Show Notes
We met the carefully curated Ronald Reagan in part 1. We saw the Hollywood grin, the borrowed cowboy myth, the astrologer in the basement, the informant and the corporate lackey. In Part 2, we follow the money. The sale of a new economic dream for Americans during a time of desperate stagflation, unemployment and uncertainty. And what it sold has cost this country more than any single presidency in modern American history. Reaganomics was pitched to Americans as common sense. The government takes too much, thats the problem. Taxes on "job creators" choke the economy, corporations are going to run if you tax them you know. Cut taxes, slash regulation, trust the market — and a tide of prosperity will lift every boat. Cut off the welfare queen and free the small business owner. Trust the rich. Trust the men in suits who already had everything to know what was best for the woman scrubbing the floor at the hospital. He sold it the way only Reagan could, with a tear in his eye, a flag behind him, and a story about a Cadillac driving welfare cheat in Chicago who statistically did not exist. In this episode, we trace what actually happened next. The top income tax rate fell from 70 percent to 28 percent. The estate tax was gutted and capital gains were slashed. Corporate rates collapsed. All the ways the wealthiest among us make wealth were unleashed while the rest of us stayed tethered, shouldering more than our share of the burden. Union membership crashed from one in four American workers to roughly one in ten. Wages stopped tracking productivity. The federal minimum wage was frozen in time. Wall Street was deregulated, manufacturing was offshored, and the bottom half of the country watched its share of national wealth fall from 4 percent to barely 2.5, while the top 1 percent's share doubled. All while the national debt tripled. The mental health system was hollowed out, causing homelessness to explode. And every Republican economic platform since has been some version of do that again. Even Democratic leaders have allied themselves with this ideology in some way. We also dismantle the lie at the heart of it all, that spending on people is waste. Because every credible economist who has actually run the numbers has found the opposite. Every dollar invested in SNAP generates up to $1.80 in economic activity. Every dollar spent on early childhood education returns $7 to $12. Public transit returns roughly $4 to $1. WIC saves $3 in future Medicaid costs for every dollar it spends. Universal preschool, paid family leave, Medicaid expansion, infrastructure, these aren't handouts. They are the highest-return investments any government can make. The math has been clear for forty years. We were just told not to look. Reaganomics were one expensive lie for the American people. In this episode we talk about why we bought it, who profited, who's still paying — and what this country would actually look like if we ran the numbers instead of the mythology.
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Sources: On This Day: Federal Reserve History — Stock Market Crash of 1987 | Library of Congress — Black Monday Sanctions waiver: CNBC — Trump waives broad new Russia sanctions | ABC News — Order waiving Graham Act sanctions | France 24 — Rubio: 60 days to analyze | RFE/RL — Ukrainian officials slam waiver | The Hill — Zelensky denounces waiver | White House — Implementing the Graham Act | Debevoise — Graham Act explainer Starshield: Kyiv Post — Rubio: Ukraine lacks access to Starshield | Newsweek — Rubio denies ordered slowdown | CBS News — Ukraine still unable to intercept drones | CNBC — Musk: “ultimately POTUS” Dmitriev: TASS — UK, EU “sabotage” peace efforts | TASS — “Checkmate” | Gazeta do Povo — AI image of U.S. and Russia facing Europe | CNN — Dmitriev praises waiver Bend: CBS News — 3 children, teacher killed | PBS — Shooter attacked special-education classroom | NBC News — Bystander identified | Central Oregon Daily — Teacher threw phone, fought shooter | OPB — Survivors remain hospitalized Wichita: CBS News — Boy among 2 killed, 11 injured | ABC News — Truck drives through soccer game Measles: Al Jazeera — 4,410 cases | CDC — Cases and outbreaks | Contagion Live — October 16 update Omar: The Hill — Obama: probe is a political attack | Yahoo/Fox — Obama’s statement | Fox News — Homan on denaturalization | Arolsen Archives — The expatriation card file | JTA — Thomas Mann’s citizenship cancelled (1936) | Jewish Museum Berlin — 1933 revocation of naturalization UTSA: ESPN — Service member died from fall | TPR — Airman dies in rappelling accident | KSAT — Air Force statement Vance: Daily Beast — Blindsided by grieving husband | Yahoo — Minnesota widower demands answers | IBTimes — Vance: “huge mistake” BBC suit: Forbes — Judge threatens sanctions | Bloomberg — Judge threatens Trump with sanctions | TheWrap — Bailing on deposition Zacharia / East Potomac: CNN — Why Trump fired Zacharia after five days | NPR — Zacharia out | Washington Post — Photos obscuring what appears to be map of East Potomac | CNN — Administration seeks to remove judge | CNN — Work to start mid-November | Washington Post — Satellite images of tree removal France: Al Jazeera — Hundreds of thousands protest | CBS News — 1,800 arrested | France 24 — “Like we had a war” Meta / No Kings: TheWrap — Instagram account disappears | Common Dreams — Censorship fears | Raw Story — “We demand answers” | TPR — No Kings draws crowds with early-voting focus | Arizona Mirror — Crowds channel anger into early votes Norte Fire: ABC News/AP — Blaze burned 6 homes, 16,000 evacuated | FOX Weather — First Santa Ana event Good news: Physics World — Optogenetic therapy shows promise | Technology Networks — Gene therapy helps patients detect objects | NPR — Nobel for optogenetics
Reminder: I will be in Scotland for my birthday next week! Libras UNITE! Yesterday's news will still be coming out leading into midterms, but the time of day may change slightly, I will have a few days that I take off completely from being online, but I will announce those. SOURCES On This Day: JFK Library — October 16, 1962 | Office of the Historian — Cuban Missile Crisis
Sources: On This Day: History.com — Shot in the chest, Roosevelt kept talking | WPR — Shot in Milwaukee, 1912 Youngstown rally: CNN — Trump holds raucous Ohio rally | NBC News — Live blog | AOL — Protester punched in face as Trump calls her "fat guy" | Raw Story — "They're scum" | WFMJ — Live notes | The Vindicator — Trump stumps for Husted, Ramaswamy Musk: CNBC — $276 million, biggest known donor | CNN — Top booster for Republicans | MPR/AP — Quietly becomes biggest donor | The Hill — $366 million cycle total Grassley: BizPac Review — Files for reelection; would be 101 | Townhall — Files for 2028 bid Voting rules: Washington Times/AP — GOP states impose new voting rules | Mississippi Today/AP — Same | CNN — Ohio early voting shift Bankruptcies: Newsweek — Bankruptcies surge | Epoch Times — Filings up 11 percent | Time News — Small trucking fleets file Tariffs: Globe and Mail/AP — Trump sticks with tariffs despite disapproval | CP24/AP — Voters turn against tariffs | CNN — Author of tariff statute says tariffs are illegal | GBQ — Section 301 tariffs on 60 economies Ukraine: CNBC — Zelenskyy accuses Russia of violating ceasefire | Euronews — Russia ignored ceasefire | PBS — Strikes continue despite claim | Axios — Trump announces ceasefire Houston: CNN — Man struck by ICE vehicle broke both legs | Click2Houston — Parra undergoes surgery, family allegations | Houston Chronicle — ICE vehicle hits man Pike: CNN — Emergency help delayed by confusion | CBS News — 911 calls | NBC News — Calls highlight confusion Mamdani: NY1 — Review after teen's death | Yahoo/CNN — Department-wide review | CNN — Marble Hill ICE shooting AI center: U.S. News/Reuters — Officials to move to White House | Crypto Briefing — CAISI under White House oversight Good news: Billboard — Musgraves fires back at Noem | Hollywood Reporter — Dig about killing her dog | TheWrap — Snarky clapback
Misspoke: There is a podcast episode this week, not next week. Sources: On This Day: History.com — Chilean miners rescued after 69 days | TechCrunch — Most-watched Ustream event ever
The word “gossip” started out as something sacred. In Old English it was godsibb, literally “God-sibling,” the name for a godparent or anyone who stood with you at a baptism and became spiritual kin. By the Middle Ages the meaning had loosened to cover any close friend or companion, and in particular the circle of women who gathered in the birthing room to help a mother through labor. Those long hours of waiting were filled with talk, and the “gossips” became known as much for their conversation as for their support. Men, fearful and suspicious of women in community without men supervising began to demonize women gathering publicly or speaking to each other. Male writers of the 1500s and 1600s sneered at “gossips” as idle, chattering women, and by the 1800s the verb “to gossip” meant exactly what it does today. It was uniquely WOMAN sin and was built to isolate a woman from network. Then... they added it to the Bible.