I am a 70 year old retiree who tries to read as much as I can about class struggles in the US. According to Howard Zinn (one of the top historians of the last century) there has been a a move from the time the country was founded to divide the country into a ruling aristocracy of the "wise" leaders and a working class who could be fooled into thinking that they had a say in the countries affairs. In other words, from the very start there was never any intention of a real democracy. If you believe Zinn, the "aristocrats" had a problem; they needed people with enough education to take care of them, but not enough to realize the alternatives to their misery. The US has had a two class society for most of it's history (three classes if you count slaves). The main exception is the time just after WWII when the country was flooded with soldiers who knew how to fight and who scared the crap out of the aristocrats. These soldiers formed a solid middle class which actually had some wealth. That time lasted about 30 years, from the end of the war until Ronald Regan. Regan was tailor-made for the aristocrats; he was stupid enough to believe whatever he was told and he had a genuine contempt for those who weren't "his type" of people.

I am convinced that the high student loans and the evil enforcement are intended to keep all working people, not just the working poor, from getting a decent education. If you look at the public schools, you find the same trend. They were taken over by the Federal government and have been more and more underfunded ever since. In my lifetime, the US population has gone from being the best educated world to almost 30th place. There is no country in Europe (except maybe Poland) with worse public education. That is not an opinion, it is a measured fact.

While all of this has been going on, it has become harder and harder to achieve any way to move up the ladder. Economists call this mobility and in the last 30 years the US has moved from the most mobile society in the world to a society which is less mobile than any in Europe. In fact, we are now less mobile than China or Japan. Again, this is not an opinion, but a measured fact.

If you are angry by now, I can tell you some of the people to be angry at. The Koch brothers, the Wall family (who own Walmart), the corporate heads, and especially the people who run the banks. You can also add the Bush family; the older Bush's father lent the Nazi's money to make airplane fuel to bomb England and only stopped when the US got into the second World War. What we are experiencing is part of a plan on the part of these super wealthy aristorcats to turn the US into a society where they make all the decisions and we do all the heavy lifting. By the way,a better name for the people I have been calling aristocrats is plutocrats (or sometimes oligarchs). And remember this about the plutocrats. Your mother would not have let you play with them when you were a kid; they are simply lacking in morals.

When you say good going America, you are actually complimenting this entire bunch of a**holes. The have done a good job. They started out not caring about you and I and they have taken most everything we have. Remember, to them. you and I aren't America; they think "they" are the Americans and they have done a good job for themselves. And if you don't believe them, they will prove their superiority by pointing to all the money they have stolen.

I am looking forward to learning more from you.

No biggie but wanted to let you know that you replied to my OP not hibbitus.
But thanks for stopping and he does look very thoughtful and informed.
I'm looking forward also to his contributions.

😳😳😳

I did not expect such a warm welcome and am more grateful than I can express.

I must say that I am mad as hell about what has happened in this country during my lifetime. I will make a confession. This is something i was once proud of and am now almost ashamed to admit. I spent most of my working life fighting the cold war. My weapons were pencil and paper and I was overjoyed when we won. However, I did not fight that war to give the fruits of this land to the likes of the people who now own it. I fought for a community. They had been good to me and I wanted to return something. And now my efforts are turning to ashes in my mouth.

I am too old to do very much about what is going on other than try to read and report to people who are too tired to do much more than read a line or two and go to bed. The community which supported me when they were frightened is no longer available to the people who need it. I can't help but wish I was younger and could kick Charles Koch's butt until he had to wear it as a collar.

I know that I am wordy by nature but I hope that the working poor can find the energy to forgive that in me. Everything I try to write is addressed to those people who are over worked and in debt to the super wealthy to pay for their houses and yachts.

I don't know if some of my comments are inappropriate or not. All I can say is that they reflect my own feelings of betrayal and outrage at the treatment I see in what I read and what I experience personally. I am doing my best to turn my anger into a something more than helplessness.

I grew up at a time where a young man could if he stayed home could go to college on the minimum wage with no debt!Today that's impossible!The conservatives say that,s because of student loans.NO! That's because the colleges and universities jacked up their prices to steal the taxpayers money!