But, he donated a million dollars to Obama's re-election campaign anyway.

[No Elephants]

Over the last 30 odd years, Democrats have moved to the right and the right has moved into a mental hospital. So what we have is one perfectly good party for hedge fund managers, credit card companies, banks, defense contractors, big agriculture and the pharmaceutical lobby... That's the Democrats. And they sit across the aisle from a small group of religious lunatics, flat-earthers and civil war re-enactors who mostly communicate by AM radio and call themselves the Republicans and who actually worry that Obama is a socialist. Socialist? He's not even a liberal.

Bill Maher, "From Elites to Jesus"


So far, I am sticking with my thesis that Emancipation, the New Deal and the Great Society were the aberrations. Maybe they were aberrations designed to preserve the system, but, whatever the motive, I think they were the aberrations.

However, even assuming that the Democratic went steadily left after the Civil War, dismantling of the New Deal began with Carter and a Democratic Congress, not 30 years ago.

Actually, deregulation (the transportation industry) seems to have begun with Nixon (and a Democratic Congress), continued through Ford (and a Democratic Congress) and Carter (and a Democratic Congress). So, arguably, well over 40 years ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deregulation

JIMMY CARTER: I would say that the most seminal change that affected the future was what you just mentioned, and that was deregulation. I was very much against government intrusion in private affairs, and so I thought that the airlines and the railroads and the banks all should be regulated. And they were while I was in office. It was a tremendous change.-

http://www.marketplace.org/topics/life/big-book/jimmy-carter-deregulation-health-care

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_Deregulation_Act (Deregulation of airlines, Carter and a Democratic Congress)

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=31883 (Jimmy Carter, Financial Institutions Deregulation Bill Statement on Signing H.R. 4998 Into Law.
December 28, 1979)(Democratic Congress)



http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2010/08/how-jimmy-carter-saved-craft-beer/19195/ (Carter deregulation of beer industry, with a Democratic Congress)

http://mises.org/daily/535 (Carter's decontrol of oil prices-article written by a Republican who thinks Carter was clueless about decontrol, though the above quote from Carter shows Carter was not clueless an, like the Republican author of this article, thought deregulation was the berries. This author also misses that ATT flat out loved the Carter administration lawsuit that this author condemns. The "settlement" enabled Ma Bell to spin off all the Baby Bell companies that were costly to ATT, leaving ATT with the highly profitable long distance service and few other goodies. I happen to know this because a relative of mine worked in the ATT legal dept at the time. He in fact worked on the post-settlement transition for two years. Again, ATT loved that lawsuit. So, while this author gets that the so-called Reagan Era in fact began under Carter, he gets just about everything else wrong. Still, better than average for a Republican.)



Carter and a Democratic Congress also replaced the Bankruptcy Act of 1934 in its entirety with the Bankruptcy Act of 1978. The Bankruptcy Act of 1934 had provided for appointment of a trustee in corporate reorganizations, to run the company while it was in bankruptcy and to investigate the officers and directors, to make sure that the corporation's financial problems were not due to their fraud or negligence. The Bankruptcy Code of 1978 did away with that.

Anyway, the notion that deregulation and dismantling of the New Deal and the Great Society began with Reagan is a myth.

To be sure, Reagan continued those things--as did Bubba, with repeal of Glass Steagall and ending "welfare as we know it." And heaven knows, Bush Number 2 tried to hand Social Security to Wall Street, while Obama has tried again and again to cut Social Security and Medicare. But both deregulation and dismantling of the New Deal began before all the usual suspects, with Nixon and Ford to some degree, but, most notably, Carter--and all with Democrats controlling both houses of Congress. Talk about an inconvenient truth.


Apparently, though, the boiling frogs 99% were not paying attention and claiming it all started with Reagan served the base, perhaps the base of both of the largest political parties. And therefore, that is the mythology we have inherited.

[Enthusiast]

1. This boiling frog didn't have

an understanding of the long term ramifications of deregulation back in the day. It has not escaped my attention in recent decades. That is why so many of us want to elect Elizabeth Warren to the office of the presidency. This shoveling of the world's wealth to the top .01% cannot continue.

[No Elephants]

2. I am glad that Warren beat Brown. Other than that, I am reserving judgment.