From time to time, someone under 30 will ask me, "When did this all begin, America's downward slide?" They say they've heard of a time when working people could raise a family and send the kids to college on just one parent's income (and that college in states like California and New York was almost free). That anyone who wanted a decent paying job could get one. That people only worked five days a week, eight hours a day, got the whole weekend off and had a paid vacation every summer. That many jobs were union jobs, from baggers at the grocery store to the guy painting your house, and this meant that no matter how "lowly" your job was you had guarantees of a pension, occasional raises, health insurance and someone to stick up for you if you were unfairly treated.
Young people have heard of this mythical time - but it was no myth, it was real. And when they ask, "When did this all end?", I say, "It ended on this day: August 5th, 1981."
Beginning on this date, 30 years ago, Big Business and the Right Wing decided to "go for it" - to see if they could actually destroy the middle class so that they could become richer themselves.
And they've succeeded.
On Aug. 5, 1981, President Ronald Reagan fired every member of the air traffic controllers union (PATCO) who'd defied his order to return to work and declared their union illegal. They had been on strike for just two days.
It was a bold and brash move. No one had ever tried it. What made it even bolder was that PATCO was one of only two unions that had endorsed Reagan for president! It sent a shock wave through workers across the country. If he would do this to the people who were with him, what would he do to us?
Reagan had been backed by Wall Street in his run for the White House and they, along with right-wing Christians, wanted to restructure America and turn back the tide that President Franklin D. Roosevelt started - a tide that was intended to make life better for the average working person. The rich hated paying better wages and providing benefits. They hated paying taxes even more. And they despised unions. The right-wing Christians hated anything that sounded like socialism or holding out a helping hand to minorities or women.
Reagan promised to end all that. So when the air traffic controllers went on strike, he seized the moment. In getting rid of every single last one of them and outlawing their union, he sent a clear and strong message: The days of everyone having a comfortable middle class life were over. America, from now on, would be run this way:
• The super-rich will make more, much much more, and the rest of you will scramble for the crumbs that are left.
• Everyone must work! Mom, Dad, the teenagers in the house! Dad, you work a second job! Kids, here's your latch-key! Your parents might be home in time to put you to bed.
• 50 million of you must go without health insurance! And health insurance companies: you go ahead and decide who you want to help - or not.
• Unions are evil! You will not belong to a union! You do not need an advocate! Shut up and get back to work! No, you can't leave now, we're not done. Your kids can make their own dinner.
• You want to go to college? No problem - just sign here and be in hock to a bank for the next 20 years!
• What's "a raise"? Get back to work and shut up!
And so it went. But Reagan could not have pulled this off by himself in 1981. He had some big help:
The AFL-CIO.
The biggest organization of unions in America told its members to cross the picket lines of the air traffic controllers and go to work. And that's just what these union members did. Union pilots, flight attendants, delivery truck drivers, baggage handlers - they all crossed the line and helped to break the strike. And union members of all stripes crossed the picket lines and continued to fly.
Reagan and Wall Street could not believe their eyes! Hundreds of thousands of working people and union members endorsed the firing of fellow union members. It was Christmas in August for Corporate America.
And that was the beginning of the end. Reagan and the Republicans knew they could get away with anything - and they did. They slashed taxes on the rich. They made it harder for you to start a union at your workplace. They eliminated safety regulations on the job. They ignored the monopoly laws and allowed thousands of companies to merge or be bought out and closed down. Corporations froze wages and threatened to move overseas if the workers didn't accept lower pay and less benefits. And when the workers agreed to work for less, they moved the jobs overseas anyway.
And at every step along the way, the majority of Americans went along with this. There was little opposition or fight-back. The "masses" did not rise up and protect their jobs, their homes, their schools (which used to be the best in the world). They just accepted their fate and took the beating.
I have often wondered what would have happened had we all just stopped flying, period, back in 1981. What if all the unions had said to Reagan, "Give those controllers their jobs back or we're shutting the country down!"? You know what would have happened. The corporate elite and their boy Reagan would have buckled.
But we didn't do it. And so, bit by bit, piece by piece, in the ensuing 30 years, those in power have destroyed the middle class of our country and, in turn, have wrecked the future for our young people. Wages have remained stagnant for 30 years. Take a look at the statistics and you can see that every decline we're now suffering with had it's beginning in 1981.
It all began on this day, 30 years ago. One of the darkest days in American history. And we let it happen to us. Yes, they had the money, and the media and the cops. But we had 200 million of us. Ever wonder what it would look like if 200 million got truly upset and wanted their country, their life, their job, their weekend, their time with their kids back?
Have we all just given up? What are we waiting for? Forget about the 20 percent who support the Tea Party - we are the other 80 percent! This decline will only end when we demand it. And not through an online petition or a tweet. We are going to have to turn the TV and the computer and the video games off and get out in the streets (like they've done in Wisconsin). Some of you need to run for local office next year. We need to demand that the Democrats either get a spine and stop taking corporate money - or step aside.
When is enough, enough? The middle class dream will not just magically reappear. Wall Street's plan is clear: America is to be a nation of Haves and Have Nothings. Is that OK for you?
Why not use today to pause and think about the little steps you can take to turn this around in your neighborhood, at your workplace, in your school?
Is there any better day to start than today?
Michael Moore is a syndicated columnist and Oscar- and Emmy-winning movie director. He can be reached at his website MichaelMoore.com.
sockratties posted at 5:39 pm on Wed, Aug 10, 2011.
This commentary will get a lot of rants and finger pointing and trying to involve Obama and illegal alians and the usuall huff and puff... but there is nothing Moore said that is not true.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 7:46 pm on Wed, Aug 10, 2011.
When you read this Commentary and the comment....you are at a lose of words. If this is what the Liberals, the Progressives, the Democrats believe...then there is no reason to bargain with them...to try to reach an agreement with them. These groups have no....no conception of Reality.
Air-traffic Controllers are in charge of the safety of the traveling "Public". How could a President of the United States...any President of the United States allow the safety of the American traveling public be compromised. How could President Reagan allow the Commerce of the United States to be compromised. The Health of the United States to be compromised. American Citizens who needed to fly from one city to another for Hospitalization or Medical Care, Cancer treatments and other Life-saving procedures.
The "STRIKE" by the Air-Traffic Controllers Union threatened to bring American Society to it's knees. Millions and Millions of American Citizens held hostage by a few thousand Air-Traffic Controllers who wanted more money, more pensions, more holidays and less work.
Michael Moore reminds me of some one who is stuck in the 1960's when ....LIBERAL-ISM.....was at it's zenith but who never moved on with his life after the Disco Mirrored Ball quit spinning and Thom McAnn quit selling "platform shoes".
Rich posted at 9:39 pm on Wed, Aug 10, 2011.
"... but there is nothing Moore said that is not true." I beg to differ. He is not talking about the middle class, he is talking about the working class. Aside from that, I was there, and it wasn't nearly as good as he makes it seem in retrospect. And he's about a decade late in his dating. The American middle class died August 15, 1971, when wages and prices passed from their hands to those of the government.
sockratties posted at 6:47 am on Thu, Aug 11, 2011.
Valid points Rich… I don’t think Moore is making a distinction between the working class and the middle class. I was there too and by then was raising a family (in the 70s), going to college at night on the GI bill, buying our 1st home on the GI bill and it wasn’t easy but it was worth it.
Maybe Nixon made the shift of wealth possible in ‘71 by taking us off of the gold standard so the Fed could print free money, but it was Reaganomics that sent home mortgage rates to over 20% in the ‘80s. Once the unions blinked, the “trickle down” part of Reaganomics pretty much dried up.
Remember that the beginning of the 70s was also the beginning of the “information age” which required a huge shift in skills. The distinction between working and middle class is more blurred when so many jobs require technical and engineering skills. I think workers with college degrees join the small business owners and Mom & Pop shops in the middle class.
sockratties posted at 6:49 am on Thu, Aug 11, 2011.
leon... you call that "at a loss for words?" We should be so lucky![beam]
Dale Whiting posted at 7:09 am on Thu, Aug 11, 2011.
Rich,
You have a point. When I was considering working for the Federal Government in the 60's, I found it odd that many more Federal employee households were two income families than in non-government circles. It was explained to me that lower Federal employee salaries both necessitated this and justified their generous early retirement. Heck, many were double dipping. They had retired from the active military and were now Federal Civil Service employees, drawing a active duty retirement while working full time, too. Theirs was a triple dipping family.
Then things changed. It was explained that the Feds needed to attract the best college graduates. Wages skyrocketed.
It's time we made some big changes in how we pay civil service employees. No more double dipping. One retirement ought to be enough.
On a side note, the FAA is beginning to ramp up its Air Traffic Controller hiring. Seems that those hired in mass under Reagan are reaching mandatory retirement. Many are staying on as long as possible because the job market is not good. They once thought to retire as soon as possible and then double dip. But the economy has spoiled their plans and now they are aged into forced retirement.
On another side note, I have yet to see a Michael Moore documentary which did not state the facts accurately. Michael is good at stating facts accurately. He got his start in journalism. I believe I have seen all of his works. It's not that hard to point out our human hypocracy. And pointing out hyprocracy is not to be condemned. After all, that is what Jesus did! The conclusions Michael draws usually appeal to the liberal side of human thinking. In my reading of the New Testament, so does Jesus. But you be the judge of that. Jesus cautions us to be carefull how we judge.
chatmandu002 posted at 10:36 am on Thu, Aug 11, 2011.
On August 3, 1981, the union declared a strike, seeking better working conditions, better pay and a 32-hour workweek. In addition, PATCO no longer wanted to be included within the civil service clauses that had haunted it for decades. In doing so, the union violated a law — 5 U.S.C. (Supp. III 1956) 118p. — that banned strikes by government unions. Ronald Reagan declared the PATCO strike a "peril to national safety" and ordered them back to work under the terms of the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947. Only 1,300 of the nearly 13,000 controllers returned to work.[4] Subsequently, Reagan demanded those remaining on strike return to work within 48 hours, otherwise their jobs would be forfeited.
Moore didn't get his fact right. Of the 13,000 PATCO members only about 1,200 were fired. Regan was the first president to use the no-strike provision for government workers. Of course Moore usually gets most things wrong.
Rich posted at 10:39 am on Thu, Aug 11, 2011.
sockratties
Previous to our generation, college graduates were either middle class or professionals. It wasn't until after world war two that they joined the working class, simply because the GI bill created more grads than the system needed as professionals and/or specialists. My father's generation was in great measure employed and over qualified. The break is a simple one. Are you an entrepreneur, are you investing, do you have a stake, or don't you? Until Nixon, middle class set wages, prices, money's variations were minor. Unions were checked in part, because any oversupply in labor was met with smaller wages from Mom and Pop. When Nixon co-opted this check and balance, big government and big business was left in charge, hence 'factory-group rate' medicine, driving health costs, inflation, accountants taking over management, a Socialism of fact, not design. Up until the government assumed a peacetime role in wages and prices the middle class didn't allow such things, because they would break the six employee loft that made your clothes. Today, over half your jobs are still held by the middle class, but wages and prices in a big government, big business consortium. The mismatch had to collapse, and did. The over regulated, over taxed middle class suffering the ire of the public for the sins of both big government and big business. And frankly, unless we restore Mom and Pop, to the control check and balance they need to hire, set wages and their own prices, and put the money in their hands to hire, we are stuck with the jobs that can be created by big business and the bureaucracy. That won't be enough, and no raise in the debt ceiling will ever cover it. The middle class got real sick in 1971 if that illness is fatal, it will be as fatal to our society as will be to them.
NothingButTheTruth posted at 12:45 pm on Thu, Aug 11, 2011.
"Beginning on this date, 30 years ago, Big Business and the Right Wing decided to "go for it" - to see if they could actually destroy the middle class so that they could become richer themselves." As if the rich actually had to do anything. Money has a natural tendency to flow from the ignorant to the innovative. Take all the wealth of this country and pass it out equally and you would see it all shift toward those who know how to command it. Wealth is a responsibility that the poor and middle class will never understand. People like Moore and other socialist only talk the way they do in order to amass wealth themselves. Moore is a multimillionaire who uses the masses ignorance to make money. Ever actually meet a poor American socialist leader? You never will either.
Rich posted at 1:22 pm on Thu, Aug 11, 2011.
NBTT- Eugene V. Debs, though I never met him, quite a few people did.
Dale Whiting posted at 4:48 pm on Thu, Aug 11, 2011.
chatmandu002,
Cann't you read? Moore did not say Reagan fired all PATCO union members. May I quote?
"On Aug. 5, 1981, President Ronald Reagan fired every member of the air traffic controllers union (PATCO) who'd defied his order to return to work and declared their union illegal. They had been on strike for just two days."
He fired the 1,200 or so who remained out on strike after his warning to return to work. Then he dissolved PATCO.
I'm sure you can chat. But can you read?
vinnyfrommesa posted at 10:14 am on Fri, Aug 12, 2011.
Mike your right about the middle class dying but it was our worst President who caused it. Anyone raising a family back in the 70s will tell you it was Carter yea Carter the most liberal anti capitalist with possibly our current President. He caused doulbe digit inflation and doulble digit unimployment. I like millions of others suffered untill President Reagans fruits got us out of one of the worst economies but gave America our pride back. The Unions and all Americans owe President Reagan thanks for pulling us out of Hells gate. Today big Government is again ready to tax us to death and give us Carters dream of a 1 world socialist,immoral Country. President Reagan saved us and now we need another leader who will bring America back to greatness. We need a leader who stops telling our enemy's were sorry. Someone who will not Bow to people that want our destruction.
Alan Smithee posted at 12:33 pm on Fri, Aug 12, 2011.
At the end of WWII there was 1 Western Industrial Power that had not been bombed all to heck. The USA. We used our intact industrial base to generate enormous wealth well for almost every body. Then we had the baby boom. As the man said a peoples demography is it's fate. For ssi there were record #'s of people paying in per person collecting. Same thing for pension plans. Extravagent promises were made by government and private business- they assumed (and ran the numbers as if) that this trend would never end. That was wrong and anybody with more sense than a box of rocks knew it. But the bill wouldn't be due until the guys currently in charge were dead.
Well -the bill is coming due.