The death of the American Dream birthed Trumpism

[marmar]

The death of the American Dream birthed Trumpism
"Though Trumpism is ten times more terrifying than Reaganism, they share the same DNA"

By CHAUNCEY DEVEGA
Senior Writer
PUBLISHED JULY 8, 2024 5:45AM (EDT)


(Salon) The United States is the richest country in the world. But that statistic camouflages the more complex truth that the United States has a relatively small number of rich people and a much larger number of poor and working poor people. The average income for the top twenty percent of the population in 2022 was approximately $278,000. The average family income for the bottom 20 percent of the population was approximately $16,000.

....(snip)....

Contrary to America’s dominant cultural myths about “bootstraps," wealth and income are selectively created (and in many ways directly subsidized) by the state through tax policy and other measures. To wit, Americans in the top 20 percent of income generally receive a much larger return from the federal government in terms of subsidies, credits, and other benefits than the amount of taxes they pay. Political scientist Suzanne Mettler has compelling described these benefits as “the submerged state”, i.e. “welfare for rich people."

....(snip)....

In her new book “Poverty for Profit”, lawyer and public policy expert Anne Kim documents this system and how it disproportionately targets Black and Brown communities. She is also a contributing editor at Washington Monthly, where she was a senior writer.

....(snip)....

How does your research intervene against the many organizing myths of American society such as “individualism” and “meritocracy”?

.....Of course, personal choices matter. But for too many people, these “choices” are limited or non-existent, or dictated by the industries that colonize low-income communities. Many people don’t have access to affordable healthy food, for instance, because dollar stores and bodegas control the food choices available in their neighborhoods. “Willpower” can’t overcome a diet where the only available options are ultra-processed foods high in fat and sodium – like much of what’s served in school lunches to poor children. Pizza Hut, for example, offers what it calls its “A+ Pizza Program” for school cafeterias. The company says its pizza crusts are made with “51 percent white whole wheat flour” to comply with federal nutrition standards for the National School Lunch Program. ............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/07/08/the-of-the-american-dream-birthed-trumpism/

[Midnight Writer]

1. The American Dream did not die. It was murdered.

I suspect unfettered capitalism is the culprit.

[patphil]

3. Greed killed the American Dream. Wealth has been concentrating into few and fewer hands each year.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/203961/wealth-distribution-for-the-us/


In the third quarter of 2023, 66.9 percent of the total wealth in the United States was owned by the top 10 percent of earners. In comparison, the lowest 50 percent of earners only owned 2.5 percent of the total wealth.

[slightlv]

5. Thank you for differentiating capitalism.

I've been called an anti-capitalist because I believe in a well-regulated capitalist economic model. I call the other form "Laissez Faire" capitalism. But I think I like your definition better, and more readily understandable.

[Passages]

2. I'm sure you're familiar with William Barber.

He is a Reverand for the poor. He wrote a book recently.

NPR's Michel Martin talks to Rev. William Barber II ahead of the Poor People's Campaign march. His book is White Poverty: How Exposing Myths About Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy.

A prominent Black pastor says white poverty doesn’t get enough attention
JUNE 27, 2024
https://www.npr.org/2024/06/27/nx-s1-5003737/a-prominent-black-pastor-says-white-poverty-doesnt-get-enough-attention

[FakeNoose]

4. I would turn it around and say: Chumpism is KILLING the American Dream

But the reality is that a lot of RWNJs who want to kill the American Dream are hiding behind Chumpism and using it to accomplish their awful goals. We're fighting this war on so many different fronts now.

[slightlv]

6. In another comment in a different forum,

I asked if anyone knew the difference between P2025 and the PNAC mission statement. I think they are related, if not essentially the same thing, just rebranded for modern times. And, if enough research is done, we could probably find an earlier document from which the PNAC statement is based. This has been the R's mission since long before many of us were alive... or at least, aware from an adult cognitive viewpoint.

[FakeNoose]

7. Well PNAC fizzled out almost 20 years ago, didn't it?

For all we know, some of those people running The Heritage Foundation might have gotten their start at PNAC.

[slightlv]

8. They all do revolving doors...

Feith, Cheney, etc. Of course, Rumsfeld's last door opened onto death. Oh, that more of these conspiracy addled cons would have the same. I don't think Cheney ever will die. He just keeps getting failing parts replaced!

[slightlv]

9. PNAC never really fizzled out...

it's been out there, that's why one of my assumptions that P2025 is based on it. You're right, in that it fizzled in Iraq and Afghanistan, regardless of how many pallets of money they shipped over there. But remember a Con's belief: Conservatism can't fail; we can only fail Conservatism. Therefore, they never give up; they only morph.

[applegrove]

10. GOP set about undoing good union jobs and happy retirements

in 1980. They knew if people were aggrieved and financially anxious they vote with feeling instead of logic. They want to be part of a strong man when people feel very weak. So the GOP squeezed the middle class in whatever way they could over 40 years. They were remaking pre-nazi Germany. Then Trump came along.