Prickly City by Scott Stantis for October 18, 2021

From a Yahoo Finance morning brief Saturday column by Andy Serwer (not Adam) about inequality as it relates to geography, (in addition to other aspects of inequality):

===

“During the 100 years prior to 1980, MacGillis writes, “poorer parts of the country had been catching up with richer ones. In 1980, virtually every area of the country had mean incomes that were within 10% of the national average … But by 2013, virtually the entire Northeast Corridor from Boston to Washington and the Northern California coast had incomes more than 20% above average. Most startlingly; a huge swath of the country’s interior had incomes more than 20% below average—not only the rural South and Southwest but much of the Midwest and Great Plains as well.”

‌.

Did something happen in 1980 that set off the ever increasing income inequality since then?

(Do I hear Laffer from the audience?)

My grandpa once saw Ronald Reagan at the train station in Kansas City.

Reagan was popular because he rebuilt the military and, for a while, we were the world power. He also shamed the Russians into tearing down the Berlin Wall. At the time I was living in South Texas, and I asked a Mexican friend why they were voting for him, since they normally vote for a Democrat. She said they know how important it is to live in a strong country. In case the detractors haven’t noticed, he won about 98% of the vote across the country. He couldn’t have done that without the Democrat’s votes, too.

Ahh Ronny Raygun..

The union buster that the 1% adored!

Seems unions are on the rise again since they witness the atrocious profits of the 1% and are finally disgusted with it!

The first thing Robot Ronnie said was “Never Speak Badly Of Another Republican”. I don’t think the present day G.Q.P. remember.

Stantis admitting Saint Ronnie was a monster? Cats & dogs, living together. Real wrath-of-God type stuff…

Monster and a traitor. How maney Marines died on his watch? Not one investigation or any outrage from the right.

He did ENORMOUS harm to country, partly BECAUSE he was so well-spoken and appeared so affable.

Through Reagan, the GOP stumbled upon the formula of putting up an empty, but good sounding strawman who appealed the masses white fears, stoked their emotion and projected an alternative reality to keep them in power to destroy our democracy. Yeah, good times.

nice ol’ racist

GAAH!! Why can’t you be lusting after anime boys like everyone else your age now?

Let’s see where this Reagan-bot story goes . . .

Time to get the hammer and stake out again.

http://www.thepaincomics.com/weekly040609a.htm

Even a cartoon President Reagan Bot upsets all the far leftist commenters. Love it!

President Reagan Bot also upsets the right wing libertarians…

~

True enough: Reagan was no libertarian. Instead of wrapping ourselves in his mantle, those of us who support deep reductions in government’s size and power should take a clear‐​eyed look at the Reagan record.

The Cato Institute did just that in “Assessing the Reagan Years,” which showed that under Reagan, federal spending actually increased from 23 percent to 24 percent of gross national product, while payroll tax increases resulted in a net tax increase for most Americans.

Not only did Reagan renege on his promise to abolish President Carter’s new Cabinet departments, Education and Energy, he appointed secretaries dedicated to their preservation.

Carter did more than Reagan to deregulate the economy, the authors explained, and while farm subsidies tripled under Reagan’s watch, Reagan eliminated only one (one!) major federal program, the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (which was almost immediately reborn under another name).

“On so many issues,” Boaz lamented, the Reagan administration “never even showed up for battle.”

Worse, on one key issue where the president actually showed up, his efforts left the country demonstrably less free.

President Nixon popularized the phrase “the war on drugs,” but Reagan was the first chief executive who really took that metaphor seriously. Via executive order, he declared drug trafficking a “national security threat,” and in a 1986 televised address he invoked World War II, calling drug abuse “a form of tyranny” and imploring Americans to “join us in this great, new national crusade.”

As a result of that failed crusade, the United States now has the highest incarceration rate in the developed world.

~

https://www.cato.org/commentary/ronald-reagan-was-no-libertarian#

That doesn’t look like Roy Rogers at all.

Ah, by the comments here I see the Ronaldus Magnus is still driving the left crazy. It wasn’t a speech that did the USSR in, it was Reagan’s use of economic warfare and especially the Strategic Space Initiative that crushed the Soviets. He also used their own concept of maskirovka against them. Several other factors were involved probably the greatest, which started the military decline, was the 1982 Israel Lebanon war where Soviet supplied AAA was totally wiped out without an Israeli loss. Lebanese lost 86 Soviet aircraft in air combat compared to Israel losing one jet to non combat related reasons. They sent an investigative team including Field Marshals to Lebanon and what they discovered shook the USSR military command to the core and made them realize that they could never win a conventional war against the USA and allies.

Adorable ? Really ?

Dementia-addled Reagen is the reason BunkerBoy was elected. He DESTROYED America!

…straight line from Orange back to R R (& even further!)

Adore-rationing is in order.