In recent elections, the U.S. moved closer to oligarchy and plutocracy by the super wealthy at the top of the right wing political network. How could this have happened when the exploited majority had to vote against its own interests to allow it? One answer is that what voters think is happening to them is far more important than what is actually happening.
The Koch brothers and other leaders of the right wing political network understood this decades ago and launched an extensive campaign to purchase intellectuals, think tanks, and media to establish a system of misleading beliefs favoring their interests. (1) This investment paid off handsomely when it successfully redirected the rage of working-class whites away from their exploiters and made possible the election of Donald Trump to the presidency.
What Was Actually Happening To Working Class Whites
During several decades of increasing U.S. wealth from globalization and automation, working-class whites lost jobs and did not get salary increases, while those at the top took all the money and the worst among them even opposed the safety net for those left behind. During this period real GDP per capita increased substantially, which should have provided sufficient increases in income for everyone to benefit (See fig. 1.).
Figure 1. Per capita real GDP and median wage from 1980 to 2013. (2)
So what changes led to this inequality? After the Reagan Revolution of 1980, a distribution problem arose that favored the rich and super rich in association with tax cuts, financial and other deregulation, and other policies. Before that, the distribution of gains in income had been stable and reasonably equitable from 1947 to 1980 with 48-51% for wages and salaries and with a similar amount for return on Capital. During that interval, incomes increased by 87% for the bottom 90%, 57% for the top 1%, and 83% for the top 0.01%. (2)
This pattern deteriorated markedly from 1980 to 2013 when the share of increases in income for wages and salaries fell to 42%. Incomes actually decreased by 6% for the bottom 90%, but increased by 178% for the top 1%, and 431% for the top 0.01%. (See fig. 2). (2) This distribution problem was compounded by tax cuts for the rich that prevented correction by redistribution. The average tax rate was cut by 20% for the top 1% from 1979 to 2007 (37% to 29.5%) and by 37% for the top 400 families just from 1992 to 2007 (26.4% to 16.6%–1979 figures not available). (3)
Figure 2. Changes in real income according to income group before and after the Reagan Revolution–1947-1980 and 1980-2012. (2)
What Some Working Class Whites Were Persuaded Was Happening
Thanks to long term right wing propaganda, a system of false beliefs was already in place to explain away the role of plutocrats in creating the difficulties for working-class whites. (4) These false beliefs included misleading claims about benefits from unregulated markets, tax cuts for the rich, and the role of meritocracy, as well as demonization of government size, deficits, function, safety nets, and regulation. Facts, figures, and graphs rebutting all of these claims are presented in the “False Beliefs” portion of the “Activities” section of this blog’s main post “Koch Brothers and Right Wing Political Network Overview”.
During the recent election, this propaganda machine also shamelessly exploited prejudicial fears of whites as useful distractions. Job loss was attributed mostly to China and immigrants rather than to the more important contribution of rapidly increasing automation. Perceptions of some whites that they were victims of gains by African-Americans were tolerated, despite the obvious legacy of centuries of slavery, Jim Crow, and subsequent racism. Violent crime, presumably by minorities, was said to be increasing when it was actually decreasing. These topics served to distract working-class whites away from the central role of plutocrats in their distress and instead suggested simplistic solutions, such as bullying other groups, deal-making, walls, tariffs, and the like.
Consequences of White Working-Class Susceptibility to Right Wing Propaganda
Working-class whites, swayed by long term right wing propaganda, made a critical contribution to the selection of Donald Trump for the presidency by the Electoral College. Their reward was a new government loaded up with their union busting, wage and benefit suppressing plutocrat enemies who are likely to oppose anything that would improve their lots. Make no mistake, this change resulted primarily from decades of shrewd right wing political network propaganda, not from the political genius of Mr. Trump, who merely reaped the harvest of a field already prepared for him.
Presumably, working-class whites will be profoundly disappointed when they find out Mr. Trump can’t relieve their distress by bringing back jobs that didn’t go to China or by beating up on minorities and immigrants. Perhaps they’ll even realize that fixing the distribution system that favors the plutocrats who exploit them is their only hope. But wait, all this was obvious before the election. If the right wing propaganda machine could win them over so easily despite the evidence, what’s to keep it from continuing to do so?
Sources:
- Mayer, Jane. Dark Money. 2016.
- “Why Wages Have Stagnated While GDP Has Grown: The Proximate Factors”. An Economic Sense. https://aneconomicsense.org. February 13, 2015
- Stiglitz, Joseph. The Price of Inequality. 2013.
- Milanovic, Branko. Global Inequality. 2016.