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Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter's opponent in the 1980 election, had nothing but contempt for the idea that Americans should reduce their consumption. He had nothing but disdain for the environmental movement. His optimism (he liked to proclaim it "morning in America," which he frequently described as a "shining city on a hill") made him a popular president among the masses. It became apparent in hindsight that what had seemed to be a mass frugality and environmental movement in the 1970s had been confined to middle- and upper-middle-class activists.
By 1984, "big is better" bumper stickers began to displace those proclaiming "small is beautiful." Yuppies replaced hippies. U.S. News and World Report announced "the old less is more, down-with-materialism atmosphere...has been brushed aside. A flaunt-it-if-you-have-it style is rippling in concentric circles across the land." "Greed is good! Greed will save the U.S.A.!" proclaimed Gordon Gekko in the Academy Award- winning 1987 film, Wall Street. Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, with host Robin Leach deliriously shouting about the "dreams money can buy," started, and became one of the most successful shows in the history of television.
"Reagonomics," the tax policies and "trickle down" theories of Reagan's economists, have been blamed for the massive redistribution of wealth that occurred in the U.S. in the 1980s. National columnist Richard Reeves wrote, "Nine out of ten people got screwed....The richest 10 percent of the nation got richer and paid fewer taxes. The middle class made less money and paid more taxes. The poor got poorer and there were more of them. The money was trickling up, not down." At the end of the Decade of Greed, as some have called it, 33 percent of all personal wealth in the nation was in the hands of 1 percent of its households.
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