing the laws which is NOT in their power to do.
How about our government creating coups in many countries for our domination in those markers and those countries resources all for big AMERICAN companies.
How about Bush inacting the patriot act for our protection. And then lying about WMDs to get us into war and at the same time allowing our INDUSTRIAL complex to make more money. One of the only divisions of government that has no accountability to the money it spends.
Biden continues this today in supplying the Isreal government with more weapons.
The presidency has gone sideways. Trump said over and over that Covid was not a threat & that everyone should get back to work to keep our economy good. Good for who? Anyone owning stock? That's limited to very few at the top. The stock market used to be the sign of the worth of a company. NOT like Trump is trying to do with his social media company and make a quick buck.
Many in the house and esspecially the senate are their to make money off of the stock market.
And lets not forget Citizens United. What a perfect way to allow big money to take ever our government.
When did THE AMERICAN WAY become worshipping money instead of life itself? We as a country do not support struggling people and make it hard for the less fortunate to lead a life of happiness.
Why are we playing with our beliefs? Many news outlets are trying to normalize hate and atrocities. In school we had fire drills but NEVER had shooter drills. What the hell? Gun manufacturers are making money while we allow our values in humanity to drift downward.
Where are the hard lines we as Americans will not cross? I would say our worship of money and power have condemned us to the hell we are currently facing. Sadly!
Well said !
Did you forget who indicted their opposition?
Did you forget who sent your tax funds to Ukraine?
Did you forget who locked you down during the "pandemic"?
You're 100% correct!!
"Instead of treating workers as assets to be developed, modern CEO's are treating them as costs to be cut." Robert Reich
That isn't just modern CEOs. There a long record.
@@thimkful But before the 80s, public opinion was strongly against that thinking, which kept them in check to a point. After the 80s, though, the public had been brainwashed into agreeing with that sentiment, which emboldened them.
Reich is a smart guy, feeding the pigeons. wake up.
@@jamesbosworth4191 yeas labor has been gutted.
@@kellharris2491 And Joe Biden was our last hope to revive it. Sadly, now he will not get that chance.
Mr. Reich, you look distinguished! I love your face. And boy, do I love your mind, your logic, your expertise, and your politics!💙🩵💙
As an Australian in Australia at the start of the Covid pandemic as a CEO of a company with over 1,000 workers I realised we could be in for a very rough times with a very big drop in sales revenue - I said to our CFO that our most valuable asset is our workers, they are what makes our business successful, I asked our CFO to develop a financial plan that would allow us to retain all of our staff through the pandemic, then I emailed all our staff to explain the dire situation and our plan to keep everyone employed but with the proviso that if our sales fell all staff including me the CEO and all management would have a pay reduction until the pandemic was over - this plan was extremely well received by all staff, the huge benefit for the business was at the end of the recession we had all our highly skilled staff still employed and we could immediately return to 100% production.
lmao you're a CEO? L
👏👏👏👏👏👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
The same line the Dutch government took.
As much as possible keep the employees employed so after the crisis you still have your qualified workforce.
This strategy has worked out great, and employers still had their workers and did not have to put a lot of effort in building up a qualified staff from scratch.
@@transsexual_computer_faery It seems that at this moment a lot of Americans think that stupidity is a virtue. These folks have a club named the GOP.
Seems you are a member.
Be careful, your fellow CEOs are going to have you committed.
Omg. He is explaining what I have been trying to say ever since Regan became president! I am 80 years old and have witnessed the destruction of the middle class by Big Business republicans since the early 80s!
Ronald Regan really got the ball rolling.
people only want happy news or news that favors their position.
It's democrats who is destroying us here is the proof when taxes were raised by a large amount by Eisenhower it took one person working to support a family of four after the big tax increase it soon went to two people working to support a family of four a big drop in liveing standards now with government bigger than ever before and more regulations on business than ever before two people working struggle to support a family of four and our debt grows by seven percent a year our economy little over two this is unsustainable and will destroy our nation because of Democrat greed vote out handout Democrats before it's to late our childrens future depend on it
Republicans are still trying to tell the average American middle and lower income earners that Reagan’s trickle down economics is in our best interest. It’s only in the interest of wealthy Americans and large corporations.
Or the Hate, anger and chaos caucus
I was creamed by The Crash of 2008 -- lost my career, my health insurance, and almost all of my retirement investments at the age of 61. The government bailed out Wall St. and Corporate America, but private citizens had to find a way to recover independently. I had an affordable house, so my disabled son decided he needed to be my housemate and share all living expenses. I cooked from scratch, baked my own bread, started using homemade laundry detergent and hung my clothes outdoors to dry. We grew our own fruits and vegetables and gave up all single-use disposable paper and plastic products. My daughter jokes that I'm an escapee from a hippie commune. She's a Trumper, and despises me for my political and economic views. I'm financially okay now, still watching every dime. My town still has tent communities of seniors who never recovered ... but GM is doing just fine.
The party that causes the homeless tent populations, screams the loudest about the nasty homeless tent camps. :(
Hopefully your daughter will one day wake up from the "word drugs" tRump spreads around. And I sincerely congratulate you and your coping mechanisms, Kathryn. If that had happened to tRumpie, he would just cry and fill his diaper in a senior's home until someone fed him.
Who are you voting for?
In re: Your daughter. I'm sorry for your loss.
Your daughter has been poisoned by fascism. Such a shame.
Love you Robert - brilliant man who speaks truth to power. Rick - 79 year old in WA state USA ❤
Thank you Robert Reich for your endless dedication and courage towards fairness and justice.
You do know that his NAFTA is a major cause of discontent among many a MAGA fan, right? Oh, you don't know. Between a good many of the MAGA crew and the likes of you, well, we are without hope...
Spoken as a true, easily manipulated, loyal, subservient, brain dead for years Democrat.
Thank you Robert Reich for showing how stupid and out-of-touch Leftists are.
fairness and justice is NOT big government, central planning
taking from the makers to redistribute to the takers.
The "people" who make *millions* of dollars a year being able to convince the people who make $60,000 a year that people who only make $10,000 a year are the problem was the biggest face palm I've ever seen.
Why would you vote for a millionaire to public office it's insane
Money talks and everyone hangs on their every word like gospel.
So very true.
The big question what GOD or god has
this nation really
serve from it's beginning maybe the reason why some amongst us always gets
TAXBREAKS
@@WelstonDatcher There is only the one god; the god that has enough money and power behind it to force you either by fear or brainwashing to believe in it.
And the people who would benefit from unions have been convinced to hate unions.
unions are not the problem.... the necessity of unions is. companies use to seek the loyality of their employees and reward same. somewhere along the way... that changed.
When u needed help the most, the union I was in did nothing.
That would be a great thought in 1924 not so much in 2024. The union bosses are Democrats which mean they colluded with the company to get their kick-backs while they screw over the little guy.
That's why someone that _does_ _nothing_ is better.
@@carlstock5365 A long long long time ago.
@@mjt1517 I have heard that many many times. And you know what? When I have dug deeper, most of those making that claim did something that the union can't defend them against, such as theft, vandalism at work, very poor attendance that they have been disciplined about before, repeated insubordination that they have been disciplined about before, things of that nature. Unions aren't about enabling employees to violate company rules, they are about preventing the employer from making up different rules for each employee. And of course, better wages, better benefits, a pension, seniority rights, accumulated paid sick leave, and accumulated vacation time.
We the people are truly blessed for the gifted legendary Pioneer Professor Robert Reich ✨🏆💙👣🙏💙🙏💯📚📚📚
Reich lies by withholding information from you
"People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made" - Franklin D. Roosevelt
so that's not the case. If it was the case, it would have happened during Biden's administration.
No it happened under Republican administrations.
Said a man that had to deal with a higher percentage of people hungry and out of a job than ANY other President this century - and who's "projects" are NOT what ended the Great Depression, they EXTENDED it.
Without World War II, the Great Depression was on track to run WAY into the 1940s.
Yes except many who are supposedly hungry are often in the wellfare system and lack ambition & moyivation to move out of this system-:(
It's a catch 22.
@@milas2000 Workfare is at least a partial solution to THAT issue.
Too bad Dems generally hate the concept.
Plainly put, many of us are tired of watching some people eat caviar, live in mansions, sail around in yachts, have personal physicians and send their kids to Ivy League universities while we struggle to buy groceries, keep a roof over our heads, own a reliable car to drive to work, go to a doctor and send our kids to college. Having a society filled with glutinous overconsumption on one end and grinding poverty on the other end is both unsustainable and dangerous.
BECAUSE SURVIVAL IS INSUFFICIENT!
Weirdly, I can remember that we spent at least two decades of the 80s and the 90s WATCHING these people live in their mansions and sail their yachts on TV and in the papers, while we kept the roofs over our heads just barely, our unions and pensions went away, our health got worse as we could not afford the good food and medicine...we bought the lie! *(I didn't, you didn't, but as a culture, we bought the lie!)*
I disagree we are fine watching people do all those things what people are tired of is the inability for themselves to be that person.
Those are all very legitimate concerns. Trump can not and will not address any of them. He is about promoting his business interests and retribution to his stated enemies. He can not govern.
@@ace448 The physical Planet will not allow that.
Since 1980, worker pay has increased 20%, executive pay increased 400%, corperate profit has increased 1500%.
Totally lopsided economy and society.
Do you believe in a livable wage
@@fritzforsthoefel8031
A livable wage is what gave us the middle class in America, and unions are the only country wide organizations that are still fighting for a livable wage for the working class.
That's why whenever I see someone and get into a conversation, when we're done talking and say goodbye, I always say (for 40 years now) *_"Don't work too hard, nobody pays good enough for that..."_*
@@fritzforsthoefel8031 The point is you cannot have a livable wage with those figures.
So according to you a person is an idiot to work hard enough to take a skilled job when all you have to do is drop out of school get a low skilled job and live good is that what your saying
It was so clear to me what a menace R.Reagan was. He pretended to be a nice man. He was as much a monster as Trump, and spent his administration rolling back progress. I feel lucky to have worked my way around that jerk, and gotten through without losing everything. Many people where I grew up lost everything. I credit Ronnie Reagan with a lot of what happened.
Robert Reich is a good example of a man using his talent, knowledge and ability to work making life better for others. A life’s work.
No, Reich is an individual who has expertise in one topic and thinks it makes them an expert on other topics. Much like we see with Elon Musk, and so many others. The hubris is breathtaking.
There's so much, from a political perspective, that he pretends aren't there. We have tens of millions of theocrats in this country, and they vote according to Eamon religious views elevated to rule of law. 32% of Americans. The percentage is less than half that in the other advanced western nations. The rise of the theocratic right has a lot to do with how we got here.
I marvel at how many ex-Republicans have now spoken out about the problem of theocracy in the Republican party. They aren't afraid to use terms such as theocrat, theocracy, etc. And yet there's this wing on the left that runs from such terms. Won't acknowledge the problem. Won't acknowledge what a threat to freedom it is. And that in itself is a serious problem. If he's going to speak politics, he needs to include the major political forces in this country. The ideologies.
The number one predictor of someone being a Trump supporter is being authoritarian minded. One can't get at the roots of that through talking economics.
I knew a business professor who claimed that he could understand everything, including the movement of the planets, through liking at everything as business transactions. Fortunately, NASA didn't use him for guiding space flight. It's that same sort of hubris. An intelligent person having so much knowledge on one subject that they believe their willful ignorance in another topic doesn't get in the way of them being expert on that other subject. Like Musk thinking he has any clue whatsoever regarding what freedom of speech actually entails. Or Zuckerberg & Co. flailing about with concepts of ethics and standards. Utterly clueless. Which detracts in no way from their actual intelligence, or the actual range of knowledge that they have.
I feel free with trump. Biden is letting in illegals many criminals and destroying our country . The blue states are the worst off and this professor wants to keep going in this direction
@@Ten2More what? Give me an example.
@@lonpollard902 interesting...but your idea doesn't rule out what Reich has been saying forever to those who would hear...All that you're saying isn't really a rebuttal...it's not AND/OR ....it's AND the money-minded theocracy is also a big part of the problem.....Makes me wonder why you need to negate Reich instead of seeing his value... Makes me also wonder if you yourself are doing exactly what you accuse Reich of.
@@Joker75113 Reich is well off we are not.
Robert Reich is part historian and partly the conscience of our nation. I always enjoy his conversations.😊
So well said 💙🌺☮️🗳️
he is in reality little more than a Berkeley bubble dweller who just got schooled bigly!😁
I taught U.S. History in high school for 36 years. That's what made me choose the Democratic Party. I cheer each time I listen to you explain why we study history. Yes, it taught me that historically trickle down economics has never worked. It also taught me that unions are important to the working class. My father worked in an oil refinery and belonged to a labor union that he strongly supported. Although he was a registered Republican I truly believe there is no way he would support the economic policies of the Republicans today. Please keep giving us your videos. I've shred them with so many people. You explain things so well.
How can you vote for such an immoral party? Try actually reading our Constitution yourself. You would be amazed to see that our country is being turned into a fascist, communistic system. You don't know this because the airways are dominated by the Dems who are in power! (ABC NBC MSNBC CBS CNN). If you have the time, why not read Project 2025 instead of only listening to these fascistic hate mongers mangle the truth about it?
This isn’t your dad’s republican party. This is the group once called Dixicrats. My family WAS republican, too.
Doubt they are teaching any of that same history in red states sadly.
The kids who didn’t pay attention in history classes are the ones who support Trump today. It’s pretty horrifying how many personality traits Trump shares in common with history’s most infamous dictators. If people don’t wise the fuck up and start voting like their lives depend on it, we’re gonna be in serious trouble politically for the rest of our lives. Trump has already done away with so many important precedents and traditions set by the founders, and so many of the checks and balances on executive power. We need to stop the bleeding now or we’re gonna set ourselves on a path that can’t be reversed.
In your history search did you learn that Democrats were the beginning of the first KKK. They were Jim Crow. I was a Democrat until I learned their history
Four months later, these words are still golden nuggets. Thank you!
just watch this in 2079 !!!
Trickle down was the beginning of the end for the middle class. Rich got richer, poor got poorer. Wages stagnated.
You lie or don't know what you are talking about what was the ministry wage in nineteen eighty and what is in California now
Minimum wage was three dollars an hour in nineteen eight it's now twenty in California nearly a seven hundred percent increase were you not aware of that
Only one thing "Trickled Down" and it was'nt the money.
Why does someone else's money have to trickle down to you are you a child why can't you as an adult create your own wealth
You lie about wages not riseing for low skilled workers why would you do that
"Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities " Voltaire
The right is about leaving people alone. The left wants to control how every community operates down to what thoughts you are allowed to share.
If it is not clear, Republicans are socialist. Democrats are worse.
January 6?!
Maybe you should listen to Biden's Gaza rhetoric, with this quote in mind.....
@@darrelldadamsYes, horrific, but every leader does it. But Jan 6 and “both sidesing” Charlottesville? Why doesn’t that attack on our republic drive all Americans away from Trump?
@@Kate-lk6tw because x% think it never happened...the power of propaganda and self imposed confinement within its protective bubble
Thank you so much for bringing up unions. I worked for a multimillion dollar corporation as an Executive Assistant. Part of my job was to post anti union propaganda. I was sent weekly anti union propaganda newsletters to share with all managers. This same company had very few full time employees to avoid health insurance costs. I could go on and on about the anti worker policies. I encourage all young people, starting with my own daughter to only work for unionized companies. If they aren't for you they are against you regardless of the BS crumbs they throw you.
Vote!!
I work for a large corporation and my job is a union position. Thanks to the union, I get a guaranteed raise and bonus every year, comprehensive, low-cost health insurance, excellent retirement benefits, protection against unfair discipline/being fired or laid off, and a say in policies and procedures. For me, being in a union provides a balance of power between employee and employer. The benefits outweigh the costs. However, I know that not all unions are as beneficial as the one that I am a member of.
In the little bitty town of Foster Oregon, there was once a Plywood Mill owned by Willamette Industries. The Murphy Lumber bought it. Out went the union because Murphy's is a union busting company. Murphy's propagandized, badgered their employees until the employees voted out a union. They wish they hadn't. Now too many employees work 6 days a week just to make ends meet. So much for union busting.
I have one bumpersticker- I support the labor movement The people who brought you the weekend
You could not have posted anti-union propaganda since they are not unions. They are now political party extensions. Why do you think Biden announced 100% EV Tariffs? Sucking that union Richard.
@@dianaolson7547
So WHY did the workers cave? WHY???? They knew what they had in their union. So they deserve what they have now. NO protection, NO decent benefits & low wages. It's really hard to have any sympathy when you vote against yourself & others!!!!! It's just ignorant..
I've had issues being ignored by employers, problems keeping jobs due to downsizing, companies going bankrupt, problems finding affordable housing! With all those negatives in my life, I didn't look towards Donald Trump as a savier! I am a Democrat and feel that's the Party who can help me!!
I love to listen to Reich talk about the last 40+ years, and why we are where we are today. He makes so much sense!
Reich speaks the same views as Marianne Williamson, who's on the ballot for president in about 40 states; yet, I am not aware of him ever mentioning her positions that are no different than his. Perhaps, he was too concerned about the fragmentation among voters that he feared would weaken the incumbent's chances and/or popularity still too frail.
I had a long conversation with Robert Reich when he was a dark horse candidate for Mass. Governor, and I was a newspaper editor. Smartest guy I ever met, beyond question.
What is a "dark horse candidate?" I don't know the expression.
@@kenashworth7672 It's a lesser-known candidate. Why don't you just Google it?
@@kenashworth7672 an expression from over 150 years ago, by training a racehorse horse "in the dark" owners & trainers could enter it in a race and place bets at very favorable odds to win, since no one expected the horse to even be running in the race.
So a human “Dark horse candidate” is one no one expected to even be in the political race, but has a good chance to win.
@@carolewhelan2492 Ah - thank you: the context now makes sense.
@@carolewhelan2492 You could've just written "a lesser-known candidate."
Robert Reich is a true Patriot. He has spent most his life speaking truth to power and educating people so they have a good understanding of how our government is supposed to work. He is absolutely brilliant, and one of the best legal minds of our time. Thank you Robert, for your exemplary service to our country. 💙
A true patriot who stop the invasion on the Southern border and as a lawyer enforce immigration laws and antitrust issues to stop the corporate control of the country. He is a propagandist
Robert Reich is unable to comprehend DEMOCRACY.
If we don’t stand together with positive ideals, we let the wolves into the fold.
Good morning 🌄 Heather and Robert Reich!! ✨ Thank you both for sharing the world past and now✨🏆🙏📚📚📚.
You are so right. Wages have gotten so far behind,. There is almost no such thing as pensions and unions so people can afford to retire. People have responded to this with anger and fear which fuels the path to dictatorship.
Wages are behind because you still believe in the democrats.
Unions killed many cities with their greed.
Per democrats !!! What do you think comes from open borders?surely you are blind and deaf
@lynnjudd9036 Exactly right. Trump, as bad as he is, is not the problem, he is a symptom. As a scarily relevant example, Hitler came to power even though he was considered a bit of a joke at the time, (sound familiar?) because of the horrendous economic conditions imposed upon Germany after WWI.
You bet it does.
The support he has accrued, is a testament to how bad the education system is here in the US. Ever notice he has the most support in desolate, rural areas, where the education is not as proficient. When education lacks, critical thinking goes out the window. Why do you think they believe everything he says?
So true.
Bingo. I said the same thing. My only addition is that this has been in motion for decades. Look up Asimov's essay about the cult of ignorance.
This is why Republicans fight education funding so hard!
Yes it follows the old saying - keep them ignorant and keep them voting for you. Sadly it’s a repeat of the general situation that drove our ancestors to flee to the new world. Greed and indifference is lethal.
If you want education to be better you have to fund it. Teachers deserve your support.
Also, in terms of history and how it is taught, this is a hard problem to fix, because wonderful, responsible, conservative history teachers teach what they were taught. I'll give you an example. I once saw a high school handout about John D. Rockefeller, that showed how much money he gave to charities, but did not mention anything about wages or profit margins. The critical question of how he got "as rich as Rockefeller" was never raised. This was from a role-model teacher who deserved her teacher of the year award.
We can trace the ignorance concerning great wealth at least in part to the unions' decision to purge their socialist and communist members and buy into the capitalist system.
Robert Reich is a national treasure. Diminutive in size but giant in intellect, and always on the side of labor🇺🇸
He seems a mediocre intellect to me couched in unfounded assertions and coached in Socialism.
What’s unfounded about what he’s saying? You don’t seem to even know what socialism is. I’d hardly call a Rhode Scholar a mediocre intellect. Let’s compare your achievements by all means.
@@brianmclaughlin4419
Only socialism will save the working class
Only socialism will save the country
Only socialism will save democracy
Only socialism will save the planet
Capitalism destroys all of the above... this is FACT.
Socialists politicized labor in the early days because it's a necessary part of their underlying class-struggle schtick. They have to have oppressors and oppressed else they can't divide and conquer the masses. This strategy had little success in the west so they turned to finding oppressors and oppressed outside of economic classes. They continue to use economics to try to woo people into surrendering their wealth and liberties, but it only works on a certain percentage of the population. There's no power base there still in what remains of the west. That's why you get all this other socialist propaganda on every conceivable social issue nowadays. Even 'gender' is now politicized in the most insane way that few ever could have predicted. So, in terms of why Trump is popular, one answer I would give is that he seems to know the difference between a man and a woman, and this resonates with the portion of the population that is still somewhat rational.
@brianmclaughlin4419
Yes, to you, I’m sure he does.
Not to smart people.
Thank you for the show/interview. Always supported unions, labor rights, workplace democracy etc.
Please Robert continue relentlessly explaining what happened 40 years ago! Reagan, Thatcher, right wing think tanks, salary stagnation, de-unionisation, tax reductions for the rich/enterprises, the middle class shrinking, etc.
You forgot money printing and devaluing currency
You said it, 1980 was the turning point.
@@ArmandaV-s4b And Thatcher looked good because North Sea oil came on tap as she took power.
Tax cuts for the wealthy & big corporations by every Republican administration since Reagan. Effectively transferring US Wealth to the wealthiest and weakening the Middle Class and everyone else. Republicans hate for FDR New Deal & later expansion by Johnson.
Yup! I'm constantly sharing these vids, so ppl Understand the Facts. Trump supporters will still argue. It's funny. Jesus Himself could come to Earth (like they want & all), & they're so busy hunched over Trump Bibles, w/ their Trump Sneakers, & Trump Prison Wine (up & coming) that they wouldn't even notice
Simple, he puts money in the pockets of the rich and he tells the working class he hates the people they hate.
scary true !! and too large a part of the country has become mindless enraged pawns
Biden = Trump. Vote Kennedy Jr.!
That’s my take exactly.
Welcome to The New Soviet Union!
He also tells the working class that they are blameless victims. When you vote against your own best interests, for decades, you aren't "blameless".
When companies don't think of their employees as human beings, they themselves are not human beings.
We have to get rid of Citizen’s United, the Electoral College, & the filibuster. VOTE 100% BLUE no 3rd party no Nikki voters
Yes but under the law they are treated like human beings.
@@RenegadeDesigner - No RFK Jr. voters, either!
The crooked SCOTUS says that judicial entities like Corporations and Unions are people and therefore have all rights that human persons have in the Bill of Rights. Though the SCOTUS ruled this nonsense in the 2010 Citizens United disaster, we have yet to see a CEO whose company went bankrupt be prosecuted for murder, or a startup Corporation that runs out of money and is aborted be prosecuted under Dobbs. The right-wing-nuts have weaponized the 1st Amendment to the detriment of our entire democratic system.
Ah, the SCOTUS disagrees. "Corporations are people."
THANK YOU, Robert and Heather!
As Heather shared she kind of “lucked out” in her situation in 2008, my family experienced the opposite- as you said, we had sunk so much into a home, and in 2008 our income stopped due to a health issue (that took a year to resolve ). Our country bailed out the banks and corporations, but no one helped us. We lost everything including our home (and sadly eventually our marriage). All we needed was a little time. Our banks literally wouldn’t even answer the phone. They disappeared (until we bailed them out). Our income was from a major airline which could’ve offered support knowing the health issue would resolve. Again, they declared bankruptcy, screwed employees and yet got bailed out. The ripples continue as our kids have unplanned college debt as they try to make their way as adults. As a country we don’t discuss this recent history because corporations don’t want to remind us *they* are the ones who didn’t pull themselves up by their bootstraps. *They* got the government handout. Their workers got screwed. Thanks for actually discussing! I may be disillusioned, but I know going authoritarian is the exact wrong way to go!! 💙
Blue team is the ones giving those handouts.
It's not teams. That's what's wrong with the rightwingers. To them it's a game. It's people's lives.
@@5amiann if it's not teams to you then why do you call them "right-wingers"
Ronald Reagan was the Antichrist
I am sorry for your losses due to the oligarchy in charge at the time. It's hard to forgive such blatant greed! I hope your kids can get help with their debt and find a good path. We cannot give up on making things better and not allowing greed and power to win--together the collective can and must unite.Thanks for sharing your story!
It is not just in the US. It is widespread, unfortunately
If you’re trying to figure out how read the book Stolen Focus by Johann Hari. It helps explain why so many Americans are falling for the conman.
So true. People have stopped thinking for themselves.
As an American, when I look at other developed (and even some developing) countries, it seems that they are doing so much more for their people in regards to social safety nets, etc. Your comment surprises me, but I believe it.
I would like to hear more global situations, professor.
Please elaborate.
Welfare for corporations that are wealthy- ok.
Absent-father mothers on welfare - bad. 🙄
Welfare is bad no matter who
@@yourdaddy-mq4kmthat is absolutely true... until situations change and you a hand.
@@kt798 I've been there and I don't want anything from the government
@@yourdaddy-mq4km Not if you need it.
@@yourdaddy-mq4km You don't like welfare, but you aspire to be rich like the Waltons who never paid their employees enough so that they weren't eligible for welfare and food stamps. If we thought fathers in the home would help we'd never have set up welfare so they couldn't be in the home. Do you know how much a mom with 3 kids collects when she's on welfare? Why do we think that the people who get the least are the one's who're getting the most?
Finally someone has explained the situation. Brilliant. Thank you so much. Subscribed. Hope to hear solutions from you as well ❤
That clip from 30 years ago is chilling to watch now and realize what was predicted then is a reality now. Just FYI, this radicalization of society and fierce tribalism is not unique issue to America, Europe suffers from similar fate for exactly same reason as described in the old clip.
This explains a lot, but it doesn’t explain the single-issue voters who are willing to throw democracy under the bus in support of their ideology.
The Trump supporters that I know weren't involved or all that interested in the political process before Trump. Most of them don't understand or care how the government operates - for instance how a bill becomes law. They certainly don't understand ideology. "Liberal" to them is nothing more than an insult they throw around like "snow flake". They don't know what fascism is I've heard them use fascist, Communist and socialist interchangeably. They support Trump simply because he told them it was okay to be an asshole. They don't have to be "politically correct" or "woke". He promised to protect them from "the blacks" and the scary LGBT community. He promised to build a wall to keep the brown people out and keep the white people safe.
We’ve single handedly destroyed our home off the backs of our children for bread and entertainment. Guess we will go to mars or pandora before we even reflect on what we have done to ourselves. That explains the throw out “democracy” vote. Democracy for what?
read my comment elsewhere on this video if you want the answer.....
Most supporters are religious fundamentalists and therefore like worshipping an authoritative figure. However, most of what they engage with is surface level and performative. Therefore, they often have no strong conviction to their principles so long as they feel it gives them a better position over others.
I saw a guy on the news say "banning abortion" was the most important issue. What do you do with a mind like that?
I worked many years as top aide to a politician. When she started down the criminal path, I immediately quit. She ended up escaping prison because she got a sympathetic judge, although her husband was convicted. Our system needs to change...
Who was convicted?
I despair at our future because of this reality. Do you think it’s possible for someone to ascend to high office in our country without being corrupt?
This is one of the best ever. Robert you went right to the heart of the matter. The essential points to be understood. So important.
Thank you Yoda master of the financial universe ✨️ 🙏 $ 🎉
I appreciate Robert Reich so much, and I applaud his prescience from 1994, but when I was a PoliSci student in the early 80s in Canada, I saw the writing on the wall - where America was heading. I knew, despite the fact I was born there, I would never live there again. I left America in Aug 1970 - think about those times, those yrs from 1963 to 1970 - and I knew by 1983 I would never again live in America. All my family, except one, has long since returned. Me? No way. I was right, and so was Aldous Huxley when he wrote "Brave New World Revisited" in 1958. I read that book in Korea in 2003, when Dubya, the unindicted war criminal, was savaging the world with his criminal regime.
But thank you, Robert.
One thing you may have forgotten is Canada is financially dominated by the 1%'ers.
Fellow Canadian here, probably about the same age. What's your assessment of MAGA's influence on the state of Canadian politics?
I was living in Canada in the 70's and 80's and came back to the States for family. I look back and realize how much of a big mistake that was.
The CCP appreciates him as well.
@@LimitlessThinker I'm sorry to hear that. I don't want Canada to go down the MAGA path, but there's a good chance we might.
In 1979 the minimum wage in OH was $5.15/ hour. In 2019, the minimum wage in OH was $8.55/ hour. Barely a $3.00 increase in 40 years! You can totally thank Republicans for that; the party of greed and grievance. Under Fascism (Trump) this will only get worse!
in the 90'S in Ga. was $ 4.25/hrs!
Spot on! 👌
Kansas still uses the federal minimum wage of $7.25, which was established in 2009. I feel your pain!
No....The minimum wage was $3.30 an hour in Ohio. I know, I was a teen then and made that!
Adjust it for time, and it's even worse. If they had just adjusted for inflation, even $5 would now be $24.91 per hour. So that is not an increase but a $17 loss. You CANNOT forget to adjust.
If I was considering buying a Tesla now it's completely off the table $40 billion dollars he could have kept every employee and get everybody a raise with that kind of money and still walked away with 20 billion
I would never even consider buying a Tesla because I refuse to give any of my money to Elon Musk.
They have all had at least one recall... I'll reconsider when they get out of Beta testing on the public!
The prosperity and success of Tesla and it's owner are commendable. But the obscene wealth and craven greed of the owner is sickening.
Get a hybrid.
@@lovemakestheworldgoround6726 That seems to have become the definition of "success"... greed.
As a graduate with a history/literatue degree I absolutely love Robert Reich’s analysis of where we are and why.
As a retired 73 year old man I have been searching in vain for an account of why my country has taken this downward spiral for most of my life. I am not the brightest bulb on the planet and find politics generally confusing and rife with untruthful assumption. In 24 minutes this gentleman has brought into focus the understanding I need to believe in my own intuition and sense of place in this bizarre environment we live in. Thank you sir. You have a new student.
Exactly!
Don't be a sucker. This commie has been a master bullshatter for decades and has ruined many lives.
What a brave conclusion you make sir ; believe your own truth and never be to old to learn. I wish you all the best.
@@EllenKlever-c7k Thank you for your reply to my comment about Mr. Reich, however, my remark was more likely a need for self preservation than any sense of bravery. Be well!
See th v-docs > "The Secret of Oz" (on the history of money, banking, the Fed & gov. corruption) and "A History of Central Banking" on Goodson's book. They enable understanding the whole-system problem & the possible solution Reich never reveals.
Gov . Kemp signed a bill restricting unions . He stated that Georgia was a right to work state . (Which in my opinion, means a right to work for less ) the article implies that Georgia will discourage pro union business , because businesses want to move here to make money !..in other words all about business , not workers , as I see it .
And the poors will still vote him in just for his racist vitriol.
Duh
Unfortunately, corporate thinking divides humans into labor which is a cost to be cut, and executives which is a cost to be borne.
In reality, workers of all kinds (from janitors and semiskilled to boardroom managers and executives) are another kind of asset (or capital) to be valued and husbanded for their collective contribution to whatever it is that the corporations are making.
Kemp needs to be voted out.
That's the Republican way. Corporations with a fortune and all privileges will let some profit "trickle down" to workers.
Because people have no idea what living under a Dictatorship is like.
I have always believed strongly in my heart one reason we should be grateful for immigrants, legal or illegal, is they are the only ones in this country who know what it is NOT to live in a Democracy.
We might well find out, if Trump actually gets elected. I truly believe that is his goal. He is so full of hate and vindictiveness towards people he believes have done him harm.
Fascism is a monster that eats its’ young. Some people won’t realize this until they find out the hard way and it’s NEVER pretty.
Ask David Hogg about that.
…night of the long knives. And that's amongst the psychopaths, not real people.
Robert, you always make whats going on so clear, thank you, Besides, I love your drawings.
This is excellent. My husband and I raised 2 kids and put them through college during the decades of stagnating wages. I couldn't work because he got stuck on the afternoon shift and I only had 2 hours between him leaving for work and the kids getting home from school. GM had stopped hiring and plants were closing. Jobs were going overseas. We never felt secure. BUT we have a pension, excellent health insurance and a life insurance policy on each of us. We feel more secure in retirement than in his 40 years of employment, plus we have some savings from the part time job I finally had time to fit in. Thank you, UAW ❣️ And I'm keeping my Volt.
Unions aren't perfect, but overall, they are important in protecting workers' interests. Companies that prioritize profits don't care about the welfare of workers.
The idea that corporate greed would trickle down is crazy.
SOMETHING trickled down...
What's crazy is thinking that that explains the theocratic right, fascist right, and white nationalist right.
@@lonpollard902 What a loon
Yes. And we knew that in the 80s when we were first offered this trickle down nonsense.
Sound like Reagan.,,trickle down economics
Unions are coming back! Let's support class solidarity and come together
The Autoworkers negotiated a raise of approx. 25%!!!
That's HUGE!
✊✊🏻✊🏼✊🏽✊🏿
Workers need a voice...unions give them that...
Trump hates unions ,trump hates everything and everyone except himself.
@@paddyholly2184 yea! Love to see that. There is so much wealth in this world that everyone should be able to prosper
Excellent presentation. I never thought in multigenerational terms like this. It is eye-opening.
When companies started thinking of workers as cost/liability instead of value/asset, that was a big problem
When businesses all got on the bandwagon of outsourcing people were considered a cost versus an asset. CEO greed is a grave problem.
When companies. That was a big problem
The concentration of wealth, ownership,and power continues unabated while we ponder the causes of Fascism and the Cult of Personality that is today's GOP.
Financial deregulation.
It's a reflection of the uniparty that is trying to jail Trump
We've all played the Game of Monopoly and seen how it ends. America is getting to the end of the Monopoly game.
I can just imagine Gorbachev sitting and listening to Ronald Reagan's plan for the country and thinking "You mean all I have to do is sit here and do nothing and this fool will destroy his own country? This has to be too good to be true."
When an election turns into a movement, like MAGA, the propaganda keeps the movement afloat. People believe, because they want to believe. Truth is pushed to the side.
Superbly explained. Not just a US problem, It's the same in all western economies.
Same thing happening in the UK and Australia.
No, that is factually incorrect.
@@andersa4667 I would not say *all* Western economies have this problem equally, but many of them do. It is *very* common for people to use *all* when *many* or *most* is more accurate, as well as say monopoly when oligopoly is more accurate.
Same for Germany recent layoffs wave, despite company making profits. They do whatever they want and NOBODY can stop them because lobby matters (people don't)
Unregulated capitalism is one of the prime reasons.
Thanks for doing what you do. You're one of the most intelligent and sane people out there. I've learned a lot from your channel.
That was the best explanation I've heard thus far on why there are voters for Trump. Still can't believe they believe it though. So sad.
Don't forget, 40-years of public education cuts and corporate media-monopolies have also helped fuel this rightward lurch.
💯
FOX LIES is a big part of the problem.
"...40-years of public education cuts..." What are you using to support this claim? If anything, spending on education has gone up even using constant dollars comparisons (96 mil in 1980 ; 794 mil in 2020). The sad part is that despite this, nothing has changed for the students -- their test scores have basically stayed the same for decades.
Actually it's 40 years of liberal indoctrination and teacher unions..😉
Spot on!
"ronald reagan murdered the american dream" - Hunter S. Thompson
A lot of Brits thought Margaret Thatcher was a financial savior but North Sea oil came on line as she took office. She had nothing to do with it any improvement.
F A C T !!!
Reagan's people'S actually tried to replicate the assassination of Kennedy.. yet the secret service ...Reagan was berated during office about great acting not.real journalists were already bought up. Nixon days. Can't win? Buy them.Those lazy heirs.Every heir was bought instead of protecting the family history.Shame on the future generations. YES I UNDERSTAND THE LAZINESS OF THE HEIRS JUST NOT GIVING A DAMN AND TALKING ABOUT I AM A BRAND.in name only.😂 All my oil clothes made r not going to be held for liability. 😂organization of labor is dead.Hey Reich what union do you belong too?
@@lyndakaye5198you say that like life didn't get drastically better after Reagan
@@yourdaddy-mq4km It did not. Reagan / Trickle Down Economics accelerated this present divided wealth and increasing fascism.
I’ve got my cup of coffee. I’m thrilled to hear plain language of economics. I’m following you on facebook. I’d like to leave our grandchildren a country which to be loyal and proud.
Fat chance
Thank you Mr. Reich. Thanks to both of you for this channel.
I wish I had your patience.
Bob Reich continues to be one of the sanest and most intelligent voices in our national dialog, helping us to comprehend the incomprehensible allure of Donald Trump and MAGA.
W.E. Sweet, PRS, CA
He is! But the issue I have is he is too politically polarised.
He backs a team who avoid most corruption issues, promote world war, and in most cases only make things in the economy worse.
People I know backing Trump aren’t bad people, they just see him as hope.
Germany saw Hitler as hope. Maybe they weren't bad people, maybe MAGA isn't bad people, but they are falling for a bad message. Trump us a hateful, corrupted, racist, twisted idea of hope.
Your ignorance is why you don't understand the allure. Labor unions are Reichs' bread and butter. However, a strong, securely controlled country has to exist first! That is what Trump is fighting for! Please don't believe Kamala's political promises. Our country is sliding into demonic territory, with homosexuality and infanticide rampant. It's not important that Trump is a poor Christian, as long as he SUPPORTS the Christians! Please vote for America!
He lies to you by withholding information it's not the rich who don't pay there fair share of taxes it's you I can offer proof if you like Democrats party of handouts that live off our children vote out handout Democrats before it's to late our children's future depend on it
He lies to you by withholding information
Thank you Mr Reich for sharing your knowledge and wisdom along with insight you are a true patriot.
Mr. Reich is not smart enough to understand real world . He is damage to our country.
I think some of these people would vote for a dictator because they believe the dictator would be their dictator. They don't realize a dictator is no one's dictator. The real villains are the bloated rich and corporate greed.
This is the best explanation of how we got from the 1970’s to today. But I don’t think most people understand it’s not Biden’s fault.
One of the many things I find frightening about all this? There are people on the right who are old enough to know that Biden simply *couldn’t* have caused a lot of the current problems. The border crisis is a case in point. Generally speaking, Trump is a symptom, not a cause, of a cancer that’s been growing for 40 years. Unfortunately, it has reached the brain.
Biden is complicit at best. He may have tried to do some good things in the past 3 years, but he also helped create this mess we are in...
Same here in Austria too, a majority of people always vote right wing parties since the eighties and there were a lot of scandals and corruption here too, but the right always blame the migrants for the problems and get reelected and can do politics for the rich. In the US also republicans made politics for the rich and massive tax cuts there, democrats were much more successful to reduce the deficit when they were in charge but republicans just lie and blame democrats for their poor economic performance without any facts behind these claims. So disgusting to see how this plays out and especially if you try to explain the facts to other people who are voting the political right, they don't even try to respond reasonable, they want to belief their claims and find the absurdest arguments to stay by these claims. I think we are mostly brainwashed by society and the corporations and media which influence it, to think in the way which is best suited for the people in power to become even more powerful, richer and criminal as they were.
He’s been a politician for what, 40 years? I don’t think did much to improve things. Problem is most federal politicians are bought and paid for. Look at some of their net worth on a government salary.
@@DavidCornwell-p3h I “googled” Joe Biden’s net worth. According to Forbes, he owns two houses at a combined value of $10 million. He was elected to the Senate at age 29, so that gives him 52 years of unbroken government service. I agree that most of our “leaders” are corrupt as hell! That said, given that Comer (and anyone else) has spectacularly failed to tie him to anything, I have to conclude that Biden has done poor job of stealing and taking bribes…
How can you respect someone who is so selfish … it’s always been about Trump and him only … it makes me sick
💯 agree
Why would a rich Narcissistic misogynistic billionaire give a damn about the lower and middle classes and any non wealthy Americans for that matter?
The basket of deplorables are suseptible to fear mongering. They are fearful and shame based.
Isn't that how it works with gods?
It makes me sick, too. And I have lost faith in half the American public.
I’ve always believed that in the US, there seems to be a prevailing emphasis on celebrity over education, which may explain why figures like Trump or even Schwarzenegger can garner political support despite lacking prior experience.
I call it "fame-association high". A flood of dopamine you get when you feel close to a famous person. It makes fearful people feel safe.
Some people are averse to education because it means having to think, and new knowledge is scary. I call them resistant.
Plus there is more money to be made from people's addictions as opposed to educating them in public schools.
Nobody enters politics with experience. Just like your first job. However, it would be good if they were all moral and intelligent.
Other countries laugh at us because we are so unserious. Ours is a TV culture, like a bunch of kids.
@@debc2237 That’s fair. But the unquestioning or cult-like support given to individuals solely based on their status as entertainers, musicians, or media personalities in the US is concerning.
@@debc2237 but they should have education at least a political science degree
Fantastic video and I love the historic perspective. So important for younger people who may not put the pieces together because it was before we were born or paying attention to politics or economics. I learned a lot and I agree you could definitely continue the conversation.
Please don’t forget that we are dealing with the fact that
MAGA appeals strongly to (the now very vocal) racist, misogynist, and homophobic elements of our nation. Thanks for this great content. Keep it up.
Considering that your comment describes 40-50% of the voting population (hopefully,less than that) what does that say about the U.S. ?
Keep calling me RACIST, MISOGYNIST and HOMOPHOBIC and know why I vote AGAINST YOU!
@@myleslong5584it doesn't say anything because it's a lie.
@@yourdaddy-mq4km you may believe it's a lie if you want but then you would be denying reality.
@@myleslong5584 Just ask Bill Maher about American intelligence.
❤Thank you Robert and Heather
Thank you for your wise voice 💙💙💙💙💙🙏🙏🙏🇺🇸🇺🇸
This has ALWAYS been on a micro level. Families have been vengeful on one another, drifting apart. Years ago, it was kept under wraps out of the common good of the family name, etc. As that progressed, it became more & more a MACRO PROBLEM!
We all need to talk like this again in a continuous platform Thank you both.
This man is a genius! The Trump era has brought out all the symptoms. I was born in 1954 in a time when the middle class could afford a home. My son is a lawyer & makes a good salary & can't afford a home. It's so sad. Keep on talking, guys!
The thought of owning a home don't even enter my mind. As a disabled veteran living on a fixed income, well maybe not all that fixed since I live in constant fear that reevaluation is just around the corner, but owning a home is simply out of the question. Things are happening too fast to keep up. The media can't be trusted so I spend a ridiculous amount of time fact checking just to be afforded the opportunity to make an informed decision at the voting box. Most people in my area are getting their political advice from church and that's a very big and dangerous problem. In my opinion America is in a dangerous downward spiral and we will take the rest of the world with us because of greed and generations of people who believe they are entitled. I'm not even gonna touch on the climate crisis, over population an religious extremism. People who work three jobs and have a family to take care of don't have time to fact check everything they see and hear on the lying media every day, so they turn to social media and couch journalist which is even worse.
You evade govt controls on housing.
AND VOTING!!!!🥰
And everything is much worse under Biden.
My daughter founded a small environmenmtal company and brought in 2 partners. I once thought, "she makes how much and she lives paycheck to paycheck?" Then I began to add: federal and state income tax, property tax, health care for herself and her child, condo payment with PMA, interest, Home insurance, car insurance and I understood why she was always strapped; And Trumps big tax cut to the billionaires made her lot worse because she had a cut off figure of $10,000 for a deduction for state income tax plus property tax. The property tax on her small condo made it very difficult to take a deduction on her state income tax.
Mr. Reich you were the best labor secretary we have had as long as i have been working which is about 45 years.I didn't realize how prescient you were! Keep up the good fight!
As Meet the Press has been my must see on Sundays for years, Saturday morning Coffee Klatch has become my Saturday must. Am still catching up on old episodes. Robert ,you are and have been for so many years been on point with so many issues. One of the things I love about the show is when you show clips from the past. They show your views were true before and have proven themselves to be true today. Thank you Heather, you are the perfect compliment to Robert.
can't wait for more history and wisdom from you, Bob, who I see as a true American moderate! TY
I think Robert Reich is a very dapper, progressive fellow! We need young men to emulate his behavior.
In school I interned for a politician and he gave me pointers on how democracy and politics work. He said that you could gauge whether government is working when the Democrats, the Republicans and other interested parties closed themselves into closed room and after arbitration the parties came out with a bill that could be presented to the fellow council members to vote on. This arbitration resulted in no interest group getting 100% of what they wanted. All parties were equally unhappy. After hearing him describe to me how the sausage would be made it would sound like authoritarian government would be a better way to get results. He would then ask me if I should expect the authoritarian’s results be my results? My politician, my boss would then quote Churchhill to me, “No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”
Compromise is not authoritarianism. It's the opposite.
You mean this is as good as it gets? So, homeless people who never existed at this magnitude in the country, is not the worst? Even than our Civil war? And Churchill was full of ish.
No. That's not what it means...
That is a pragmatic way to govern. In my opinion that is fine. It means they are thinking.
@@ellarweegadsden8483 The problem is you THINK you have democracy. The truth is that the American system is flawed. For many years, but especially since the SCOTUS Citizens United ruling, big money has had massive sway over the parties - more over the GOP, less the Democrats, but still bad. Other anomalies like the electoral college and widespread gerrymandering compound the problem.
CEOs who can't manage to live on pay of a few million a year are obviously not good at financial management.
It's not about "managing to live on a few million a year."
Lifestyle inflation is a helluva drug
Keep on keeping on Robert, we need your wisdom.
The level of greed is staggering. Insanity!
its power, greed for power
I'm 72 years old and I remember that whole period of corporate rating where they would go in and buy a struggling company and then just dismantle it instead of improving it
Raiding.
Outsourcing too.
Trading "ambition for envy" is right! Nothing killed my ambition quite like my experiences in the working world. There, a good work ethic in a poor person tends to be wildly exploited.
America's besetting sin is its deference to big corporations. That's also its biggest profit. Greed and democracy are at odds.
🎯🎯🎯🎯
It is refreshing to hear someone actually addressing real problems. And they are able to argue, which is more than can be said about most politicians.
Robert is psychic and so am I! I told my wife a few years ago, "I sure would like to meet Robert Reich." Well, a couple days later, a friend in Vallejo suggested we go see the film about Churchill. I told him, "but it's not playing here." However, we eventually found that it playing up north in Petaluma (I think that's where it was). Well, when we got out of the movie, there was Robert Reich with an attractive younger woman about to enter the room where we'd just seen the Churchill flick. I blurted out, because celebrities make me stupid, "Are you Robert Reich?" He assured me he was. What did I say? I shouted out, "I love you!" What a schmuck I am. Robert was so kind and cool. He's an American, intellectual treasure, and we're lucky to have him.
Reich lies by withholding information from you why do you want that
You spelled psychotic wrong.
Unborn Black Lives Matter
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
You are definitely not a schmuck! Reich’s analysis is spot on
@@davidsingh6944I m glad I was not drinking my coffee when I read that lolol
The fact that there is no ability to prevent price gouging is insane. Corporate profits are as high as inflation. What a coincidence.
Then profits are stagnant in real terms. How is that price gouging?
@@bootmii98 Um, no. Silly liar boy.
As much as I didn't like Richard nixon, he actually did something about it for a while.
{misspelling for censor} There was a post ww two consensus that concentrated wealth led to {facsism}. As it did in {Grmanee}.
The major industrial families supported Funny Mustache Guy financially. (His goons {at tacked} the anti capitalists)
Major industrialists in the USA, in the 30's, plotted to install Smedley Butler as a {dictater}, and he turned them in for it.
{misspelling for censor} There was a post ww two consensus that concentrated wealth led to {facsism}. As it did in {Grmanee}.
The major industrial families supported Funny Mustache Guy financially.
The problem with unfettered capitalism, in a nutshell. The income gap in the Western world is shameful. The myth of Reaganomics has bankrupted the middle class.
🤣
Reagan killed inflation and my income tripled in the 1980's. I became middle class due to Reagan. The left wants the middle class destroyed, as it's the only class that demand that laws be enforced fairly, and that's a big sticking point for the rich and poor, for whom laws are to be circumvented.
Another big problem is trolls on social media, amiright pete5668??
@@brettany_renee_blatchleyso I'm a troll if I disagree with you. Got it.
@@pete5668, no self-awareness - yeah, that's a troll characteristic.
Obviously, Robert gets it. All over the free world, we need more people like him and Bernie in government.
As a Child coming from Ohio with UNION STRONGHOLDS, I Was moved to the South where it was un-unionized by Force! AS A CHILD IN THE 2nd GRADE, WE WENT ON A "FIELD TRIP " TO A MANUFACTURING "MILL". WHERE PEOPLE WERE DYING OF LUNG DISEASE. I WAS SHY, BUT I SPOKE OUT FOR UNIONIZATION FOR THE WORKERS! OH BOY, THERE WAS SO MUCH ANGER FROM THE SUPERVISOR AND MY SO CALLED TEACHER. AFTER I SPOKE UP FOR THE WORKERS, ONE COULD HEAR A PIN DROP! GO UNIONS!!!
Just wait, If Trump gets in he says we need to drill in our national parks. He also said we do not need the EPA. Imagine unregulated oil wells in our parks. What oil spill? He also said we do not need the Consumer Products safety commission. That is the department that checks things like electric appliances to make sure they do not short out and burn our house down, or that toys for our children are safe. He hates any oversight, so you know he hates unions. Remember he stiffed contractors left and right, who worked on his properties. Many of which were a family business. Then he ran them broke in court and put them out of business. Many of those businesses had been handed down through the family for decades. He is a prick.
Your experience is why they say, "If you want the truth, get it from a child." As a child, you were more interested in right vs wrong, not in protecting the manufacturer's wealth. So you, @karenplante2592 told the truth based on what you saw. Brava for you! You were obviously smarter and more moral than "the adults" in the room.
@@emilerose1424
Thank You for Your most Kind Words. I ,still to this day CARRY the Pain of Others with me. I will never forget, nor will I EVER FORGIVE. GOD BLESS YOU AND YOURS.
I AGREE, unfortunately, many Repub governors weakened or dissolved unions in their state. FL is one, Jeb Bush took care of that...Walker was another!! Unions have been vilified by such governors...
republicans...big money 💰
@@emilerose1424 where did you got it from that manufacturer is obligated to give you a job ??
Spot on. We need a young Bernie Sanders. Someone who is angry and speaks fire against private equity and how it has gutted the greatest country on earth.
Well with RFK Jr you get someone like that against Big Pharama. It's a start.
The ruling class still sees no need to permit us to have even the milquetoast social democratic concessions advocated by Sanders. They would decline the candidacy of a young Sanders just as quickly and firmly.
@@morpher44 Don't equate a libertarian conspiracy theorist with an educated economist.
@@JonPienaar Bernie too old now and since he has been painted as a socialist, it is very unlikely he will be a presidential candidate that goes anywhere --- unless there is a huge economic crisis after a huge war..
Bernie has made himself a millionaire taking money from the banks. Don’t be a fool he in it for the money.
I can attest to what you're saying, Dr. Reich. I'm 71 years old now, and I saw this happening first hand. As you said, things really started changing in the early 1980s. After that, I rarely got promoted at work, and raises for almost everyone plummeted. I got a BS in Business in 1981 and an MBA in business in 1991. I got more and more angry at what business was. The more I learned, the less I liked it. Seeing jobs shipped to other countries was depressing. Seeing unions fall apart was sad. The way I was treated at work got so bad that I finally left. I've not been able to stomach the thought of going back again. Now no one would hire me. I consider myself lucky.
I saw over my career how mistreated workers began turning on one another, and I knew their anger was misplaced.
I still cannot fathom why Trump likes Putin so much? Putin's number one goal is to destroy Democracy all over the world and he said it himself numerous times. He says that if all Earth is a dictatorial hellhole it will be easy for individual dictators to talk to each other bypassing parliament, congress, senate and other democratic institutions. It's basically a global movement to get Power into the hands of a Russian Psychopath and his cronies one of which could be Trump and Co
And Trump is on YOUR side. He is fighting those elites that Reich mentioned! But he has alway been against Harris and Walz's brand of SOCIALISM. Their policies will only case more inflation. Do your research!
Robert & Heather(beautiful smile) teaching the public.. love your programs keep bringing the knowledge to the public
Education. Labor. Apathy. Greed. All the things that gave rise to a Trump figure, all the things that we must address as Americans. Thanks, Mr. Reich, for your historical analysis; I fall in between your age and Heather's and I saw all of it happen, the world my parents grew up in and fought for becoming a bought society.
You were right-on in '94, and you are still right-on today!
This guy is a propagandist
”Those who don’t remember the past are condemed to repeat it.” George Santayana 1905
We LOVE having you talk, Robert! No apologies, please!