Both FDR and LBJ won at significant political cost. Normal is 40 years of shredded safety nets, and the most expensive but least adequate healthcare system in the modern world. Normal is a GOP that for years has been actively suppressing minority votes and embracing white supremacists. Normal is a Democratic party that for years has been abandoning the working class. Franklin D Roosevelt did this in the 1930s, when he enacted legislation requiring employers to bargain with unionized employees. Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For ⦠Having served in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton, and as an advisor to President Obama, Reich now writes a weekly column for the Guardian⦠They also stand out for their abilities not to stand out. The views expressed in this article are the author's own. And those at the top won’t relinquish it without a fight. They will oppose substantial tax hikes to finance trillions of dollars of spending on education, infrastructure and a Green New Deal. Recih is a former Labor Secretary and currently Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. Normal is also growing corruption of politics by big money – an economic system rigged by and for the wealthy. Since then, though, not even Democratic presidents have tried to alter the distribution of power in America. Complacency would be deadly. As a former secretary of labor, I often receive mail from workers with job complaints, who apparently believe I still have some authority. Hence the paradox. And health and environmental crises that make the coronavirus another step toward Armageddon. Vaccines will allow “a gradual accrual of more normality as the weeks and the months go by as we get well into 2021”. Response to nature-lover (Reply #1). He was talking about life after Covid-19, but you could be forgiven if you thought he was also making a promise about life after Trump. The end of both aberrations conjures up a former America that, by contrast, might appear quiet and safe, even boring. Robert Reich Fatigued by the coronavirus and Trump, the idea of going back to normal is seductive â we must guard against it Sun 29 Nov 2020 01.00 EST Last modified on ⦠Why have recent Democratic presidents been reluctant to take on structural inequality? Robert Reich This article is more than 8 months old Using power and privilege to exploit the weak and vulnerable in the face of a common threat is morally repugnant. For the last 40 years, hourly wages have stagnated and almost all economic gains have gone to the top. Yet the problem of widening inequality is distinct from the problem of recession. They will battle antitrust enforcement against their giant corporations, including Dimon’s “too big to fail” bank. Theyâre intimately connected. The stock market’s meteoric rise has benefited the wealthy at the expense of wage earners. It’s a good team. Robert B. Reich is an American political commentator, professor and author. America wants to return to a reassuring normal, but Biden can’t allow it. It’s a mistake to see this challenge as placating the progressive wing of the Democratic party. They’re competent and they care, in sharp contrast to Trump’s goon squad. He is no longer president. Last modified on Tue 15 Dec 2020 14.27 GMT. Fatigued by the coronavirus and Trump, the idea of going back to normal is seductive – we must guard against it, Last modified on Mon 30 Nov 2020 16.16 EST. Having served in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton, and as an advisor to President Obama, Reich now writes a weekly column for the Guardian⦠Black voters didn’t emerge as a major force in American politics until a half-century after LBJ’s landmark legislation. Despite Covid’s grim resurgence, Dr Anthony Fauci – the public health official whom Trump ignored and then muzzled, with whom Biden’s staff is now conferring – sounded guardedly optimistic last week. The moment we are now in – with Trump virtually gone, Biden assembling his cabinet, and most of the nation starting to feel a bit of relief – is a temporary reprieve. Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of and . Inequality Media is a nonprofit co-founded by former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich and Director Jacob Kornbluth following the success of their documentary film, Inequality For All. Robert Reich: Donald Trump's re-election playbook: 25 ways he'll lie, cheat and abuse his power. Robert Reich The president-elect says he will address structural inequalities, but against entrenched interests, such works take time Bidenâs economic team in Wilmington, Delaware this week. The richest 1% of US households now own 50% of the value of stocks held by Americans. He served in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, as well as serving as the United States Secretary of Labor from 1993 to 1997 under Bill Clinton . Robert Reich. It is comforting to think of both Covid and Trump as intrusions into normality, aberrations from routines that prevailed before. The more of it held by those at the top, the less held by others. It is almost impossible to separate the two. They could also be his great weaknesses. He is a columnist for Guardian US, America is being subjected to a stress test – and Republicans are failing | Robert Reich. Robert Reich April 28, 2019 8:00AM (UTC) This originally appeared on Robert Reich's blog.. They will need to organize, mobilize and put sufficient pressure on Biden and other elected leaders to act. Biden has said any stimulus bill passed in the lame-duck session will be “just the start”. Given the road we were on, Trump and Covid were not aberrations. This doesn’t make the objective any less important or even less feasible. He is a columnist for Guardian US, Available for everyone, funded by readers. Robert Bernard Reich is an American economic advisor, professor, author, and political commentator. The president-elect says he will address structural inequalities, but against entrenched interests, such works take time, Sun 6 Dec 2020 06.00 GMT First, because they have taken office during deep recessions, which posed a more immediate challenge. That means reversing structural inequalities requires altering the distribution of power. To the extent voters gave Biden a mandate, it was to end both scourges and make America normal again. Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. The Guardian - Robert Reich. Robert Reich's latest book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Change It, will be out in March. They were inevitabilities. Lyndon Johnson did it in the 1960s with the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, which increased the political power of Black people. Third, reallocating power is hugely difficult. “Just split the baby and move on.”. But Dimon and his ilk will doubtless continue to fight any encroachments on their power and wealth. “Life is going to return to normal,” Joe Biden promised on Thursday in a Thanksgiving address to the nation. His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. Robert Reich This article is more than 4 months old The presidentâs assault on decency has created an emerging coalition, across boundaries of race, class and partisan politics Many of them were in the trenches with Biden and Barack Obama in 2009, when the economy last needed rescuing. His new book, , is out now. Robert Reich in The Guardian: How have a relative handful of billionaires â whose vast fortunes have soared even during the pandemic â convinced the vast majority of the public that their wealth shouldnât be taxed in order to support the common good? get a major stimulus bill through Congress, Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few. “It’s time we address the structural inequalities in our economy that the pandemic has laid bare,” President-elect Joe Biden said this week, as he introduced his economic team. Also necessitate the successful inoculation of millions against Covid-19 Democrats on 5 January,,. 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