General Discussion

moondust

(21,306 posts)

74. Unity.

Sun May 19, 2013, 01:09 AM

May 2013

Politically, I think there was a lot of national unity during the war effort and after the war that contributed to the post-war golden years. That slowly dissipated due to Vietnam and politicians like Nixon and Reagan using the Southern Strategy, opposition to the Civil Rights Act, etc., to stir up bigotry in their quest for votes. Reagan went after the two unifying things that offered working people some protection, power, and hope: government and unions. Deregulation, corporatization, financialization, profiteering, and offshoring took off. Greed was now "good." Inequality began to grow. Kenneth Starr's scandal mongering as well as Newt and Tom Delay all intensified the hyper-partisanship through the Clinton years. Bush was an unmitigated disaster. And here we are.

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To those DU'ers who lived through the "Golden Age of Capitalism" (1940s to 1970s)-some questions... [View all] YoungDemCA May 2013 OP

A simple answer? Unions. Brickbat May 2013 #1

Unions built a strong middle class n/t etherealtruth May 2013 #64

Another simple answer: government was not as deeply in the pockets the rich and corporate interests. geckosfeet May 2013 #2

and a lot of the rich were like Romney's dad Skittles May 2013 #76

Don't fall for the postmortem hype. He was a greedy, stupid man who drove a marginal company into Egalitarian Thug May 2013 #81

Your second paragraph pretty much sums it up. femmocrat May 2013 #3

about the "safer" part... annabanana May 2013 #16

Yes, felt safe, lived in a community life long demo May 2013 #63

Actually, we kids were not as safe as we all thought. JDPriestly May 2013 #84

We used to have a social contract even without unions Warpy May 2013 #4

EXCELLENT summation. . . n/t annabanana May 2013 #17

To add to what Warpy said, which was excellent unrepentant progress May 2013 #54

Word. bemildred May 2013 #91

Sears & Roebucks helped a lot Bandit May 2013 #92

The post war years benefited from many things. HereSince1628 May 2013 #5

I was born in 1939 and led mostly a sheltered life, RebelOne May 2013 #6

LOL @ the 70s being the golden age of anything. reformist2 May 2013 #7

compared to what? HiPointDem May 2013 #20

It was the golden age of shoulder pads frazzled May 2013 #22

It was the golden age of silliness landolfi May 2013 #30

Think about that, though. "Pot" as the generation before called it KoKo May 2013 #34

Now that I think about it landolfi May 2013 #59

powell memo = 1971 HiPointDem May 2013 #86

Good Point...many of us didn't know about "Powell Memo" until it got some attention pretty recently KoKo May 2013 #95

You mean the 80's... Oh that was a time! n/t KoKo May 2013 #33

that was the 80's Skittles May 2013 #77

No, that was the eighties. No shoulder pads--or epaulettes--in the seventies. No "messy" or MADem May 2013 #78

Post removed Post removed Jun 2020 #98

80s. 70s = granny skirts and ethnic things, hippie-light look HiPointDem May 2013 #96

You mean when a middle class family could live on a single median salary? MannyGoldstein May 2013 #29

There was "Something" about that...at THAT TIME...it was what it was.. KoKo May 2013 #32

And when only a white family could be middle class Recursion May 2013 #80

Disco! nt Purplehazed May 2013 #68

When I was 10 aristocles May 2013 #8

Everything I've read so far on this thread marybourg May 2013 #9

I'll agree with you on that tech3149 May 2013 #23

Great post. Never heard of Powell memorandum but I'll look into it. nt raccoon May 2013 #25

Thanks, again sorry it was so long but it is important tech3149 May 2013 #47

"Sense of Community" at that time. Key. KoKo May 2013 #26

that sounds familiar. i was raised in queens DesertFlower May 2013 #38

"the fifties sound" niyad May 2013 #10

This old guy thanks you for your post. russspeakeasy May 2013 #12

you are most welcome. I was trying to find a video of it, but couldn't. niyad May 2013 #13

If you do find it, please post it... russspeakeasy May 2013 #18

she is most welcome. I will keep looking for it. niyad May 2013 #19

Yes...that was the Dark Side that Spilled out into the 1960's Revolution... KoKo May 2013 #28

"trashing"? all i did was post a song about what was going on. the OP asked niyad May 2013 #87

this "old woman" also thanks you. DesertFlower May 2013 #40

you are most welcome. niyad May 2013 #88

FDR was the most powerful man in the USA. Obvious. Even he acknowledged that John L. Lewis was byeya May 2013 #11

Credit cards... FirstLight May 2013 #14

Yes. We who were born in the 40s and 50s had parents who grew up during JDPriestly May 2013 #82

FDR's presidency RainDog May 2013 #15

"if it really was such a great time, what were the late 60s/early 70s massive social movements for?" HiPointDem May 2013 #21

i didn't like the 50s. DesertFlower May 2013 #43

IBM was known for being loyal to it's employees bananas May 2013 #66

hubby had one year of college. IBM gave DesertFlower May 2013 #70

Huge difference mick063 May 2013 #24

YES...that was a huge difference...although the "Godfather Movies" show the dark KoKo May 2013 #37

i remember that well. i have scoliosis and several doctors DesertFlower May 2013 #44

Everyone thinks that things were simpler when they were a child. That's at least Squinch May 2013 #27

If a person thinks it is golden they are probably white, middle class treestar May 2013 #31

Bank holding companies were intrastate, not Ilsa May 2013 #35

My 2 cents- ruffburr May 2013 #36

People seemed MUCH MORE sociable in that era. Even up through the mid-80's. KoKo May 2013 #39

Oh well guess we shouldn't even try- ruffburr May 2013 #42

Oh...it can work...but, I think folks these days like to be with their own... KoKo May 2013 #46

I'm good with that- ruffburr May 2013 #49

Well here's another way to look at it, though... KoKo May 2013 #62

The Sword Of Damocles changed everything.... Junkdrawer May 2013 #41

The Gladys Knight Version of "The Way We Were" is visually incredible..and the voice KoKo May 2013 #48

Love the song.... Junkdrawer May 2013 #51

Yes...I picked up the lyric/verse from "The Way We Were".. KoKo May 2013 #53

How does that go? If women remembered the pain of childbirth.... Junkdrawer May 2013 #57

Yes...it's worth trying to be hopeful...weed the sad out from the laughter KoKo May 2013 #60

This message was self-deleted by its author raccoon May 2013 #93

Unions nadinbrzezinski May 2013 #45

I don't really know much of anything we can quantify of what we have these days... KoKo May 2013 #50

Sooner or later we will face social unrest nadinbrzezinski May 2013 #52

There's much more "local" action starting. Not stuff that get's posted much on KoKo May 2013 #55

I know, that is what locally OWS moved, evolved into nadinbrzezinski May 2013 #56

You are right...Unions. Also, regulation= middle class. demosincebirth May 2013 #61

there was a turn against social programs when it started to benefit minorities JI7 May 2013 #58

Is this for your dissertation? Good God, there are library STACKS devoted to these questions. WinkyDink May 2013 #65

It's too broad a subject to do justice to, but... CBHagman May 2013 #67

unions and politicians who gave a shit about america madrchsod May 2013 #69

In every historical account save those concocted by capitalist douchebags, this era is called alcibiades_mystery May 2013 #71

I was going to post something similar but you've said it better. Basically it was a time when byeya May 2013 #89

This Was The Time RobinA May 2013 #72

Let's look at how the tax brackets were arranged in that period... JHB May 2013 #73

Unity. moondust May 2013 #74

Employees were considered and treated as 'people' instead of human capital DebJ May 2013 #75

Great times if you were a straight white male Recursion May 2013 #79

God I love you guys! defacto7 May 2013 #83

Get naked olddots May 2013 #85

Less GREED in the pre-Reagan era many a good man May 2013 #90

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Unions and Corporate paternalism SteveG May 2013 #97