2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Former Obama backers in blue-collar Trumbull County now pinning their hopes on Donald Trump [View all]duffyduff
(3,251 posts)are the culprits and have been since the 1980s, when neoliberal policies were embraced by the Reagan administration.
Any "automation" was much, much later and not the main factor. I was well into adulthood when Reagan took office, and I raised holy hell about what happened. There was NO "automation," an excuse often given by neoliberal apologists to justify their ruinous and crackpot economic ideas. The root cause of the US economic decline was Reaganomics.
And where were the blue collar dudes then? Voting against their self-interest time and time again.
No sympathy. They are 35 years TOO LATE to the party.
I recommend you read the Barlett and Steele books about what happened to the US. Automation had nothing to do with the decline. The entire blame rests on Washington, D.C. policies facilitating the destruction of the economy.