Word: collars
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...Reagan and his party, economic paralysis is even more dangerous than it was to Ford and Carter. The Republicans swept into power in 1980 by promising a massive revitalization of the economy that would primarily benefit blue-collar workers. Convening, appropriately, in Detroit itself, they proclaimed a "new populism" based on supply-side economics. GOP party chairman Bill Brock promised "jobs, jobs, jobs"; the President himself informed the Carpenter's Union several months ago of an imminent "American renaissance that will astound the world; a new era of good feeling in America, a time when jobs will be plentiful...
...this means that joblessness is increasing rapidly among unionized blue-collar workers, the proletariat par excellence. The very people who are used to steady work--work that provides dignity and enables one to support a family--are being laid off in droves. That makes the unemployment number an index of anxiety, anger, and humiliation as well...
Such distress is inevitably politically devastating; just ask defeated presidents Gerald Ford or Jimmy Carter, both of whom were done in by blue-collar unemployment. Blue-collar unemployment under Ford hit 11.7 per cent, lingering at 9.4 per cent on election day. Under Carter, the figure rose from 6.9 per cent in 1979 to 8.9 per cent for the first five months of 1980. Ronald Reagan doesn't face the voters for two and a half years, but unemployment highs under him already exceed marks of his two ill-fated predecessors. The severity of the nation's economic crisis threatens...
...nation's dailies have prospered in the past decade as lustily as The New York Times. The great gray lady has adjusted to television with its reputation (and profitability) intact. The Times pulled this off by knowing its market and catering to it exquisitely. The ratio of white collar to blue collar workers in the American economy has shifted significantly toward the former in recent years, and the number of college-educated adults has never been higher. These people share a loyalty to the institution of the morning paper, the time to read one before work and an appealing...
...some degree the Administration is displaying a double standard. Reagan's stern preachments, it is now clear, are aimed at murderers, rapists and pornographers. For white-collar violations of the law, there is understanding and forgiveness; for the suspicion of impropriety, there is sympathetic patience...