This is the Tom Hartman program.

Tom Hartman here with you on a kind of rainy misty day here in Portland.

This is really important stuff.

Back in the 1970s, when Republicans were talking about

the supply side economics, this was the late 1970s when

Maggie Thatcher in 1978 became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and began a

massive deregulation and privatization program,

privatizing the railroads, breaking up the coal miners union,

the largest and most powerful union in the UK,

deregulating everything. Jimmy Carter kind of got on the bandwagon. He deregulating everything.

Jimmy Carter kind of got on the bandwagon.

He deregulate in, as I recall, it was 78, 79, I think it was.

He deregulated trucking, which of course has led to this disaster where truckers no longer.

I mean, it used to be a fewer long-haul trucker, you had a good life.

You know, that was a good solid middle-class income and no more and so in 78 79

1980 when Reagan came along and the Republicans started talking about supply side economics and all that kind of thing.

Nobody sat around and said, oh come on, you can't win an election on cutting taxes on rich people?

Seriously? You want to cut taxes on rich people? Seriously?

You want to cut taxes on corporations?

You want to deregulate corporations so the air is dirtier and the water is

is more poisonous and the chemical companies can continue to poison our children.

Nobody in the meeting was saying, oh Republicans can't, well maybe a few, you know,

...