How Did America Go “Adrift?” Scott Galloway Explains | Amanpour and Company

People don't realize that the disillusion that led to a Trump presidency stemmed from the disappearance of the middle class. I'm from the rustbelt & people around here work VERY hard & they've long seen the returns on that "sweat" investment diminishing. It's nice to see economists (other than just Robert Reich) talk about what we've all been seeing for decades. And when the powerful ignored the plight of the majority of the population, that population lost faith in our leaders. A lot of them felt like Trump was an outsider who actually cared about them. Of course, they were wrong. Trump only cares about Trump. But, it was that disillusionment with everyone else which gave Trump an opening. So, ultimately, if you want to end Trumpism, you need to actually hear what the would-be-middle-class has been trying to tell Washington for decades.

A stable healthy middle class is vital to having a thriving society.

Reagan and others like him giving tax cuts to wealthiest and legal rights to corporations have brought about the breakdown of social care for each other. I graduated from California without student debt before tax cuts killed public college support.

Companies would rather spend their money on stock buybacks to artificially prop up their share price for bonuses instead of investing in R&D.

About as sane an approach as I've heard. The shareholder class will fight every attempt to rebalance and rehabilitate our society as we continue to accellerate the march toward a planet that is inhospitable to human existence.

I am glad someone is finally getting these issues out in prime time. Thanks Scott Galloway. Excellent interview. Thank you.

Scott Galloway is amazing. Talks straight, logical and reasonable. I am not religious, but I thank God for the American government every day, and for the dedicated people who work for us. 😊

I couldn't agree more with the idea of engaging in a meaningful way with people of different cultures. What did it for me?... I worked as the Broadcast Manager onboard the cruise ship Crystal Harmony for 4 years, sailing around the world and working and living together with staff and crew members from 40 countries. I can't tell you how much that changed my life and outlook on the world. Best thing I ever did. :)

He is so right about the disastrous effects of scientifically-refined rage marketing on our rage-addicted, increasingly misinformed, increasingly stressed, financially insecure populace. Those who have figured out how to profit by setting us at each other's throats will turn out to have been the most devastating and successful cabal of enemies to ever walk among us -- the elderly Australian fascist being the worst of the lot but still only one of many.

greed of the mega rich is drastically reducing the middle class.

Key word: accessibility. Give citizens “accessibility” to higher education and a career path and they will reach for it. Great discussion!

Just spoke with a friend who said her son applied to FIFTEEN colleges. Safety schools, geographically different schools versus home, likely acceptance, reach schools like UCLA. Thirty years ago I applied to two and was accepted. One in state, one out.

I love how direct he is in saying "my profession, my generation, my business field, and my tax bracket are fucking over everyone else. This isn't working for everyone else, we need to change this." Very refreshing to get honesty and solutions!

Man, Scott Galloway has a lot of good ideas.

YES! Pop culture romanticizes going to college. But as a US college professor I would guess that at least half of all college students in the US are better would have been better off going to learn a trade (vocational training). I'm not saying the Europe is perfect, but it has got that part right.

Galloway is pretty much right on, but when he says that SS is a transfer of wealth from younger to older generations, he neglects to say that this is because Reagan and Republicans pushed 401K’s over corporate pension programs in the 1980’s and have destroyed the pension system that used to work so well. Now, the elderly rely on SS much more than they used to as most middle class retirees have no other sources of income and cannot afford to live just on their SS paychecks. 401K’s have been a disaster as most Americans have no idea how to manage their pension funds. And after paying into SS for their full working lives, older Americans have to get a return on what they paid out for some 40 years. The problem with SS isn’t the elderly withdrawals, but the lack of taxation on the wealthy and corporations to help pay these system costs.

Excellent interview of one of the smartest professors of our times.

Best guest in a long time. He tells the bitter truth about the hidden, and Black Magic results of social media.

The downfall started and continues w/ Reaganomics and the trickle down theory of economics. Next time you see a homeless person go shove a bunch of money in a rich person's mailbox and see if it helps a poor person.

I just read Evil Geniuses The Unmaking of America by Kurt Andersen and it goes into detail of how and why this has been happening. It was the conservative response to the freedoms of the 1960's and a very enlightening book.