9 Comments
User's avatar
⭠ Return to thread
Eva Seifert's avatar

Rumor has it that Rs want the 50s. My reaction - GO FOR IT. CEOs only made 30 times their employees' incomes, stock options didn't exist, pensions were a thing for employees, regulations were a good thing, Rs actually believed in governing, unions were strong, workers were paid living wages, corporations believed in the public good, taxes were really progressive up to 90+%, TV and movies didn't celebrate the bad/rich/powerful, and news channels didn't tell deliberate lies, etc. Were there problems? Hell, yes. At the same time, there was hope, optimism, a sense that most people believed in education, progress, the Constitution, etc. The Rs don't want the 1950s - they want the 1850s of the southern aristocrats who ruled and everyone who wasn't one of them was an indentured servant or a slave.

Expand full comment
knowltok's avatar

"corporations believed in the public good"

Perhaps we could sit down sometime and share a couple bottles of Great Lakes Brewery's Burning River Pale Ale to discuss the good stewardship companies showed in the 50's.

;-)

Expand full comment
Richard Kane's avatar

I love Burning River!

Expand full comment
Eva Seifert's avatar

Yes, I was oversimplifying. :-) I'm afraid I'd be asleep by the time I finished the bottle. Have little tolerance for alcohol. :-)

Expand full comment
User's avatar
Comment removed
Feb 27, 2023
Comment removed
Expand full comment
knowltok's avatar

True. I mean, a slogan of "1950's, but this time, for everyone!" wouldn't be too bad.

Still, even if that was your goal, we couldn't really do it again. The world is too different and we're too different. The 50's had a generation shaped and hardened by privation followed by war making their way in a world where only one power really escaped the ravages of that war.

Expand full comment
User's avatar
Comment removed
Feb 27, 2023
Comment removed
Expand full comment
knowltok's avatar

That's what I said! ;)

Expand full comment
R Mercer's avatar

People do not understand that you cannot have the 50s back unless you pretty much torch the rest of the world while taking essentially no damage to the US... AND you get rid of nuclear weapons except for the US.

Expand full comment