When you cannot form a coherent argument...

[emmiedahl]

You make up shit like this and then hope it will be true if you close your eyes and clap three times.

I keep seeing this and other crap just like it. I have a hard time not rage spiralling (which has been my mood all week) every time someone posts this junk.

<>

Why did I miss the part of the eighties in which we were all billionaires? My parents were struggling to support their children while getting through school despite policies that discriminated again non-traditional students. My stepchildren seem to be better off than most of my peers were at their age. I just can't even with these people.

[JesusFightClub]

I'm not sure if I just take things far too literally, but there's a CAR in my parents' garage. A CAR.

This is where the car lives. It rains a lot in Scotland. It can't really live outside, and it's only cause they're rural they have a garage at all. The car is old and does not appreciate cold weather.

There is also a fridge, a box with a lot of vegetables in and a whole dead lamb in a freezer.

None of this seems to leave much room for starting a business. Are American garages....weird? Where do the cars stay?

:?

[FundiesInMyFamily]

Why did I miss the part of the eighties in which we were all billionaires? My parents were struggling to support their children while getting through school despite policies that discriminated again non-traditional students. My stepchildren seem to be better off than most of my peers were at their age. I just can't even with these people.

The eighties were fabuuulous! My parents bought a house at 11% interest and then filed bankrupcy 5 years later after loosing their shirts trying to sell said house. Then my dad went to work one day and got a pink slip along with 3,000 other people (Ball Aerospace).

Fuck Regan. Fuck the 80's. Fuck the right wing.

I see your rage Emmie, and I raise you a banging head on wall.

[Maggie Mae]

These people must get their history from 80s television and movies. It wasn't until the 90s that media started showing more lower and middle class families.

I remember the 80s. We lived in a two bedroom walk up across from a strip mall. Our neighbor below us had MS so I had to tiptoe around or he would bang on the ceiling with a broom. I was 7. Before that we lived in a house that was owned by a church. I remember playing double dutch in the parking lot with a group of kids of all colors and all poor. We did not have a garage.

There are still start ups in people's garages that make money. But the difference is that there are more people and less low level jobs. The factories have been outsourced. I know in the rust belt it was very possible to work your way up from a low level factory job to a decent middle class income. But that's all done now and there isn't anything to replace it.

[YPestis]

Funny they ignore a time growth in the 90's under Clinton or that the economic malaise really started hitting people under Bush. The simple fact is presidents rarely have that type of economic pull. Our economy is cyclical and what puts you in your parents' basement is not necessarily because Reagan wasn't in office. Of course, it's easier to break down complex political situations into simple sound bites than to to have a real discussion.

[Minerva]

At least maybe someone will google Reaganomics and end up a bit less sheltered. Maybe.

[Maggie Mae]

At least maybe someone will google Reaganomics and end up a bit less sheltered. Maybe.

That would involve reading. If a bunch of people say Reagan is the best, it must be true!

[marmalade]

The eighties were fabuuulous! My parents bought a house at 11% interest and then filed bankrupcy 5 years later after loosing their shirts trying to sell said house. Then my dad went to work one day and got a pink slip along with 3,000 other people (Ball Aerospace).

Fuck Regan. Fuck the 80's. Fuck the right wing.

I see your rage Emmie, and I raise you a banging head on wall.

Not to mention both Microsoft and Apple were started in the mid-late 70's Gerry Ford and Jimmy Carter are awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111eleventy

As for Reaganomics...nothing "trickled down" to me. I attended the '84 Republican Convention....as a young person "Rocking Against Reagan." Hell, I still have my "Reaganbusters" pin!

This pic pretty much sums up my train of thought about the Rethugs these days:

[jesssnerch]

If I recall correctly, Jeff Bezos started Amazon.com in his garage in 1994. So everyone can just suck it. I don't know why Regan is seen as some saint. I'm sure his Alzheimer's started sometime in his last few years in office and Nancy and her psychic were running things.

[marmalade]

He was St. Ronnie even before his senile butt left the Oval Office. My generation grew up with that bozo and is now the most conservative generation America has ever seen. eg. Ann Coulter on the older end, Paul Ryan on the younger. And in between, idiots like Sarah Palin, Bobby Jindal and pretty much every wingnut running Arizona and South Carolina these days.

[Austin]

The ironic thing is that these days, Reagan would never even make it through a republican primary.

[Handmaiden of Dog]

Every single time that I think of Reagan I think of the way he just let AIDs take its course because-- you know-- it was just homos who were dying. It was not until white, hemophiliac children started dying before his government started to get concerned.

His frikkin voodoo economics were a lie then and still a lie today. All those hundreds of millions that RMoney made from Bain didn't trickle down on our heads.

[marmalade]

Don't forget that he declared ketchup a vegetable and gave out blocks of cheddar cheese to the poor. Nice guy, that Ronnie. :roll:

[Nothing2CHere]

Wow, this looks like something my conservative cousins would post on Facebook! At least my male cousin admitted during our little debate today that he considers Romney the lesser of two evils that will "further damage our country" rather than the country's great savior. He doesn't trust Obama's "socialist approach," whereas I don't trust Romney to not take away my reproductive rights.

[anniebgood]

I live in CA. We have a garage but we store all our excess stuff in it, camping, tools, work bench etc. Cars (except my moms at her house) sit in the driveway.

I also lived through Ronald Reagan. I lost all respect when he cut the budgets for public education, he started it and it's been going downhill ever since. Prior to Reagan Education was revered here. K-12 programs were rich in the arts and education meant something. State residents could afford to go to community college, state colleges and universities and not have to mortgage their futures. He was a good actor but didn't have an original thought when he was governor of president.

I've voted in every presidential election since 1972, and every 4 years it gets nastier and dirtier. The GOP has kowtowed to the Tea Party and the Koch Brothers and other Billionaires who could give a shit about us in the middle class. To take the view away from the actual concerns of budget, social welfare and the excessive defense spending, they have attacked women. And to their surprise, a good number of women are fighting back.

I hope the undecided look at the platforms. I know my mom is pretty upset with Ryan and his plans for medicare.

[slickcat79]

As for Reaganomics...nothing "trickled down" to me. I attended the '84 Republican Convention....as a young person "Rocking Against Reagan." Hell, I still have my "Reaganbusters" pin!

You'd think after 30 years people would have realized that nothing trickled down to anyone :( That was actually the point. I don't know what sort of "logic" makes people think that more than a handful of wealthy people are going to risk becoming less wealthy by letting go of their money. Especially those born to the silver spoon.

IIRC, Reagan was responsible for the largest peacetime tax increase since WWII, and he doubled (tripled?) the national debt. Damn right he never would have made it past state representative in today's GOP.

[ADoyle90815]

One other thing is that prior to Regan, in California especially, residents could afford to go to state colleges and universities, and once they graduated, they could work for the same company until retirement. If someone didn't want to go to college, they were able to get a good factory job and live off of those wages until they decided to retire. That era ended in the 80's especially with factory jobs when corporations decided to send those factory jobs overseas and close the local buildings. Regan also closed many military bases, and the areas around those bases became ghost towns or full of section 8 housing for what Regan loved to call "welfare queens."

I also think Regan wouldn't have lasted long in the primary season, and certainly wouldn't be nominated as the Republican candidate today.

[Witsec7]

Fuck me, I lived in CA when he was gov and then when he ruled the land. Americans who forgot his testimony in HUAC gleefully drank the koolaid while I knew elders who had been blacklisted for decades. I would love to piss on his grave.

riffle

[Hane]

The eighties were fabuuulous! My parents bought a house at 11% interest and then filed bankrupcy 5 years later after loosing their shirts trying to sell said house. Then my dad went to work one day and got a pink slip along with 3,000 other people (Ball Aerospace).

Fuck Regan. Fuck the 80's. Fuck the right wing.

I see your rage Emmie, and I raise you a banging head on wall.

Yup. I was a full-fledged adult in the '80s, and it was indeed financially effed up. The construction loan for my house was 13%. Like FundiesInMyFamily's dad, many professionals with mortgages and kids in college lost their jobs and took years and years to recoup. I was lucky enough to stay employed (customer service rep at the local telco), but we were all stalled in our careers then--no movement up.

One day I was at an upscale store at a mall, and noticed that many of the sales clerks were far more hard-working and intelligent* than one would expect, and were dressed sharper. Turns out that they were laid-off management MBAs from local insurance companies.

*Not a slur against retail workers--I was one--but I could notice the difference between vacuous gum-snappers and these 20-somethings in nice clothes who actually WANTED to help their customers.

As YPestis pointed put, things started looking up once Clinton was in office. I was able to re-negotiate a 10% mortgage down to 7.25%. My company lost its torpor and I got promoted twice.

I can never understand all those people who idealize Reagan. He came out with absurd statements on a regular basis--but he was "The Great Communicator." And SO charming. [/sarcasm]

[JesusFightClub]

I've read his testimony. And experiencedd, I fully agree with you, comrade.

On other forums I go to there was a flood of mourning and handwringing. I, on the other hand, experienced a tiny taster of what I will feel when Thatcher kicks the bucket. Can't be long now...

[salsa]

Funny they ignore a time growth in the 90's under Clinton or that the economic malaise really started hitting people under Bush. The simple fact is presidents rarely have that type of economic pull. Our economy is cyclical and what puts you in your parents' basement is not necessarily because Reagan wasn't in office. Of course, it's easier to break down complex political situations into simple sound bites than to to have a real discussion.

True enough! I'm a yellow dog Democrat and even I know that Clinton was Prez during the upswing and can't take all that much credit - and Reagan (though trickle down economics is the biggest load of bs ever) actually did have a little somepin somepin to do with the economic upswing.

Would it have happened no matter who was POTUS or in the cabinet? the world will never know... but it's very easy to make political figures - especially the POTUS - the lightning rod of ALL that happens.

[salsa]

Don't forget that he declared ketchup a vegetable and gave out blocks of cheddar cheese to the poor. Nice guy, that Ronnie. :roll:

and as a high school student, Carter gave peanuts to many schools - ours in Oklahoma, included. I was only in 9th grade, so I don't know what the specifics were, but those schools where there were a certain number of poor folks got the peanut subsidy. I like peanuts, so I enjoyed them when they were served in one of those cupcake holder thingies. When the school "nutritionists" couldn't figure out what to do with all those peanuts, they put them in lime jello. I was content to eat them out of the cupcake thingies.

Now I'm off to eat some broccoli (those of a certain age will know...)

[fundiefan]

I find it most interesting that of those I've seen post this thing on Facebook, not even half of them were even alive when Reagan was President. They certainly didn't experience the 80's and they have no first hand knowledge of life then.

They're jumping on bandwagons for the sake of jumping.

Hey, I'm a fan of the 80's. That was my formative decade. I'm still stuck there when it comes to music.

It was not, however, the decade of sunshine and roses and grand living for all good Americans. I refuse to engage in any discussion about or started in comments for the imaginary world people think this image conveys. It's not worth it.

[Aeryn406]

I was in grade school during the 80's, so I *remember* it to a certain extent, but I really think people my age & younger should really refrain from make adult judgements on things that they only half-recall. Not that they can't debate the issues from a hind-sight POV, but to say "I loved when The Gipper was Prez!!1!" No. You were in 4th grade, same as me, and your biggest thoughts were probably on getting through the school week. (No disrespect to those who grew up in difficult situations, of course.)

[Rosa]

Nah, when the Gipper was President my dad kept being out of work for months at a time, and a classmate burst into tears when I took apart a joint project to redo it, because her mom had told her they couldn't afford any more art supplies that school year.

That was in a nice suburb, too. Out in the boonies farm families were living on food stamps. Remember, Farm Aid started in 1985.