increasingly the middle the american dream has become the
American Newnan serve the american dream of our above
the last 200 years pre-nineteen eighty it's become the
American dream of the post-nineteen eighty the the
the post Reagan Revolution American Dream which is on you know
be hitting the lottery basically
and
and the working people in this country just been wiped out any we could be
flying high with the jetsons but instead were stock of it with
the flinstones you back in 1966
time magazine published an article that look to head toward the future and
discuss to
what the rises in technology and automation and computers are
what's all this stuff going to mean for working-class americans I'm from China
George Washington until a presidency ronald reagan with a few books for wars
as american workers became more productive their wages went up
or their working hours went down or both we went from 60 our work weeks in
poverty wages in the early 19th century to the fifty our work week at the turn
of the 20th century would better wages
to solidly middle-class wages and a forty our work week by the nineteen
fifties
weather was the steam revolution the early 19th century
the Industrial Revolution in the late 19th century or the machine revolution
in the early 20th century
as workers were able to make more things
nor is be more productive and create greater profits for their companies
using fewer man-hours or woman hours fewer
labor hours the workers shared in the prosperity that was produced
by their increased productivity so much so
that time magazine simply assumed that from 1966 to the year two thousand
as computer and advance mechanization made american workers more productive
that our wages would go up in our work we could go down
this article in Time magazine back in 1966 will step into the Wayback Machine
here
to the the the author this article in
stuntin 66 looking at out
almost 40 years 34 years looking out at the year two thousand
they said and I quote by two thousand the machines will be producing so much
that everyone in the US will in effect be independently wealthy
with government benefits even on working families will have by one estimate an
annual income of thirty to forty thousand dollars
how to use leisure meaningfully will be a major problem
its thirty to forty thousand
in 1966 dollars is like 215 debt 288,000 and to
A's dollars and it wasn't just time magazine predicting such a luxurious
future for america
back in the sixties it was a commonly held belief
that the Rye and are cartoons reflected he %uh the jetsons
it said that the rise in technology and automation would mean increase
productivity
in america which in turn would be more money and fewer hours worked for
american workers
I after its always it always been no in this country so the rationale behind
that belief was really
simple with increased technology companies would be able to produce more
and be more fishing on a per worker basis
so the revenues would would it would soar their profits would be passed along
to their workers to be making more working fewer hours
and that's why back in 1966 everyone thought that by the year two thousand
America would be the
leisure society they thought that our biggest worries would be how to use all
of our time
of were to go on our many vacations what sort of intellectual and artistic
pursuits the middle class would choose to explore the 21st century
are you write poetry reading to music
but that logic all hinged on the top marginal income tax rate remaining at
seventy percent where it was in nineteen sixty-six
after CEOs are in their first million or to the circuit that top tax bracket they
simply stop taking more pay
I mean who wants to pay seventy percent income tax which is why for about 50
years
CEOs earned about 30 times with their average workers aren't
and no more that high income tax rate
encourage CEOs to keep money in their businesses
to invest in new technology to pay their workers more to hire new workers the
business could expand
as businesses became more profitable thanks to investments and automation
technology
workers saw more those profits they were shared with the employees
and this other standard a living in their leisure time go up
and time magazine back in 1966 assume that that trend was going to continue
right through to the beginning of the 21st century
how wrong they were they did not see ronald reagan come
rating came along nineteen eighties slashed income taxes
and everything changed the idea the leisure society
by the year two thousand totally blown up
in 1981 ronald reagan introduces economic recovery tax
act which cut the top marginal income tax rate from 70 to 50 percent
cut estate taxes for wealthy people and businesses
and slashed corporate profit in capital gains taxes
and just a few years later Reagan again lower the top income tax rate to 28
percent
a level it hadn't been seen since the early nineteen twenties
and that low tax rate was by the way blamed by many economists for causing
the bottle the lead the Great Depression
so hot the reagan tax cuts doomed today is working class Americans
opportunity for life the life
our leisure the time magazine was foreseen
when that time article came out 1966 working people's wages it stays
stayed even with productivity levels since nineteen hundred
to people thought back then a productivity continue to rise which is
likely thanks to increases in automation and technology and computers
wages would rise thanks to reagan now at a
businesses did become more profitable all the but there is less of an
incentive to share the wealth
because it historically low top income tax rates
CEO's Paul profits out other companies and feel this was bank accounts
all at the expense of working class americans
so all these new profits that were created by
automation and technology you know from the 1980s evict
32 years it's tough 33 years
is this post we should working people giving us all higher paychecks more time
off
instead went to the wealthy elite productivity continue to rise
but for the first time
wages stalled and they've been they've been stalled since 1980
worker productivity continue to increase thanks to constant improvements in
technology
but wages stayed flat working people's paychecks didn't increase neither did
their time off
back in the fifties the average American worker 42 hours a week now
the average work America where he manufacturing is working around 40 hours
and even though productivity has increased for 100 percent since nineteen
fifty
have wages got a poor performer percent nope
they've actually climbed down
we should be able to work 10 hours a week right now and make the city pay
that we're making in 1950
right
this is the Thom Hartmann programmable leisure society was doomed a minute
ronald reagan
stepped into office and media undo them by rolling back the reagan tax cuts
and reaganomics