Transcripts For CSPAN3 Lectures In History 1970s 80s Deindu

CSPAN3 Lectures In History 1970s 80s Deindustrialization Of The U.S. July 14, 2024

Early years of the american conservative movement. So, this brings us to the 1970s and the topic is the industrialization. Were taking up our lecture in 1970, but we will take this all the way through really the 1980s. So, the development to talk about werent sudden. They unfolded very slowly and i will explain what. You tohat, i want reflect on a question that i am going to give you. Do not raise your hands yet. Because i want you to think about it. The American Dream. Define that . O find i want you think about your grandparents generations. Your parents generation. And your generation. I want you to think about the standard of living enjoyed by these generations and your family. Consummate to give me a definition of the American Dream . Carla . , like,g successful and getting married, maybe . Having kids and being able to provide for your family. Prof. Nickerson yes, that is the American Dream for a lot of people. How else to people think about the American Dream . Alexia . For an increment family both my parents were immigrants, they value my education. Getting educated and getting a good job. Taking care of myself. Prof. Nickerson right. So, the American Dream is about. Eing prosperous, successful the other thing is how the American Dream is an mention to 24 over generation. Parents came to the u. S. Because they wanted to create opportunities for their children. The other is the American Dream relies on equality that everyone in this country who lives here has access the American Dream. On yourlecting grandparents and your parents, how would you respond to that question . With a show of hands, how many peoples parents lived, in your judgment, a better lives in your ration . Rents gene ok, thats interesting. How many of you think you will live a standard of living better than your parents . Ok. Really, it begs the question, what is the standard of living . I get it. Ek, reflecting on that, wer going to move on to talk about what happened to the u. S. Economy. I development in u. S. Political economy after the 1960s. Aseriod we refer to deindustrialization. That jobsmeans is started moving. American capital started new being from the places where it had been established over the course of the 20th century. That, couldd somebody tell me what was it about the United States between 1970 that made people prosper . What happened . Dreamueled this american that helps your parents generation to live better in your grandparents generation . Bill unable to people to go to college and get educated. That area being prosperous. Prof. Nickerson right, the g. I. Bill created education art opportunities. What else happened . Yes, can you wait a second . Ok. The new deal following world war ii and the new things following. Helping people be a lot more hopeful. Prof. Nickerson we had social security. Giani . At this point, after world war ii, america has the economic ability to support people. Most of europe was destroyed at this point. So complex was growing america is head of mind. The unitedrson states become the creditor of the world. The Financial System was so robust. And we are becoming a med fashion powerhouse to this was when we tell the development of u. S. Aerospace. The automobile industry. Very prosperous because of heavy industry essentially. Change whats going to once we get to 1970. Because of menu manufacturers decide that in order to maximize profit, they need to leave the places where they had built their plants. Likes like detroit, pittsburgh. Gary, indiana. Exactly. I have told you about this place for. Camden, new jersey, where i was born. The camden of the 1950s. This is when my father was growing up there. It was doing very well. Interesting workingclass city where you lived in candid, you are not rich. You typically liftin two, three flats. You worked in the shipyard or rca. For fewer my grandmother, you were waitressing. This is candid by 1980. When i was growin when i was growing up in the suburbs. We would take trains into philadelphia. Nobody would get off the train in camden if you are from an outer suburb. You would go over canton and this is what you would see out the window. It looked like dresden after the war and it continues to look that way today. It is because companies that were so important to the economy in the 1950s campbells soup, rca records. They took their plants out of camden and moved to the American South and southwest. The decline that we see is in a place we call the rust belt, this section of the u. S. Which tends to be in the northeast, into the midwest. Chicago is in the rust belt but it has not suffered like other cities. Does anybody know why . What is it about chicago that helps keep this city alive . Diverse yous a very got away. Even the manufacturing was very important and there is still manufacturing here but, some of stockyardries the closed butnters chicago had many other things going on. Belt andleave the rust the first place to go in the 1970s is to the sunbelt. The sunbelt is a region of the u. S. , it is really a Political Economic idea. The idea that metropolitan houston,ike dallas, charlotte, north carolina, phoenix they become the place that manufacturing finds their home. Why would businesses leave the rust belt as became known and go to the sunbelt. Economicf an incentive. Last week, excuse me, tuesday, we talked about senator barry goldwater. Phoenix. One of the fathers of u. S. Conservatism. There are goldwater became so successful in phoenix not just because of his familys department for business. Which he inherited from his father but because he had other city leaders in phoenix changed the laws to make phoenix business friendly. Phoenix in the 1950s went from being a backwater southwestern engine being an economic for the nation and into the sprawling metropolitan center to you know today. For a few reasons. The first was tax incentives. Business inpen a the northeast, even in chicago, you have to pay a lot of taxes. People in the city will tell you they pay out the nose. , in phoenix, the city fathers established a system so that they could lure manufacturers to their part of the country by here, wef you come will not charge you taxes for your first five years. We will bring that are taxes to make you affordable. Example a big is goingstorage space to open surely. A lot of people did not want to have Public Storage it is not going to look pretty. Saythere are others that what is going to happen when what was formerly a parking lot is a business. We will collect taxes from the business and it will help. Cps is always struggling. Thats the reason for taxes. In the sunbelt in the sunbelt, politicians are saying we cannot do that. The other thing they did is they ease regulation. They made it easier for businesses to you both to do with zoning laws. And so they pulled back on government regulation. And they made it hard for unions to organize. They did pass not right to work laws. But laws that make it hard for the government to intervene in labor disputes. Laws that favor employers. , businesses like rca left camden and moved to the , thelt food to this day economy in that part of the u. S. Is growing in ways it is not in this part. Of the country. Ist to give you an example, want you to imagine what we talked about up until this in employment,aw especially manufacturing employment, where does this spike come from . The war, right. Then, we had a little bit every recession but then the economy grew right up to the middle of the night and 70s and then you see the decline. Out is interesting in terms racial disparity. Incline and wealth by different americans. An increase by the 1970s. Africanamerican wages and wealth does not ever to really catch up with white americans. When they Start Recording the wealth of aesthetics, you can see the decline too. So, i will throw statistic value. Of 1947, we produced most of the worlds steel. If you remember when we talk about the industrial revolution, how important the development of steel was to the economy. We are only producing 16 of the world. Becoming thefrom most important exporter of goods especially industrial goods to r one of the most important importers. The labor movement, and it is power. Quotesill read you some here from people who lived through this. So, the American Labor movement, if you remember, generated a great deal of energy especially during the war and during the great depression. That was after its initial rise at the beginning of the 20th century. After the 1960s, unions go into steep decline in the u. S. It is largely because there are many people who dont like unions, partly because of internal inertia. I pointed out that people who worked in manufacturing, because of the aflcio became members of the working class to becoming workers of the middle class. If you work for gm and raise to your family in michigan, chances are you had good health care. You had a good pension and you can send your get the college. , Union Members did not want to rock the boat and neither did it leaders. They were not giving a lot of organizing. They were trying to maintain the status quo. They were not having one on ones. They went into decline. Another reason is some unions were played with corruption. Some unions had ties to the mob. These gave all unions a bad reputation. That theeason is government and politicians begin doing what they could to make it. Utter organize t a government in a particular state may not enforce the laws of the National Labor relations. Employers could do all kinds of things to make it hard to. If you walked into work and had a union but none. Someone forire wearing an union button. It is going to be really hard to unionize union in a place like walmart, for example. Inertia, and a Political Climate that is unfairly to unions. Types ofof the sunbelt policies that made it harder for businesses to meet the demands of unions. That is one reason. Problem with the wages come of the pensions that happened after 1970. 25 of American Workers are organized in 1976. 15 and years, down to it has only dropped off from there. We have seen an uptick in organizing places like universities. I dont know how many of you heard about the report on organizing here at loyola and other universities. There are sectors of the economy where you do see labor asserting itself but for the most part, it doesnt have the natural impact that it has politically or economically in the 1960s and earlier. Examplell give you an of what happens. This is the Mcdonnell Douglas plan in torrance, california. Mcdonnell douglas is one of the classic businesses that grew up out of the war. Aerospace took off in los angeles. Really with world war ii. Mcdonnell douglas was one of the companies it employed tens of thousands of employees who lived pretty good lifestyles. 1950s, 1960s and even the 1970s. Stillnd of employer that does like this. We talked about suburbanization and homelands of the time. This is lakewood, california. It was one of many subdivisions that sprung up in response to the economic boom that we talked about. Also, the passages of the national highway act in early 1950s. We will get there in a minute. I just wanted to talk about what happens. There is no more Mcdonnell Douglas anymore. Of the pastrse closeddecades, the plans and they eventually merge with boeing. The most for manufacturers of airplanes. Oncenell douglas, which built the transport vehicles for the u. S. And other allied nations in world war ii, disappears. First a plan in torrance. They had planned in tulsa and other places. People just lost their jobs. For became very difficult doing heavyere industry jobs. People who were machinists. They suffered terribly because of that. 1973, a spokesperson for the aflcio actually came before the u. S. Finance committee to talk about what was happening to our economy. I will quote him. He said we have become a nation of hamburger stands. A country of industrial capacity and meaningful work stripped of these things. We are a service economy. A nation busily buying and selling root beer floats. So, this is what happens. We go from being an industrial economy to a service economy. Mean . At does that what is the problem one economy replace another . What is wrong with flipping hamburgers at mcdonalds or making lattes at starbucks . Bottom people aspire to that . I will call in your. Yes. May be because before the u. S. Was ahead of the industry, making advancements, especially in the world universally. If you are a service economy, it is monday. Not making advancements. The. Nickerson some in Service Industry that are fulfilling. There were also if you remember the Charlie Chapman film we watched work in the initial sector could be unfulfilling. But there is only different even when the jobs were bananas. The wages. Are not are the same . What else . It is the connotation, g hamburgers. Er before you on the scene making products, you make more money off of that but there is more. Making those products in a factory, and is an advancement. Where youpany versus flip hamburgers and make lattes, it is like a small. Why. Nickerson question is why is that not the same . More of a global industry. When you are producing, you are serving the whole, more of inexpensive population the people. The u. S. , that is your not really involved. Prof. Nickerson one more. Victoria . It is much more easier to upkeep the middle class with benefits. Prof. Nickerson why . Why could you be in the middle class if you work with gm and putting bolts on an Assembly Line . The wage is better. Pension. Prof. Nickerson pension. Socialdy gets he security but it is really the benefits. If you are working in a service economy, chances are you are not making much of retirement. Your employer is not putting much money away to help you save from when you cannot work anymore. Second is health care. In the u. S. , most Peoples Health care is tied to the employment. If you have what is usually a parttime job in the Service Industry, you are not going to have the same Health Care Benefits that your parents and grandparents generation had. We fighte reasons why so much about Health Care Policy in the u. S. Congress trying to figure out what they will do with obamacare. It is why these have become hot button issues. This is when you become a problem. One we become the industrialized. Seethe other thing that we as they move into 1980s is that those jobs then moved from the rust belt of the sunbelt, they lead the country altogether. Profitablemuch more for manufacturers to make a good places like mexico, china any place where they dont have to pay the same kind of wages they do in the u. S. Who has an iphone . Do you know where it is made . China. Why dont they make it here . Be tang 10 times as much for that phone if they had to take u. S. Wages, if they had to provide benefits, if they had to provide pensions and maintain the standard of living for people who work in heavy industry in the u. S. Jobs move offshore. That is what we call it. Offshore give the industrial economy. And then we get hit even harder. Of the 80s and 90s, we see manufacturing on the u. S. Border and businesses called. Right and clar as in other places close to texas, you have workers who are making good that will go across the border into the u. S. On the one hand, this is helpful because then people can afford the manufacture. There is a reason why most at loyola and of the place own iphones. It is a technology that people can adopt because it is cheap. The problem is it is not helping people learn livable wages in that area. So when we get into the next class, we will talk about what happens to the u. S. Economy in the 1980s because even as we are deindustrializing, we experience a huge economic moon in the early to mid 1980s. The nations economy expands. There is more money circulating, more investments. So, if her wages are not keeping up then where is that money. Byit is not being enjoyed someone whose cleaning rooms at the hyatt, then ok, where is that ewealth . Want to take a guess . The wealthy, the 1 . Prof. Nickerson yes, it is going up. So, yes, patrick . I was wondering if you could talk about the introduction of the automation that happened also in the 1970s and 1980s and industrialization that further moved jobs. In addition to off shoring, there was this rapid implementation of electronic and computerized production. Right. Ickerson next week, we will talk about the rise of tax but patrick is right in the sense that tasks awayis taking from human workers and making it cheaper for companies to make things. Machine, a robot begins to replace humans it will lose jobs. This is the problem up forwealth is moving it we see what is occupying wall street and other movements calling attention to the 1 povertyople living in and people who live in the middle class, they almost live in a different country than people who are extremely rich. We leaveartly because what we call a stakeholder capitalism to a profit driven capitalism where in the 1950s, it was important for ceos to earn a good income, but workers were paid well, they took the lives of consumers and their city seriously. Companies cannot do that anymore today. They have to maximize profits as much as they possibly can, which is why we have bought luster gates, bezos at amazon, where they make so much money that people who dont live in that world cannot comprehend it anymore. It is also because of policies that were developed in the 1980s. To stimulate the economy, it generated a lot of wealth. It is referred to as the overclass. By this time, you are pretty familiar with what that looks like by the turn of the 20th the question is how do people respond . There is frustration and rage, a lot of people who lose their jobs, lose their homes. Theres also a great deal of self blame. About, letsk return to the American Dream. The idea is that the united respects a place that equality, equal opportunity, that everyone here has a chance. Ofs goes back to the idea the industrial era when people could pick themselves up either bootstraps. This was the story of andrew , being an immigrant to one of the richest men in the world. The United States per

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