The Forgotten Man

Excellent article. Its interesting how you make the linkage between FDR, Pres. Reagan, and Pres. Trump. Remarkably FDR, in the Great Depression, inherited an even bigger and more vexing problem than Ronald Reagan had to deal with when he took office. The oil shocks of the 70s notwithstanding, 'stagflation' was actually an economic malaise that Reagan and Paul Volcker managed to tame as there wasn't much wrong with the economy structurally, though some would argue that 14-18% interest rates are more damaging to real economic growth than say, an 8-9% unemployment rate. Then again, the data is skewed by the frame of reference and how long of a window one chooses to examine. Indeed the country's come a long way from the 1930s' dark days with 25% unemployment, long lines at soup kitchens and perennial miseries of the Dust Bowl. But today, we seldom remember what it ACTUALLY took for the US to crawl out of that hole. Only in the early '50s, over 18 years after the New Deal became law, did tangible financial benefits and long-term structural changes begin to take shape. These then percolated down to the common man, the 'forgotten man', in the form of a home construction and interstate commerce boom. Its a refreshing lesson in American history, with many parallels to what we face today, about instituting policy via Presidential decree Vs actually making it work as intended. I live in Houston, and the pain from nearly 3 years of the oil slump is being acutely felt in the Bayou city. Full recovery still seems far away. Many in the oil & gas industry have reconciled themselves to 'lower for longer'. The previous administration had no vision for energy; not only how crucial it is to GDP growth, but how accurate of a barometer it is of our spending on Construction, Infrastructure and Manufacturing. The energy industry, and energy jobs, fuel everything, not the other way round! Obama killed the Keystone XL pipeline (well, almost until POTUS revived it) mainly because they refused to pay toll. Our loss, Canada's gain - Trans-Canada eventually found a way to reroute the crude to Quebec, AND found new buyers in Asia. A big deal the media hardly ever mentions is that US is now exporting surplus LNG (since Feb. 2016), competing head-on with Qatar, Russia and Australia! The disastrous policies of the past 8 years left us in a perilous state vis-a-vis international trade, our national debt, and with regard to a sound domestic economic policy. In doggedly pursuing the ACA, they displayed shortsightedness and scant regard to laying out a solid foundation for this century. Hopefully future generations don't judge these 20-25 years as how America gave it all away to the Chinese. JD Vance in "Hillbilly Elegy" makes a similar case about hollowing out of the US industrial base, loss of well-paying manufacturing jobs, and a steady grinding decline in the standard of living in middle America. Hopefully the new sheriff is listening.

Kelsie Wendelberger --- Interesting read…and it made me think of the following: “Though liberty is established by law, we must be vigilant, for liberty to enslave us is always present under that very liberty. Our Constitution speaks of the "general welfare of the people." Under that phrase all sorts of excesses can be employed by lusting tyrants to make us bondsmen” (Marcus Tullius Cicero, circa 50 BC). In my opinion, you have made it sound as if the Forgotten Man is owed some debt of gratitude or pity; yet, I think it is “the people” that have forgotten their duty to remain liberated…in other words, the forgotten man has shirked his duty by being distracted by thinking they have to live certain way, shoulder unlawful tax burdens and just accept things as they are. The nation blindly votes for someone and thinks their duty is over. Then they just accept all of the nefarious bologna that comes from government as if we are the ones that are beholding to those officials that were elected --- isn’t it supposed to be a government of “…we the people..?” Unfortunately, that seems to have been forgotten and the majority just lay down and play dead while the D.C. folks continue to trample collective freedom, deny liberty and shackle any hope of happiness --- and it is probably our collective fault.

Dear Ms. Wendelberger: I caught your post attempting to provide clarity and honesty regarding the inauguration photo controversy. Such an attempt at honesty is remarkable and refreshing in this political climate, and worthy of support, and I thank you for it. (Indeed, in many ways I wish that you were currently working within the White House instead of those who offered us "alternative facts" - both the phrase and the information it refers to.) Undeniably, the Democrats' write-off of the blue-collar, manufacturing, and working-class voting blocs in general was the turning point on which the election hinged - that and the fact that they overlooked their own populist, economic-reformist candidate (Sanders) in the rush to anoint an ostensibly centrist and "more popular" candidate who turned out to have been suffering from deep honesty and integrity issues all the way down the line, from faking her own Twitter numbers to presenting a different face in public and in private to "recruiting" news organizations to present her with favorable, biased coverage - the list goes on and on. Unfortunately, there is one issue on which I cannot agree with you in this article - the composite"Forgotten Man" I have met in our era, while undeniably "delving away in patient industry, supporting his family, paying his taxes, [and] casting his vote", is in our era more often racist, sexist, and homophobic than I would like. From the vicious racism I saw emerge during the 2008 and 2012 campaigns to the still-omnipresent use of the word "gay" in America to mean instead "weak" or "un-masculine" to the ugly misogyny of, say, Gamergate - I have seen far more examples of bigotry and prejudice taking root among the working classes of America than I would ever have liked or dreamed to see in recent years, and am sadder for it. I had a very deep respect for my grandfather, Bill Seidman, former Chairman of the FDIC under Reagan and a personal friend of Gerald Ford's - because in his era, it seemed to me that the Republican Party put the politics and business of running the country and making it secure first and foremost, and all other concerns and prejudices a distant second. I fear that some of that has been lost in recent decades in the rush to populism, even as successful a stratagem politically as it has proven to be. I also hope that responsible public officials such as yourself will not forget the other bloc of issues that made a difference to this election - the needs of young voters who eschewed the Clinton campaign, and who did not flock to Trump directly but still hope that either he or upcoming Administrations will address: * the staggering and unfair costs of any four-year American degree worth having, and the broader implications these costs have for income inequality in the long term * the shockingly low wages for working millenials - the lowest in decades, by my analysis, in real purchasing power parity terms * the dangers both military and economic posed by any foreign policy that destabilizes or plays sides in critical regions, particularly the Middle East * the continuing dominance of our governing process by certain private corporations with a dubious ethical record, which continue under this Administration and represent my own greatest fears on the subject - in particular, Exxon and Goldman Sachs I would enjoy a correspondence with you on these issues if you are interested. You seem to possess a capacity to cut to the root of the issues you address in a concise, honest, and intelligent way that I feel is rarely seen in governance today. Sincerely, FA Seidman