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In reply to the discussion: C. Wright Mills: Sociological Imagination and the Power Elite [View all]Octafish
(55,745 posts)27. That explains why his story is seldom told any more, as JFK, who also addressed class and power...
JFK tapes offer lesson in income inequality
By Tom Putnam | GLOBE CORRESPONDENT JANUARY 24, 2012
DURING THE last days of his presidency, John F. Kennedy had a number of concerns on his mind. In tapes being released today by the Kennedy Library, we hear, for example, the president focus on his reelection and issues of economic inequality. [font color="blue"]What can we do, he asks his political advisers, to make voters decide that they want to vote for us, Democrats? What is it we have to sell em? We hope we have to sell them prosperity, but for the average guy the prosperity is nil. Hes not unprosperous, but hes not very prosperous. Hes not . . . very well-off. And the people who really are well-off hate our guts.[/font color] As questions about growing social inequity increasingly dominate our current political dialogue, it may be instructive to look back at how these issues played out a half century ago.
Having witnessed the country survive the Great Depression and World War II, JFK understood the economic and military vulnerabilities of democratic capitalism. Though insulated by his familys wealth, JFK was affected by the poverty he witnessed on the 1960 campaign trail. One of the memorable lines from his inaugural address [font color="blue"]if a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich helps explain his first executive order: increasing surplus food allotments to poor communities across the nation.[/font color]
Once in power, his economic policies were ideologically balanced, combining, for example, a proposed tax cut to stimulate the economy with efforts to raise the minimum wage and expand unemployment benefits. Like the current incumbent, JFKs legislative efforts - especially those designed to help the poor and advance civil rights - were often stymied by members of Congress. During his 1962 State of the Union address he reminded his congressional colleagues: [font color="blue"]The Constitution makes us not rivals for power but partners for progress. . . It is my task to report the State of the Union - to improve it is the task of us all.[/font color]
In terms of his administrations relationship with the really well-off, his most famous confrontation came during the steel crisis in 1962. Having helped to negotiate a non-inflationary wage settlement with the United Steelworkers Union, Kennedy thought he had an agreement with industry executives that, in exchange, they would not raise the price of steel that year.
CONTINUED...
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2012/01/24/jfk-offers-lessons-income-equality/ST1GsaQM77N0mWXoG8GT4L/story.html
By Tom Putnam | GLOBE CORRESPONDENT JANUARY 24, 2012
DURING THE last days of his presidency, John F. Kennedy had a number of concerns on his mind. In tapes being released today by the Kennedy Library, we hear, for example, the president focus on his reelection and issues of economic inequality. [font color="blue"]What can we do, he asks his political advisers, to make voters decide that they want to vote for us, Democrats? What is it we have to sell em? We hope we have to sell them prosperity, but for the average guy the prosperity is nil. Hes not unprosperous, but hes not very prosperous. Hes not . . . very well-off. And the people who really are well-off hate our guts.[/font color] As questions about growing social inequity increasingly dominate our current political dialogue, it may be instructive to look back at how these issues played out a half century ago.
Having witnessed the country survive the Great Depression and World War II, JFK understood the economic and military vulnerabilities of democratic capitalism. Though insulated by his familys wealth, JFK was affected by the poverty he witnessed on the 1960 campaign trail. One of the memorable lines from his inaugural address [font color="blue"]if a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich helps explain his first executive order: increasing surplus food allotments to poor communities across the nation.[/font color]
Once in power, his economic policies were ideologically balanced, combining, for example, a proposed tax cut to stimulate the economy with efforts to raise the minimum wage and expand unemployment benefits. Like the current incumbent, JFKs legislative efforts - especially those designed to help the poor and advance civil rights - were often stymied by members of Congress. During his 1962 State of the Union address he reminded his congressional colleagues: [font color="blue"]The Constitution makes us not rivals for power but partners for progress. . . It is my task to report the State of the Union - to improve it is the task of us all.[/font color]
In terms of his administrations relationship with the really well-off, his most famous confrontation came during the steel crisis in 1962. Having helped to negotiate a non-inflationary wage settlement with the United Steelworkers Union, Kennedy thought he had an agreement with industry executives that, in exchange, they would not raise the price of steel that year.
CONTINUED...
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2012/01/24/jfk-offers-lessons-income-equality/ST1GsaQM77N0mWXoG8GT4L/story.html
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A class project -- organizing student protests@ '81 Reagan Inaugur - earned me an A and an FBI File.
leveymg
Jan 2016
#5
''We have more will than wallet.'' -- George Herbert Walker Bush inaugural address
Octafish
Jan 2016
#8
One thing I know: Mills wrote about the Military Industrial Complex before there was such a term.
Octafish
Jan 2016
#13
The elites murdered Caesar, overthrew the Republic, and did themselves in for greed.
Octafish
Jan 2016
#14
Power Elite was assigned reading in my poli sci days. Read this from Robert Reich:
groovedaddy
Jan 2016
#9
Reich reminds us Princeton study looked at US political scene before Citizens United.
Octafish
Jan 2016
#15
Have you found Parenti's theses to be confirmed by events over the past 35 years, hifiguy?
Octafish
Jan 2016
#19
yes, the triangle of power, the illusion of democracy, and the inactionary masses, nt
amborin
Jan 2016
#12
That explains why his story is seldom told any more, as JFK, who also addressed class and power...
Octafish
Jan 2016
#27
The power elite have been using all these same tricks and treasons upon us for thousands of years
Dont call me Shirley
Jan 2016
#20
A simple, few indviduals, yes. But propped up and hoisted on the shoulders of the many.
raouldukelives
Jan 2016
#24
When Mill tried to get his PE published at U. of Texas Press, the book was rejected....
Eleanors38
Jan 2016
#30