Thank you for joining me today in the first of our discussions of the contradictions between the common good and American capitalism. For the next 10 weeks, we’ll examine what’s really going on. If you want to understand where American capitalism is now and what you might do to help move it in a more humane direction, you need to look under the hood.
If any candidate for a federal office cannot pass a National Security Questionaire to obtain a Top Secret-SCI clearance, then why are they allowed to run, campaign, take campaign contributions and eat up so much news time? I was a military recruiter for 17 of my 23 years of military service. I couldn't send a new recruit to basic training if they has so much as an unpaid speeding ticket until it was adjudicated and had proof of case closed. Trump flunks the test on 100+ levels. He should never again have access to TS-SCI information or hold the nuclear football. Why is nobody talking about this? Why isn't this an issue? It needs to be. The media needs to address this issue.
Yes exactly. I have been waiting for someone to tell me how can a convicted felon run for office let alone President? I really don't understand this. I understand that he has a lot of power and money behind him but this does not answer the basic question.
Yes Jenny the United States today is a banana Republic because of the Republi-Con party of lies and those that are making them their political party. What we need to do is figure out how to get these con men out of office and how to replace them with people interested in the common good. Vote, Vote blue 💙 for everyone from dog catcher to president.
Actually, the term "banana republic" understates the danger that Trump & his supporters pose. Putin, Mussolini & especially Hitler are the models they're striving to be like. A full-blown fascist regime is what they want.
Jaime, you are right on this one and the Trumpers and Trumpettes are working hard to overuse the word "fascist" so it will look to a bunch of Americans as though it is a good thing to be or at least not scary. Those alive now who do remember Hitler and his crew may have forgotten what the soldiers who fought in Europe found wherever Germany had been present. The German people got to blame everyone but themselves for the disaster: it was Hitler or it was those horrible Americans or it was those Jews or something else. It took years of concerted effort to change the thinking of most of the German people so they could live differently. Very little effort by our media has been put into place to help the American people deal with Trump and Kump. We let Trump do and say pretty much whatever he wants to, even run for President when he has committed an insurrection against our nation. We need to fix this. He should be in jail awaiting trial, but that is not going to happen. We need other strategies to stop the poison that is invading and that we are permitting to harm us.
Jaime, the sad thing for me is that as a people, we have forgotten the horrors of WWII and the Holocaust. Europe, for example is grasping for what they think is the comfort of fascism as though it has anything positive to offer anyone. They don't call it Nazi in public, but that is what they mean. Even the Netherlands, once a bastion of freedom has voted in a right-wing nut because somehow they have decided immigrants are the cause of all their troubles. They're not, but when a whiny white boy claims it and he has a loud enough mouth he can get his message across to the discontented folks who just must blame someone that they don't have everything they want or believe they should have. Sound familiar? The Trump crew want to be the power behind the throne while they know perfectly well that Trump is not fit to be in charge of anything, even himself. I can see the problems, but not good solutions when our media is so enthralled by the right-wing nuts. Their false equivalencies are disgusting and anti-freedom, but they don't care because it brings in the bucks and that is what the media is now all about.
I think blindly voting for members of a party because they are members of that party got us into this mess in the first place. Americans need to do the work to find out who these individuals are, what they actually believe and who is funding them. Not as a group, but individually. Canonizing the members of one party, vilifying the members of the other, and blindly assuming they are good and upright people will eventually lead to the members of that party wielding too much power. The power corrupting them through their alliance to the big money donors and we'll all be screwed again, just by different people. At some point people need to see others as individuals not as members of a party.
Carol, I can agree with you that we need to do the work to find out about the person we are supporting. I am a Democrat but I saw how Liz Cheney, Adam Kinsinger, Rusty Bowers, and other republicans stood up against the corrupt MAGA. I truly believe that there are not only Democrats but also Republicans that believe in our Democracy and want to see it continue.
Problem is, the republican party is no more, and those occupying those seats must be voted out. Democrats must take majorities in both houses of Congress. When this country is rid of the maga right wing and all those who are trying to destroy the Constitutional Republic, then people can actually vote for the person who is best for the job. Until then, a vote for a republican, even the "good" ones, is a vote against the Constitution.
I honestly do not know a "good" one right now. I am sure there are still some moderates in the republican party; however, they have let the louder more extreme faction of their party take over and don't do anything to curtail them! I couldn't vote for anyone who will not stand up to these out-of-control idiots!!
And a vote against unions and a vote against science and judicial fairness and regulations and oversight. They are the party of big business. Some years back the senate took a vote on whether to overturn Citizens United and McCutchean, all Dems voted to overturn, all Rs (except for two abstentions) voted to keep it.
I think Bowers said that if trump were the nominee he would vote for him, maybe he's changed his mind. Yes Liz Cheney proved she has integrity and courage but there is little policy I would agree with her on,
I largely agree with this, but I think if you do all that "due diligence" you will find the problem is much more concentrated in the GOP, to the point that it's worth tolerating some unlikable Dems rather than let control of the house or senate fall to the GOP.
Okay I can see that, but if you do your due diligence it's okay to split your votes and support someone who has a virtue or two. Blind allegiance is just wrong and perpetuates the problem.
Think of this: what if there is a Republican you like and vote for and they win. Then what if that good Republican tips the majority and thus Republicans control the House. The good Republican will not control the agenda. Unless there is a significant majority of good Republicans, the problem continues. Sadly, unless and until that happens (not in my lifetime), we must vote Democrats up and down the ballot. I suspect that Republicans feel this way about Democrats. However, their fear of us is based on propaganda about LGBTQ +, “wokeness” and abortion, etc. Ours is based on Agenda 45 and Project 2025.
Blind allegiance is never a good idea and is much of the reason the GOP has become the abomination it is. Most of the Maga mob has no idea what Trump is actually all about, just that he's the anti-left. By all means, investigate the candidates, investigate the opposition, but also be aware of the consequences of the seat they are to hold. Unfortunately it is our instinct to be lazy and use shortcuts.
Republicans have become so uniformly extreme that, unless a Republican candidate actively & loudly criticizes the Republican Party both in general but also on specific issues like climate disruption (in my view, it is an absolute must that they recognize the gravity of this crisis & call for robust action to address it), economic disparity, democracy, reproductive rights, etc., ...
Maybe for Mayor or even Governor but not for House and Senate. Vote blue no matter who. We can encourage a primary contender if they aren't the Dems we want.
I agree with you, but only in part, because this only has to do with voting for who should represent us in our representative democracy. Voting, as vitally important as it is, is actually the least we can do and have any claim at all to being participants in our self-government.
In addition to voting there are many other things that We the People need to do to make sure that our elected and appointed representatives are doing what they are supposed to be doing for the benefit of ALL of us – for the "greater good" that Mr. Reich keeps bringing up.
And for decades, for generations, We the People have been failing to be engaged in OUR political process and in OUR representative government. It is through our neglect that others have stepped in and quite easily redesigned our political process and our government to suit themselves so they can accumulate more wealth and more power, all at the expense of all the rest of us.
Any candidate who has a record of climate denial or any plying down of the serious problems caused by CO2 emissions deserves to lose. And should get out of the way.
A little digging shows that most Republicans fall into this category
I used to believe that and vote accordingly. I no longer vote this way and will continue to vote only for Democrats until the Repubicans clean up their act.
Carol, you are right of course but who do you suggest we vote for this time? And, what do you think the results will be if we don't vote for the Dems? Think about that.
Carol, you are right, but checking out candidates and their histories and what they stand for is challenging and most people whine that it is too hard for them, so the letter behind the name is good enough. It isn't. People who are citizens need to keep up on who is running all the time even if it is just a little a day. Find a couple of trusted news sources (I did say trusted, not just by them and what they like to watch) to see who is worthy of representing them in government at any level. Poor choices got us where we are now and good choices could help us get out of the mess. "The Common Good" and how candidates see it should be the most important criteria to consider and all candidates should regularly be asked meaningful questions related to it. Their answers should be recorded all over so people can see what candidates plan to do for the common good. Maybe they will be able to make better decisions.
Carol, that would be nice but the way congress works means we must consider party. The minority party has little to no power to even bring up a bill for debate and a vote. The senate has the ridiculous filibuster and that gets us nowhere and doesn't get a bill to the floor.
We can still lose our right to reproductive freedom, we can still lose SS and Medicare etc. Just because they have "integrity," doesn't mean I would vote for them, nor should anyone.
If Trump gets elected again, Gd forbid, a Banana Republic we will surely be. And if the US were a game of criminal corporate Monopoly, then Trump would become their 'Get Out Of Jail Free' card.
Project 2025 gives the unitary executive power to start eradicating vermin from America. When we can predict genocide in America, then we simply have to do whatever we can to prevent it. Not only that, but the new American genocide has already started.
The one who has managed to steal the next election will decide who the vermin are-basically anyone who doesn't bow to kiss his ring and kiss his ass after that (in private ceremonies of course..)
One quibble, Jenny: although he SHOULD be, tRump is not a convicted felon. Yet. And there's nothing in the Constitution that forbids felons from running for office. Here in Ohio years ago, we literally had a guy running for re-election to the U.S. House from his jail cell, after conviction on ten felony counts.
I have confidence he will be in DC. He is a convicted rapist, and criminally indicted so many times the number alone speaks for himself. I listened to some experts today who are certain that jail is in his future.
I'll open a bottle of the good stuff if TFG ends up wearing clothing that matches his hair. I most devoutly hope the experts you mention are correct, Susan. OTOH, the experts also said he had no chance in 2016.
Nope, he lost. After his conviction, the Dems ousted him, and he ran as an Independent. Then he ran again, after he got out of the slam (served a mere 7 years), and lost again.
I need clarification, please. Wasn't #45 found guilty of insurance fraud and real estate tax evasion in a NY court by a judge. Weren't those charges felonies?
Too many people think it's all about political parties and which party is in the WH or congress. It's not really. Those people are only puppets. What RR is trying to point out is that we have been gaslighted for at least the last 40 years into believing its politics and the economy and if we only got the "right person" into office it would make a difference. In reality it's the super rich and the corporations who have the real power and they are going to do anything and everything to hold on to that power. They use us against each other to keep us too busy to see what is really happening. Party against party, color against color, citizens against migrant or immigrant, straight against gay. They dont care who really wins in political wars or culture wars as long as we are too busy fighting each other to see what they are doing.
I'm not sure what the remedy is but I do know that "a house divided will surely fall".
He has been indicted, but he hasn’t been convicted yet. I’m not condoning that he’s able to run for president, but I’m just pointing out the difference between those two words.
Laurie, your words need to be on billboards everywhere!! It needs to be the rallying cry for all Democrats, Independents, and undecideds!! We are the majority even though they can scream and holler louder. We must encourage the vote and it must be blue!!!
Jenny, I don't think we are a banana republic yet. What we are is scared of the mob boss and his legions which are not as numerous as Trump believes they are but they have guns and the will to do harm to their fellow citizens, and those who live and work here who are not citizens. He has lassoed in a bunch of resentful folks who don't have every little thing they think they should have, conned by the prospect that Big Orange will give them everything they want. They missed the part that he cares nothing for any of them except as he can use them. Maybe their goal in life is to be used by someone, as long as it is the right someone. Disgusting, but possibly true.
Ruth. The very fact that you have Trump running in a Presidential election makes me sure you do have a Banana Republic. Imagine if some other Country in the World had a Trump, the US would be bombing the shit out of them in the name of Democracy.
Roger Stanton: watch retired Judge Michael Luttig and Neal Katyall argue the disqualification clause before the Supreme Court. You will see/hear how we are not a banana republic. the Constitution rules, and is above politics.
But the Supreme Court also rules, with their ludicrous “originalist” interpretations of the constitution. Next they will decide that since there is no reference in the Constitution that allows government to regulate extraction of fossil fuels, storage of nuclear waste and auto safety, well, then, POOF, all those standards disappear. Wait for it.
You know you bring up a great point. Jack Teixeira gives away military secrets and goes right into pretrial detention. A past or present candidate does EXACTLY the same thing and it gets dismissed as "politics" and the pursuit of charges against said offenders as "partisan". If there is something "partisan" going on here its in the way the media is NOT reporting these aggregious breaches of our national security as......aggregious breaches of national security! Which sadly shows who main stream media supports.
Bill Reitz ; The Constitution Trumps politics, and damn the MSM! We will see an important and historic Court Case! the greedheads will lose! along with all the other billionaires!
By the people for the people. Words that dont count for big monied media these days. Just like many other businesses monopolization of the free press has made it exactly opposite of free. At least as I see it. Monetizing of the press is against the tenants of democracy.
MSM will say anything that brings in more money $$$$. The current guilty lawyers from his legal team make the truth clear. The fellow conspirators fear for their own futures (those in Congress). His side is the squeaky wheel, though the only issue they do NOT talk about is THEIR PROOF OF INNOCENCE. For some reason, that is the ONLY the for which they are QUIET AS A MOUSE. Go figure. Nothing any of these strongmen say now has ANY influence once they step into court and they ALL know. Why else are the LAWYERS the first to take guilty pleas.
"why are they allowed to run, campaign, take campaign contributions and eat up so much news time" They are "allowed" because there is no mechanism in place to "un allow" it. We, the people, are completely subservient to those in power. We have no say. It's actually the stuff of REVOLUTION. Sadly folks are too busy paying bills and watching football on their big screen monitors.
My nightmare is the media (social, print, network, etc). IT IS ALL controlled by the super-uber RICH and as long as they purchase government officials (senators, representatives, judges & “justices”) or just become the government...we’re in a heck of a spot.
We need true civil servants like Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders AND others in government who try to reign in monopolies! Not weirdos like Tubercle, Hawley, Taylor-Green and Santos. 🤨🤮😤
Without real teeth in the punishment for violating law, WE and Democracy are going to have a steep battle OR downhill slide.
Rich people USED to do at least a few things good for others - for example Carnegie built libraries across all of North America.
What has Donald Trump and the likes of Rupert Murdock & the Mercers done for anyone except themselves- they just scam and con money & power from the rest of us??
Murdocks got kicked out of Australia for a reason...wanting to control all media & influence politicians with $$ and dishonest (lies) in reporting to ease Australia toward fascism and them controlling the narrative.
Australia Said: get the hell out! They came here and abuse “freedom of speech” to bring us the Trump/Bannon/Putin/Crow/Koch alliance to destroy America from the inside.
MONEY and Citizens United MUST BE Cast-Out of American Politics! NOW. No More Secret DARK Money!
John Roberts and his “supreme” court Have Helped with the Perversion of Democracy by enshrining Citizens United.
Having all our elected officials pass a security clearance is a must!!
Anyone who Can & Are given access to national security information must be able to pass a security clearance BEFORE being put on a ballot!!! If we demand such scrutiny for our military members- it’s the Very LEAST we should Demand of our officials.
Limiting the amount of years ANYONE is allowed to serve in government needs to happen.
Say, 12 years Max. And that includes both houses of Congress -not 12 yrs in the House and 12 years in the Senate. No- 12 YEARSS MAX.
Then go get a real job.
All I Want For Christmas IS the Democracy Promised in the CONSTITUTION - The PROMISE of A More Perfect Union and EQUALITY (power) for ALL!
Suzi, it seems Trump has some kind of immunity to the law and has throughout most of his life. Things he has done over the years should have made him ineligible to run for anything, but, nope, he just keeps on keeping on doing all the same stuff, even more troubling, but We the People don't seem to be able to do anything to stop him. I get it that Trump is a symptom, but when we get symptoms of an illness, we check them out, take medicines to treat the symptoms until our bodies can take over, and feel, at least, some better. We are not treating the Trump symptoms, just allowing him to malign people who have been properly elected and threaten anyone he does not think is loyal to him. He led an insurrection, yet is still all over the place lying about the election, and maligning and threatening. Had he been anyone else, particularly a person of color, he'd be in jail awaiting trial because he can't be trusted to be out in the world. He has been using Hitler language to describe his fellow Americans and the fans at his rallies cheer him on. I get it that they are not actually listening to him, but that is irrelevant if they get enough power in the white states to re-elect him. Rich corporations are supporting Trump, hoping he will give them free rein to do whatever anti-American actions they wish, in the name of "capitalism" of course. I am looking forward to learning some strategies to deal with this ever-present danger of one ignorant, hateful mob boss trying to become dictator and his cult totally on board.
Have you ever heard of the "good old" boys club? The club, is a system of networks based on friendship, family connections, and people of influence who provide favors, give breaks to, make connections for, and information to mostly White guys, sometimes related to certain areas of our country. It's only recently that a few women have been able to break the glass ceiling (it should have been called the cement ceiling). Even with all her education, experience, and legal background Hillary couldn't break through. In fact the more background and power a women possesses, the more fear it creates for these powerful men. Even today, the majority of Republican Congress people who hate the minority MAGA republicans group, still refuse to throw Trump under the bus bec they would rather preserve their own "Old Boys Club" (for which Trump is not a member) in order to keep their power from being destroyed by Trump's vindictive behavior. They know the party needs a better candidate, so their party could win in 24', but it's all about protecting their own power. They will do it by connections, judgeships, new legislation, propaganda, rich financiers, & to promote their behavior they still make no effort to say Biden won. And some of them are still quietly saying that they will send in the "shock troops" again like they did on January 6th. The old Republican Guard wants to stay in power & will do anything to keep it even if it means losing in Nov. 2024. Trump's running is just a fly in their soup.
Yes, & according to the Constitution, Trump isn't qualified due to having broken his oath of office to protect, preserve & defend the Constitution. This applies to numerous Republican members of Congress, too, for their part in illegally trying to overturn the 2020 election (+ Santos on a number of cases of fraud). Too bad that the Constitution keeps being ignored.
Legal qualifications. Nothing in it about moral, character or mental qualifications, and sadly.
And the reason why is the Constitution was written by the elite, wealthy, white men, merchants of the north, planters of the south (aka Tidewater Aristocracy).
The whole idea of our government was premised on the idea that only wealthy, property owning white men should run the country. Their role model was the Republics of Ancient Athens and Republican period of Rome, before it became an empire.
The Senate ruled, and selected consuls. The constitution they signed created a House of Commons (House of Reps), which were white property owning men, but commoners and a Senate composed of two property owning white men, selected by the states legislatures.
The government was to exist for serving the interests of property owning white men.
It took time for the states to enfranchise non property owning white men, and 27 Amendments to create a democracy.
Leftie fact check enjoys his status as a virtual serf, a human resource to be consumed in the production of profits. So long as he can own the libs, call blacks "nigrahs", ban books, speech, feminists and LGBT, and keep the darkie in his place.
All you say is true-to a point. In spite of “originalist” judges who enjoy arguing about how many fairies can dance on the head of a pin, our Founders with all their faults saw to it that our founding documents could be amended through the years as our country grew and changed. They all had their agendas then but they also had foresight. God knows they weren’t perfect but they actually gave a damn about the purpose of this country. Remember, they would all be condemned as traitors to the Crown if their vision wasn’t followed up by action. Compromises were made by the non slaveholding states so the slaveholders would allow passage of our Constitution. The hopes that somewhere down the line, white slavers would somehow see the error of their ways. They didn’t therefore we fought the un-Civil War. This country’s leaders broke treaties with, warred against, eradicated and rounded up onto reservations millions of our Native peoples. I would like to believe that our founders had great and good intentions but as with so many things about the Human animal, we got greedy. But you know what, for the longest time, our faulty system of government was the best thing going and we are in danger of losing it instead of making the necessary changes to really make us good again. We don’t need to be great again because we never really were. But we were good. Let’s go for good again.
Is the constitution a good constitution ? Yes it is. The best if you believe that political power is a danger to ordinary men and women and that it generally attracts the greedy and the unscrupulous. If you believe political power is an opportunity for ordinary men and women to entrust their hopes and aspirations to their betters then the constitution is a constraint.
CP: It is now, after 27 Amendments, but in 1787 it was a document written by and for landed (property owning) white males, not the ordinary citizen. The colonial elites wrote the constitution for themselves, not for Joe the plowboy, are John the carpenter.
The constitution was written by men who understood the danger inherent in political power. A constitution so founded is of the greatest benefit to the least powerful who always and everywhere are in danger of being exploited by those who control the police the army and the tax gatherers.
Invalidating the constitution on class grounds is good marxist practise but marxism has been the deadliest of all political theories.
Marxist or not it is an indisputable fact. You seem to be some kind of libertarian or right winger.
I am 84 and so tired of hearing this Marxist this, Marxist that. FYI Marx was a proto libertarian.
He was a free trader, and not at all a friend of the working class (whom he called the prolitariate) he was financed by the financial elite, called the League of Just Men. he opposed Englands tariffs (The Corn laws) he wrote letters to the southern newspapers imploring them to free the slaves and hire them back at Market Wages. His partner, Frederick Engels, inherited a textile mill, and had buy the inferior and cheaper Egyptian Cotton.
Marx was also a gold bug. he advocated for a gold standard, where the amount of gold on hand, limited the amount of currency in circulation.
The Soviet Union adopted the Marxian currency scheme and valued a ruble at .9871 grams fine gold, and issued as many rubles as their was gold on hand. Thus causing a perpertual depression, a shortage of gold means a shortage of money in a gold standard economu
It was a felony to smuggle gold out of the USSR, because it could be presented to its window to the west, the NordBank in Paris, and demand gold in redemption, thus lowering the gold stocks and creating more economic agony.
FYI, I studied international financial institutions, in particular central banks, and the central bank of central banks, The Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, for my Masters degree.
Things are not as they appear to be, and feckless Americans are mushrooms, kept in the dark and fed shit.
By the way Fred Koch, father of the Koch Brothers, I assume you know of them David and Charles Koch founded the Libertarian Party and David ran for president in 1980. Well Fred made his money building oil wells and refineries for Stalin and came away with Libertarian Ideas, like a gold standard, and Article 12 of the 1936 Soviet Constitution "If you don't work you don't eat"
You are no different than the majority of Americans: A mushroom
Family bloodlines are ancient. One in particular has always ruled by subterfuge and controlling the narrative. The CROWNINC, the VATICANINC AND USAINC/ MICINC comprise the CITY OF THE EMPIRE. They must give clues and use movies, literature and music because ppl will believe it’s fiction. Each one is a CITY STATE. DC is a foreign country sitting on a 10x10 sq mile radius of land on the City of Washington with its own flag and Constitution and serves itself FIRST.
Your comment reminds me of the bubble bursting book, The Empire of the City, the financial district of London. If the King is to visit the FDL, it has to be arranged ahead of time, and the King shows up in street clothing to be met by the mayor decked out in Ermine, sceptre and all.
This is probably why the 14 th Amendment was added to our founding document. It’s being tested in the courts now so I guess we’ll have to wait and see if LDFF can be omitted from the national ballot. Personally, I’m all for his omission. Let you and all the other MAGGOTS write him in. See how far that goes.
I disagree, Leftie Fact Check, the Constitution sets the minimum standards, age and citizenship. Then by Amendment 10 it leaves the rest of the "eligibility" up to the people. That worked well enough when we only had 4 million people, only landed, white, men, (most of whom knew each other) could run for office AND only landed, white, men could vote - but even they could not vote directly for President or Vice President - ONLY the electoral college had the right to vote for the Executive Officers; and even today we have no vote on the Cabinet, or even any control over the knowledge of who get appointed to office.
We can and should set higher standards for all offices. But of course to get an Amendment to do this is impossible in America today - we need a work around.
Fay Reid ; And a reasonably good fourth estate! As imperfect as our communications are in news, we can still get enough info to vote intelligently! There is an abundance of evidence that tfg is not Presidential 'material'! Majority rules! Along with the Constitution! There are enough of US who know the truth! And A Supreme Court that needs to redeem itself!
Let's hope so, Laurie. Like you I have faith in our citizens, my only fear is from the damage done by ALEC and the magapubicans to enable them to steal the election for real as they attempted following 2020.
A legal war is currently ongoing over whether Trump should be disqualified from the ballot in Colorado, which controls candidates. Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, bars a person from future office if they have taken an oath to the Constitution and later engage in an insurrection or aid the Constitution's enemies.
Leftie Fact Check ; If you are referring to the judge in Colorado, they did find that tfg committed an insurrection against the Constitution; a Crime that is not 'just politics'. Important fact.
Capitalism's best partner is socialism. Imagine two societies one which practices rank laissez-faire economics where it's dog-eat-dog and survival of the fittest and another which gives it's citizens free healthcare, education and makes sure no one is hungry or homeless and has a path to success, all of which is paid for by taxing the very rich. If that means no more luxury planes or boats and not owning ten mansions around the globe, tough shit lads, grow the fuck up.
Rich people are incompatible with a democratic or socialist society. The laws which guarantee their easy accumulations and ownership of everything CAN be different. You cannot have individuals with unholy amounts of power over the social and political defining characteristics of a whole society and have any pretense of democracy. We do not live in a democracy, no matter what the propaganda may say. We are the playthings of the rich. It cannot be otherwise.
There's a difference between rich and obscenely rich. Because large majorities of Americans have a roof over their heads, food on the table, clothes to wear, and at least some money in their pocket, they are rich COMPARED TO MOST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD. The US has in the past had widespread (not universal) prosperity AND a system that reined in the rich and powerful. As you say, Paul, it CAN be different than it is now. Spread that message and work to turn out the vote.
A quick check of Norges bank the people of Norway own US$ 385 billion of shares in US companies,spread across 1190 companies( they'll have some rubbish in there that will lose them money)..
Apple being the largest company in the world with a market cap of $3 trillion is their largest shareholding.They go in at market weight which their proxy advisors will tell them to do.
$21 billion in Apple shares.Then Microsoft,Alphabet, ( google ) etc.Around $6 billion in Berkshire Hathaway ( Buffett.).
You or anybody else can do the same.
Tax on the dividends is 30% collected by the IRS.Fill in W8 BEN forms for the IRS and the tax is reduced to 15%.The rules may be different for a large fund compared to me ( individual investor).The IRS may just say no W8 for you,30% tax will be withheld..
That $ 385 billion is just under 30% of fund value,obviously with the US being by far the largest market in the world,that is where funds need to go.The Danish stock market would be extremely small compared to the US.
The entire Australian market is worth less than Apple is.Most markets areThe UK market is worth slightly less than Apple.
The problem is people deny reality.The wealth is held by ordinary people,they refuse to see it..
If the USA has 140 million workers and average wages are $30 per hour then reality is easy.. 3x 14 is 42.Round that to 40 and add the 0000s ( move the decimal point to the right).
$4 billion per hour as wages,plus add ones.That is where the money is,that is where the tax is raised.
Musk is the richest man in the world, around $200 billion.He owns just under 13% of the shares in Tesla. You can own shares in Tesla,Musk gets richer,you get richer.Musk gets poorer,you get poorer.Tesla goes bankrupt,people are out of work etc,Musk loses say $100 billion,you lose $X.There are ways to control that risk.
Do the reverse,the Musk $200 billion is shared out equally,divide it by 330 million, (population of the USA? ) you've got nothing,and a company is destroyed..
Norway has a huge fund ( Norges Bank) owned by the govt and invested in most companies around the world.Their web site will tell you exactly what they invest in and what it is worth.
Australia has a pension fund of A$ 3.6 trillion,that is where the money is,that is where the tax will be raised as the govt slowly reduces the tax advantages of the pension funds.You would call it a 401K and other variations.Money is also raised ( saved).A pension in Australia is means tested.When the superannuation system in Australia matures,( around 2050) then some people will fund their own retirement as I do now.Some people will perhaps be 50% self funded.Some people will get the full govt pension .Whatever happens they are dependant on exactly what has happened for 200 years of easily traceable facts .Companies will employ them,companies grow,profits grow,profits are returned to shareholders,the workers.They will still bite the hand that feeds them.As an example the company has a market cap of say $100 billion. 90% of that is owned by the workers, ($90 billion).90% of the profits go back to the workers through dividends.The person that started the company gets 10% of everything. Exactly the same as an old UK feudal system,or a cooperative system ( Rochdale coop)
As Robert says derivatives are lethal.I can control $100 worth of assets for say 1 cent,the asset rises to $110 dollars,I make a fortune,1 cent makes me $10.The reverse also occurs,1 cent can lose me $10 unless I control that risk and I'm not taken out by 3rd party risk. The CLO and CDO risks that nearly destroyed the financial system in 2008/2009.
Daniel: I think you must have put your finger on the phenomenon now taking place in Scandinavia. My friend in Denmark complains that he went to sleep one night and suddenly Denmark had a right wing government. He doesn't know how it happened. I believe that it is reported Sweden and Norway are both moving away from their classic social benefit economic systems. Once again, I will say, that you cannot have rich people and democracy. The clash is not because I say so. There is an organic conflict between those two elements. One will destroy the other, and since the rich and powerful are sneaky and relentless in pushing for their own growing power and wealth, and ordinary people have their own lives to live, wealth will out every time. I predict that unless morbid wealth is squelched, the whole social experiment aspect of life in Scandinavia is due to become a cherished memory.
Absolutely! Here in America, I believe we will not tolerate trump in office again. I have thought long and hard about this. Trump wants to say that President Biden is against Democracy which is projection. I believe most Americans simply do not want others telling them what they can and cannot read, who they can love, and what choices women can make regarding their own bodies. Those are all individual freedoms that we hold dear. When one of the parties begins to take those away, including the right to vote, I believe the American people will say NO very loud!! We do not want authoritarianism! We want to preserve our Democracy!!
You're right Laurie. Here in the USA the oligarchs have become extremists. After all, if they have someone in the White House they can control to do their bidding, they don't give the furry crack of a rat's ass about the rest of us! We'll be the ones that suffer!
Paul, over two thousand years ago Aristotle showed that this not so. The problem arises, he noted, when one side goes to extremes, and then, like the person who wants to perfect the shape of his nose ends up with no nose at all. Today we have a situation in which oligarchs are becoming extremists.
One point a lot miss is a Country with a well established health system is not so easy to overcome. IF Le Pen got in in France (looks likely) and she tried to take away parts of the health system there will be a revolution.
We already saw what happened in France when Macron raised the Retirement age. You might think the Gov. did not hear this but I bet in the next election the 'retirement age' will come up again and someone will be voting to bring it back down!
Most of the obscenely wealthy Presbyterians and Methodists of the robber baron era in Pennsyltucky and Ohio, believed in and financed the social gospel.
In some cases, it was a form of paternalism. The concept of the "trust" i.e. the corporation which did not have a "soul" wasn't created until the 1870s by the Rockefeller standard oil trust. Even he, as corrupt and monopolistic as he was, created charities, foundations with his money.
Before the 18th Century (Adam Smith and the Industrial Revolution) we had feudalism.
Yes! I was just thinking that wealth inequality wouldn’t much matter if we had a social safety net that included housing, healthcare, education, etc. for all!
between Reich's beliefs and those held by so many on this post, you would think the majority of our lives must be miserable. I think it is fool's folly to believe to believe socialism is a superior economic and social structure. It is also very obvious that many of the individuals and corporations that are railed against in this stack donate extraordinary monies to help the less fortunate. Many of these corporations have helped to build the economy and lifestyles that we enjoy along with our freedoms. i don't understand why many folks want to tear it down.
JJ, it is not working for most people. It’s a rigged system that deprives people of their Constitutional rights and the most basic human needs like clean air, clean water, sanitation, safe housing, and the ability to live productive and happy lives. The vote is the last thing we will lose if we don’t fight to keep our democracy.
They don't. Or at least I don't. The point is that there needs to be more of a balance so that capitalism is bridled for the good of all. I don't believe in socialism where all means of production and natural resources are owned by the state. Whether corporations donate extraordinary monies is arguable and anyway largely beside the point when viewed against the extra extraordnary resources they have. To be specific about "freedoms": Edward Jones and many corporations are donating money to politiicans in Congress who continually block further progress fighting climate change. Other pharmaceutical companies make huge profits while they put their products out of price reach of many. Recognizing these things doesn't make me an anti-capitalist. It makes me someone who wants to see capitalism function better--and yes -what it means to "function better" should be up for all citizens to decide through their elected officals. And if it's not, then there is no democracy.
JJ. Certainly there are people in this country who advocate socialism to the extreme. I can't speak for Reich though I suspect he embraces capitalism in need of major reforms. Fixing a badly flawed wealth/power imbalance is very different from "tearing it down". Indeed it may strengthen capitalism.
J J Laurenzi ; There is socialism for the already obscenely wealthy ; The bail outs for those deemed "too big to fail". Democratic Socialism might have guardrails to limit the wealth on top to a certain ratio of rich to less rich ; CEO to lowest paid worker. It has been done, I think, in some European countries. Maybe it will be covered in this substack as the examination of capitalism continues.
JJ: The ones who want to tear it down are those who are attacking our institutions, spreading hate, and fueling anger. Many of them hate the "elites" and the "globalists," because so many good jobs have off-shored. As to corporate charity, it's tax deductible. Tax deductions are a racket.
We have always had a "mixed" economy. Washington built a series of "post roads" to effectuate the Constitutional monopoly postal service, f=distributed land rights to Revolutionary War veterans and gave them pensions, created a welfare system for the new city named for him, etc.
What bothers me is the idea that petit bourgeois farmers, shop keepers, professionals should be held to the same disdain as monopolies and robber barons.
I probably was one when I practiced law or when I tried my hand at being an author.
On the other hand, some of you would condemn me as a member of a deep state bureaucracy. The major advantage I had probably came from my VA points.
Anecdotally, people who are good at probability and statistics, are good at games, surely can figure out how to buy low and sell high.
Inside baseball. Most rich people I know started out on third and think they hit a triple. However, I know some who started on third and got picked off. Life style has a lot to do with it. Luck more so.
I love your dream. And I share it. Someone earlier in these comments said (paraphrased) corporations and their leaders have, at some point, made the decision to chuck values in favor of unimaginable wealth. Yet, they freak out when someone proposes a new wealth tax. I am part-Cuban, with my father initially fighting for Castro, then fighting against a Communist regime once Castro came into power and revealed his ties to Russia. In my younger years I was very interested in learning more about Cuban culture and government. The last article I remember reading was years ago, but it stuck with me. A new generation of Cuban young adults were advocating for a hybrid socialist-capitalist system. They had grown up with cradle-to-grave socialism that provided health care and education all the way through college and beyond, based on aptitude and ongoing success in chosen fields. They also advocated for incorporating capitalism in the form of selling to global markets to grow their economy and improve Cubans' lives (shortages of basic products, like soap, were common). These young dreamers had lived all their lives with a sense of security that they did not want to give up. And from that base, they yearned to spread wings and fly. I think of those young Cubans often when proposals about enhanced health and education benefits for the poor and middle classes are sneered at as "socialism"--even by those Americans whose lives would be greatly improved. And I too wonder how painful would it really be for the 1% or so to buy a few less mansions and planes and yachts to fund such programs. But, the ultra-wealthy are also the ultra-powerful, so we may never realize to what heights a healthy, well-educated, positively energized America could soar. Hmmm.... Let's finally make America great -- for everyone.
Really, well lay out those options. For me success means peace and prosperity and a path forward for everyone and it seems to me the best way to ensure that is to ensure everyone has healthcare, education, food and a decent place to live. That, in and of itself, is success. If you take care of people's basic needs I submit they'll have a lot more energy, enthusiasm and because they were not malnourished as kids, brain power, to build a good life for themselves and for others.
Ian, thanks for that post! In our competitive, success-obsessed society, we fail to notice or care that economic, health and housing insecurity is damaging generations of our fellow Americans. The allostatic load/weathering effects of the chronic stress of poverty, homelessness, and discrimination reduces cognitive function and even lifespan. So much wasted energy and creativity.
Perhaps Robert Reich would like to comment. Also, I like Joe Scarborough but sadly when it comes to socialism he is woefully ignorant. Please educate the man.
Every other industrialized democracy in the world has Universal Health Care.
Some are socialized medicine, Great Britain for example.
Some are pure private sector, Switzerland for example.
All provide equal quality care to 100% of their population at a cost much less that the US spends.
If you look at the bulk of the systems, their costs, pre-Covid, came in at 1/3rd less than the US spends as pct of the economy. That is enough money to pay the Pentagon's entire annual budget, with enough left over to make Social Security solvent as far as can be foreseen.
I live in England and my daughter lives in California and I have been to see her and had nearly 50 American guests. As I am a Socialist and give back to society. And had a refugee from Sudan to stay for 6 weeks. I am a leader cares. Who worked with homeless people. Who went to Romania on Ceausescu’s plane flown by Romanian Air Force. Tarom was on strike. I was at The London Protest when Trump and family came over. Thousands were there with music and drums because we love America but don’t like what is happening there. I was a railway child and travelled on trains. Employment law gives us paid holidays. I did food for AIDS people in NYC. I stayed in a Squat there and the people create community gardens. I have freedom Choices and give back.
Suppose we would distribute the wealth of billionaires evenly among the 340 million Americans. How much would everyone get? I calculated that it be approximately $ 15,000.-. I asked my friends: “What do you think would happen to the money?” The unanimous answer was: “they would piss it away.”
The point is not the money, per se. The Billionaire class exerts unbounded influence which then redefines national interests, removes them from accountability in most circumstances, and pushes the whole of power dynamic more towards further entrenching their hold on that power and its scope of influence. Enforcement of stringent bounds on wealth creation and persistence, and enforcement of antitrust to more effectively bound what can be done with that wealth aren’t some hatred of wealthy people. And these aren’t about “giving” $15,000 to each of us. Those measures are about Saving Our Democratic Republic by again rebalancing power away from a moneyed elite, restoring more of it back to the rest of us.
As to “they would piss it away”, agreed, in so far as that if the underlying “machinery” of our corporate economy is left as is, it will continue doing what it already does: convey wealth ruthlessly to the top.
Yes, it not the money. It is the power. Without their money, the billionaires would lose their outsize influence on our lives through their control of the media and government with their wealth. I don't care if someone is rich, but I do care if he is using his wealth to keep me down!
UBI=Universal Basic Income, which is an amount of money to be distributed to all citizens, which is taken as the minimum amount of money that humans can get by with to meet their basic needs. Andrew Yang made it the cornerstone of his presidential campaign in 2020.
Germany a major powerhouse of the European economy pays for university education up to and including a PhD. That is an expression of value: that everyone should be able to rise to their own potential despite their family circumstances.
On a recent trip to Berlin after walking 70,000 steps around that city, we saw 2 street people.
Love this discussion & I think if more people could read & comprehend, as well as differentiate the misunderstandings of labels used, our country would operate more fairly. Personally, I am in a high income bracket and would not be overburdened to pay more taxes, IF the wealthy 1% were made to pay more (share more) taxes also.
Education has always, and continues to be, the answer to many of the problems we (as in all societies) have regarding the “have & have nots.” Think of the mAGaS, pRoUd bOYs, & other blind followers of tfg., what if they were educated & understood enough to recognize the
D. Allen, I have been watching what has been happening with education. The process of 'dumbing down' has begun so that the sheep will be easier to lead and control. As a retired teacher, it saddens me to see Prager U and other propaganda being taught as if it were the truth. Taking away Black History and replacing with a white version, banning books, and allowing one parent to dictate what a whole group can and cannot do. True education will always be the answer and if it is not addressed soon, kids graduating in the future will not be educated to perceive true facts from propaganda.
Sweden is a competitive open mixed economy. The vast majority of Swedish enterprises are privately owned and market-oriented. There is also a strong welfare state, with public-sector spending accounting up to three-fifths of GDP.[26][27] In 2014, the percent of national wealth owned by the government was 24%.
The Norwegian state maintains large ownership positions in key industrial sectors concentrated in natural resources and strategic industries such as the strategic petroleum sector (Equinor), hydroelectric energy production (Statkraft), aluminum production (Norsk Hydro), the largest Norwegian bank (DNB) and telecommunication provider (Telenor). The government controls around 35% of the total value of publicly listed companies on the Oslo stock exchange, with five of its largest seven listed firms partially owned by the state.
So that's socialistic and succeeding, not failing. The Nordic model isn't pure socialism and we aren't pure capitalism. The founders were very proud of the public library and it's socialistic, same for the post office. Do you want to get rid of the parks? The happiest people in the world live in the Nordic model, what could be a better measure of success? The socialism we have for the rich, is it failing them?
Denmark is an example of the Nordic model, characterized by an internationally high tax level, and a correspondingly high level of government-provided services (e.g. health care, child care and education services). There are also income transfers to various groups, such as retired or disabled people, unemployed persons, students, etc. Altogether, the amount of revenue from taxes paid in 2017 amounted to 46.1% of the GDP. The Danish fiscal policy is generally considered healthy.
Socialism and capitalism are ECONOMIC theories and that they don't govern.
Both exist within any political structure like a Democracy, a Republic or an autocracy like Hungary, Russia, China.
China is a prime example, economically Capitalist, governed by an autocracy.
Russia the same. Actually Russia under the Bolsheviks was a combination of seven trusts, organized along lines of resource and production (1922 Fortnightly magazine), Gorbachev at the urging of international finance and the Bank for International Settlements in Basil Switzerland declared it to be a failed experiment and needed to be reorganized, Gorbachev was hired to do the job (Reagan or his script writer knew as much, that's why he uttereed (Gorbachev tear down this wall).
Gorbie was rewarded with a pension from the B.I.S. a dacha on lake Geneva, and they created a non profit, the Green Cross, and made him the President.
Yelsin sold off the trusts to prominent insiders and KGB operatives,we now call Oligarchs.
They are mixed economies blending regulated capitalism with democratic socialism, & that has proven to be the most successful form of economy. It was when we had the most progressive tax system, boosted unions & implemented social programs like Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid from FDR-LBJ that the US improved the fastest in standard of living at all socioeconomic levels to become the top country in the world in most measures of prosperity and well-being. We were also able as a unified nation able to confront all major challenges. This huge disparity in wealth & power is a major source of the great division & destabilization of our nation.
I live in France (also a mixed economy) and whether you call it « social democracy » or « caring, regulated(!) capitalism » …it works. All kids can go to school through university, and every everyone has access to good basic healthcare. Public daycare is available from age 3 months, and nursery school from age 3 to first grade (fees are scaled to your revenues , so the less affluent get the most help). And there are still multi billionaires like Bernard Arnault of LVMH.
America could easily be the best place on earth, if it would just look at what works elsewhere? No need to re-invent the wheel!
Yes! We'll, French citizens are a lot more politically active & it's paid off.
You have brought up a point I have often made. Americans are so ethnocentric & egocentric that they think that they know everything, that they're superior to the rest of the world & have nothing to learn from other countries, which of course is absurd. As a result, Americans have missed out on so many amenities that other nations take for granted.
Even when (a few of) our politicians like Bernie campaign on universal healthcare, pointing out that other countries have it at half our cost, & large majorities of citizens support it, the political & corporate establishment put the kibosh on such notions. Almost 60 years after Japan introduced the bullet train & long after Europe & China have developed comprehensive rapid transit throughout their territory, the US is still at a very primitive stage. And so on...
Oh great. That means that in the U.S. there is no such thing as a free market because of monopolies and leveraged buyouts and corporate pirates. There are five large grocery stores in a five mile radius from me, and they're all the same store. My HOA provides my ISP service, so if I'd rather have a different service I would have to pay the HOA fee and the new service as well. I shouldn't get started.
Leftie checker: this what you mean by "free Market:" Five employers, five hundred applicants--provided we have tariffs (a contradiction?), otherwise the number of applicants is in the millions, because the employers can pick and chose all over the world.
Leftie working hard only leads to perpetual poverty, and early death.
No body works harder than someone standing behind a fast food counter, busing dishes, cleaning pots, pans and dishes, picking fruit and veggies, collecting garbage, cleaning sewers, all of those dirty jobs that white middle class men refuse to do.
Convince me that Musk, Gates, Ellison, Bezo's work hard. Convince me that CEO's and Boards of Directors work hard.
Work is an expenditure of energy. It is not work if you enjoy what you are doing. The dictionary definition has been modified, to include the activities of those that have the money and power to influence definitions. like their corporate owners.
All communication is propaganda,even parent to child, friend to friend, and you got sucked in to right wing propaganda, as did I from the time I learned to read, 1944, but almost 50 years later My latent, unused critical reasoning kicked in.
You my friend, are a slave to those that use you as a tool, to secure their wealth and position.
I worked hard for over 40 years. Seventeen years of actual physical labor, on my feet up to 18 hours a day, and the rest at multiple high-responsibility office jobs, plus side gigs. Managed to keep my head >just< above water for the duration. The result was that I was "down-sized" at age 61, along with several other over-55ers in the company. Ended up having to retire as soon as I hit 62, because ageism. I'm certainly NOT doing fine, and neither are tens of thousands (millions?) in comparable circumstances. But then, you just post those sparky jabs to get a rise out of the audience here, right?
I remember meeting a retired VP from a large insurance company who in his retirement starting reading country comparisons on OECD websites . He remarked. " I have discovered that the USA is not the best country in the world."
Only because the exploiters have the money and power to destroy it.
Where would you be now were it not for socialism. The Common or General welfare is mentioned in the Constitution. Socialism is the common good, the general welfare.
Examples of Socialism: Roads, highways, post office, police, fire department, free public education, agencies that ensure the food you eat and the products you use are safe and will not kill you or put you n the hospital, and before these agencies were captured by those that they were suppose to regulate did a good job. Before the FDA, meat and sausages could kill you, if a worker fell into a rendering vat, They would fish out his clothes and bones, and sell the fat.
So is the world you want, a primitive backwards agrarian society, where the best you can hope for is to own a piece of land on which to grow cabbages?
Because that is where your druthers take you, but at least your masculinity isn't threated by "femiNAZIs', queers non white "furriners" who can't speak English, darkies who don't know their place, and we the people are under the thumb of religious authorities.
Yep that is it. a theocracy run by white Christian males, and re enslaved darkies, Muslims , queers, atheists and Jews in concentration camps waiting to be pushed into an abbatoir.
Fails for whom? Those who want to hoard all the wealth for themselves and their fellow rank capitalists, while redistributing wealth throughout society, making life better for that society as a whole? If so, let socialism fail the former. Their greed has caused centuries of suffering and needs to end.
Socialism always fails? You are misinformed. Been to Finland? Sweden? Austria? You may be mistaking the Soviet Union for a socialist system. Its name, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, implied that, but it was not socialist. It was communist, where the farm, the farmer’s house, and the harvest all belonged to the State. In socialism, private property is the norm, taxes are relatively high, but are returned to the taxpayers in free services, including health and education.
Better write your congresscritter to explain. Of course you don’t want to send your letter by the SOCIALIST post office. You will have to send it via FedEx ($$$).
this raises the serious question of what a “successful” society and economy looks like. Is “success “ GDP? Technological advancement? Equality? A sustainable relationship with the climate? Success for whom? Us? Our children? Our grandchildren? Other people’s grandchildren? There simply is not an obvious answer to “which is successful?”
Health, happiness, productivity & sustainability are some of the more important measures of success in a society. I like most the Happiness Index as a measure. Finns & Danes & others living in countries with a strong dose of democratic socialism have been among the leaders in this index in recent years, while hard-working Americans are way down the list.
And Jaime, I would add that kindness is a measure of a successful society: Are people kind to one another? Do they help one another? Kindness is inclusive; the common good is deeply understood , woven into everyday interactions. This is one of the hallmarks of a successful society.
We are more likely to be kind when not stressed and resentful about not having the basics of survival: housing, food, clothing, etc. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. We can’t think about actualizing our best selves until our basic needs are met.
The USA leads the world in technology because of its outstanding scientists, conscientious workers-- and laws that protect person and property. These laws are in jeopardy now.
Maybe try socially-responsible, kinder capitalism. That’d be what I personally think “socialism” is. Not some old idea from a different era. Kind of like the old idea of capitalism- and the old idea of conservatism or republicanism; not what we really experience here & Now.
Wow! Max Weber and Peter Blau were well ahead of their time! And your application of truth in the face of many well-hidden realties is powerful. As a sociologist, I stand in awe of your clarity. As a citizen, I stand, with fear, in the face of the enormity of the issues. Thank you, I think. I hope your final lesson has some reasonable suggestions for action.
This is the discussion that I want to have, that our country needs, to try to understand why we have a flawed system that breeds inequality. Thank you.
By dictionary definition “Capitalism is an economic and political system in which property, business, and industry are controlled by private owners rather than by the state, with the purpose of making a profit:” By definition, capitalism has no responsibility to assist the common good.
As we have experienced it in the past, government was required to put some limits on capitalism or an unsustainable wealth disparity ensues. The ability of American democracy to put limits on capitalism have become so limited so as to be virtually non-existent. When the capitalists use their wealth to undermine government controls through manipulation of the electoral process, capital accumulates in the hands of the wealthy while the middle and working class becomes impoverished, frustrated and angry.
According to Heather Cox Richardson’s latest book, these frustrated and angry citizens are now easy targets for an authoritarian leader who asserts that only his or her strong authoritarian leadership can assert the power to correct their plight. Once they accept that type of approach as the answer to their problems, the followers of the leader are loath to consider they made a bad choice and willingly overlook any and all evidence to the contrary. To win the favor of the citizens, usually a minority or religious group is blamed for the problems which leads to the loss of their rightful place in the society. (This can be used as justification for removal of their rights, imprisonment or in some extreme cases, justify deportation or genocide of that blamed group.)
Unbridled capitalism and authoritarian leadership go hand and hand. That is why in the United States “capitalism is so rotten.” Capitalists feel absolutely no obligation to work towards the common good. By definition, their only goal is to make a profit. Democracy as elucidated in the Constitution has depended on an assumption that all work for the “Common Good.” There are few effective mechanisms to defend against undermining this assumption.
There is one in particular that is a recurring target. I wish we could get better organized and stop all that. Free mental health services for everyone!
Islam is a faith practiced by millions of peaceful people. Yet, we have come to equate Islam, in general, with the Taliban's imposition of "Islamic law" on its citizens. However, I haven't seen enough concern expressed about the "Biblical law" promised as a replacement for democracy by a rising tide of Christian Nationalists. Think Biblical law couldn't be so bad, given the average American's perspective of Christianity as loving and compassionate, per Jesus' example? Look up the actual goals of Christian Nationalism, and the movement's symbiotic relationship with Mr. Trump's presidency and his plans for a second term. Also, against this backdrop, consider carefully the words and actions of our newly minted Speaker of the House. I am afraid. Very afraid.
wow--would you rather have Islamic law as law of the land or a
Judeo/Christian influenced law of the land. I guess the 9/11 perpetrators and the Hamas faction were just outliers. At least with Christianity and democratic republic you can practice almost any religion you want----animal sacrifice maybe as one exception---without worrying about the state ;imprisioning you or Islam killing you as an infidel/
Muslims in America are often the objects of discrimination with no distinction by sect for the actions of Muslims abroad associated with terrorism like Al Qaeda, ISIS & Hamas. Obviously that's unfair, but that's how many American bigots & xenophobes react. They can be angry at China for something the government did & take it out on not only Chinese nationals, who are blameless for their government's policy, but also on Chinese Americans & members of other Asian ethnic groups. Sikhs have also been victims of Islamophobia even though not Muslim. Bigotry is such an ugly & deplorable (in)human trait!
I find the dictionary definition useful in providing a beginning place. What this doesn't talk about is an environment that makes wealth possible but receives no return as those who benefit refrain from supporting the very structures that enabled their wealth by not paying their fair share of taxes.
sclipman38. See my response to Marc N above. The dictionary is useful, EXCEPT when it comes to defining words like capitalism, socialism and even work
That is when the interests of corporations kicks in and publishers of dictionaries and encylopedia, are like the RCA dog, they listen to the masters voice.
I looked a the definition of capitalism in several dictionaries. I chose this one as it seemed to have the most accuracy, clarity and brevity. (I believe it was a British dictionary).
The Declaration of Independence was a “Revolutionary” document. The Constitution however no longer operates on behalf of the people. Bit by bit it has been co-opted and is now more akin a system of governance with huge loopholes that are exploited by the capitalist system for its goal of accumulating wealth. The concept of “by the people and for the people” as elucidated in the Declaration of Independence is now effectively undermined. Despite requiring 27 amendments, the constitution is unable to be an effective document for governance. Capitalism, by any definition or dictionary, has successfully undermined it.
Look closely at the US Constitution, then fully consider who wrote it. The "founding fathers" were not eqalitarians they were rich northern merchants and southern planters (the tidewater aristocrats)
The document created a government run by the property owning, white man.
The senate was staffed by influential property owning white men, selected by state legislatures who were property owning white men.
The constitution gave the several states the power to determine eligibility to vote and hold office.
States, slowly, one by one, enfranchised all white men, including share croppers and plow boys,
It took 27 Amendments to make this a full blown democracy and now the corporate elite, Plutocrats, oligarchs, cabals are behind the movement to return us to our origins. hence the Federalist Society and SCOTUS, originalists.
We the people did not apply to women, men without property, or slaves.
The Constitution is fine. We are supposed to breathe life into it. Amendments are signs of life. It sometimes happens that the government fails to serve the people as it should because pols are human and can be manipulated by private power. We need to clarify who is eligible to run for office because the halls of government are the favorite places for grifters to launch their schemes. Vote blue if only to end the shame of Republican Party capitulation to their overlords.
Marc, do you know who influences dictionaries? Companies that produce them are corporations. Corporations have boards of directors which represent the owners, and the owners themselves are corporations and eventually capitalists.
So naturally dictionaries reflect the propaganda of the owners and that includes defining capitalism, it is not a political system. It is an economic theory. Capitalism fits very well into an autocracy, hence not a political system. Russia, China, Hungary and many countries are autocracies and capitalism is doing very well in those countries.
I am confused as to what Russia and China are. Britannica.com says both have evolved into oligarchies. But what is an oligarchy? Is it a power structure where power rests in a small number of people? If so, are we haded in that direction?
Sclipman38, I think we know how and why the inequality of wealth and power exists. It’s what to do about it and how to stop it that keeps us awake at night. :-)
This is spot-on, but it isn't just about America. The same problems have arisen throughout the Western world. I live in the UK, but the exact same things are visible here, especially public services going to rack and ruin because they are starved of resources.
For example, we have had a round of strikes in the health services. Partly, pay is an issue - pay has fallen 25% in real terms under the present government (in power since 2010) - but it is more. Several family members are nurses or doctors, and they say the staff-patient ratios are now so bad that they do a night duty with double the patients they should have and half the support from nursing assistants. Inevitably, there will be mistakes, but when that happens the managerial response is to stand back from any responsibility and blame the individual. So, the "offender" may be up before a disciplinary tribunal and even lose their licence. So, staff leave for other jobs, or other countries, and things get worse.
This government claims to be in favour of market solutions, and there is a market solution to this problem - pay people more, to retain staff and improve staff ratios, and relieve the fear that staff endure. But no, we can't afford that, apparently. There are more tax cuts for the wealthy, paid for by the rest of us. We can afford those, it seems. But productivity and investment have stagnated for over 10 years. It is no longer a case of more productivity financng a better life for all of us. Yet the rich elite have doubled their wealth over that same 10 years. The rest haven't, though they still work just as hard. Hmm. As the saying goes, "If hard work were the key to wealth, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire".
Or maybe we could get rich by marrying an heiress from a wealthy family. Like our Prime Minister did.
I agree that this isn't just about America. The Golden Rule -- He who has the gold makes the rules-- applies to almost every country and human endeavor. I am looking forward to Mr. Reich' s course on this subject and how we can take back the gold, and therefore the power, from the small minority who control everything.
UK’s health system sounds like our own. And it is growing worse as private equity firms buy medical practices, clinics, hospitals and nursing homes, then squeeze every dime of profit by reducing staffing, cutting services, raising prices - with the aim of flipping the business in three to five years. This has been documented to result not just in lowered quality but also increased death rates. If that situation doesn’t exemplify the dangers of unregulated Capitalism...
I totally agree. The quality of regulation is key. Private equity firms have been a pain the proverbial here as well. They took successful and popular retail firms and reduced them to bankruptcy, somehow always managing to skip away just before the collapse with truckloads of money.
Robert, the market solution that the Tories, and perhaps even your labour party, which I understand drifts to the right, is what the American Association of Health Insurance Providers (AHIP) is pushing for and that is the total privatization of health services (Medicare and Medicaid here)
Then they can raise their premiums and profits by denying services, and still put the squeeze on Medical Centers, Hospitals, and Physcicians, which puts the squeezee on staff.
I think it's what they'd like, but the fact is that most people here couldn't afford the insurance. Taking away state cover here would never be forgiven. Ever. It has existed here for 75 years. Even poor people have a vote. More likely, I think, is that they would buy services in (which has always been done to some extent) and siphon off the most profitable bits to the private sector. The Labour Party really couldn't connive at it - too many of their supporters and MPs are NOT right-leaning.
On this subject, it is often not appreciated that the UK working class generally is economically radical, although socially more conservative!
American capitalism always has been a game played by grifters who start with the assumption that we're all suckers. This goes back a long time, and, as long as we play along, we can't win. The suckers need to get educated, think about where all of this is leading, and then reject the crap the grifters are selling. But Repug attacks on the public-education system are designed to keep the suckers in their place.
Please tell anyone, If you can't vote for Biden at least vote for democracy, or don't vote. Don't vote for the death, destruction and dictatorship party! The GOP deserves a new name!
He appointed Garland and Garland waited several years before looking into anything. Trump should be tried by now and all of the other GOP conspirators. About 300 of them.
Marianne Williamson is the only candidate whose policies make sense. That’s why the maimscream media doesn’t mention her or her poll results. They would rather focus on a loser unknown corporate congresscritter (or a deranged wacko like RFK Jr.) who poses no threat to the system and will only take votes away from serious candidates.
Thanks again Bob. Hello from an old Florida man, living the past 35 years in Denmark. Unfettered capitalism is like a mad dog and needs a collar and a stern hand. We have a well functioning capitalistic economy here, with restraints and an attempt at a social balance (at least until the past few years where the financial gap is growing between the rich and poor) - there are no perfect systems, but keeping the resources spread as wide as possible is important.
Robert Thompson in Denmark: Lucky you. I looked into immigration a few years ago but was told it was being denigrated. Not surprising. My friend Mark Ballan has also been there as long as you, from the States. I spent a year. What a wonderful country.
The sustainable root of capitalism is competition which is being dismantled. Why does the public blame the Dems for all this? While no party's hands are sqeaking clean... we now have an entire party who've sold us out to the highest bidders. Why believe the liars?
Why do they believe liars, because the liars know that a great swath of the public is motivated by fears, anger, and angst, and they have directed those to the culture war.
It appears that 40 to 50% prioritize the culture war over their own well being
11-24-2023, AMERICAN CAPITALISM, LIKE MOST CAPITALISM, "IS TOTTEN THROUGH AND THROUGH FROM THE VERY TOP, ESPECIALLY WHEN DEALING WITH CORRUPT POLITICIANSM CLERGY (VATICAN), LAWYERS, USED-CAR-SALES-PERSONS, AND OTHERS!!! GET OUT OF ALL BUILDINGS IMMEDIATELY AND REGISTER QUICKLY/QUIETLY AT YOUR LOCAL "POLLING-SITE" AND BECOME FULLY PRREPARED TO CAST YOUR "MOST-PRECIOUS-AMERICAN-VOTE" THROUGHOUT 2023/2024, MOIST ESPECIALLY ON NOVEMBER 5, 2024, FOR THE U.S. DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE OF YOUR CHOICE; OR, FOREVER REGRET THE AUTHORITARIAN/FASCISTIC LUNATIC IN AMERICAN OFFICE. TEARS AND REGRETS WILL NOT CURE THIS ENDEMIC SCOURGE, VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!!! AOIFE
Change, what we currently have for something better, what did you have in mind? The system we have in place now is like a clogged artery, the necessary flow of vital fluids has been disrupted to the point where wealth has become locked in the upper 1% of the population, while the rest of us suffer waiting for Reagan's absent "trickle down" theory to magically appear. This country was built on the whims of "Capitalism." Our very heart throbs to the beat of the monster many would love to see replaced, but with what? Trump-in-economics, that would be a disaster.
True but is money everywhere that controls politics. It was financial and corporate money that enabled the NAZI's to gain power in Germany, as in America they thought that with their money they could control Hitler, they couldn't but Hitler did reinvigorate the industrialists and they made out like bandits.
There was even board meetings in Switzerland after D Day, between the boards of Ford, GM, and our Petro Chemical industries on how to preserve German corporations, and they did, the major corporations that enabled Hitler and prospered still function, and we buy their products like coffee machines,and aspirin.
Thank you for all the effort you are putting to educate the masses. One thing I never understood is why in economy we need continuous growth when the laws of thermodynamics for a close system state that continuous growth brings to the collapse of the system. I am looking forward to the next sessions. 😀
Luisa: We do not live in a closed thermodynamic system. It is wide open to the constant flux of radiation coming from the sun. Second law arguments cannot be applied. I treated this at some length in the Thermodynamics sections of my website, zerowasteinstitute.com. I was always facing wiseguys claiming that thermodynamics forced the creation of waste. The argument is quite wrong. With abundant energy constantly streaming in, waste-free pathways are very achievable. They are just politically opposed by corporations who are terrified of regulations on the production of their goods and have chosen useless recycling as the way to con the public into taking on the (hopeless) reuse of all goods after they are designed to be discarded.
Paul, I am glad you mentioned recycling, because the vast majority of recycled goes into landfill . In my county if you live with the city limits your garbage is collected once a week and taken to the transfer station. I live rural and have to take my own garbage to the transfer station, or pay an outrageous fee, to have their big trucks tear up the dirt road and my 2 football long dirt driveway.
The transfer station charges me $10 for a bag of trash, and $5 for a bag of recyclables.
Years ago the recycling was free, now they charge, as most of it is send to landfill.
On PBS News Hour last night, there was a piece on how Thailand is being virtually buried in waste plastic from the US which supposedly going to be recycled. (This is happening since China refused to take any more of our garbage.)
Effective plastic recycling is impossible, we are being sold a scam.
One way to mitigate the plastic waste problem would be to place a huge tax on the PRODUCTION of non-degradable and single use plastics and plastic products, other than for medical use.
Greg and William: For the last forty years, I have probably been the most stringent critic of all recycling anywhere. I promote Zero Waste Theory which is a theory of redesigning all products for perpetual reuse. It may sound overreaching to think about perpetuity but it is not. Once you drop your bias, and actually begin to design methods, you find the solutions will flow. See zerowasteinstitute.org for a forty year collection of thoughts, philosophies and methods including many redesigns and principles of redesign.
I have to object to Greg's embrace of a huge tax. I feel taxes and bans are lazy ways to address a serious problem. They depend on not having real answers, so the environmentalists grasp at the easy straws. Solving the problems of lousy, short term design for discard will not yield to such an easy butter knife cut of tax and ban. It will take research and the funds to support that. Every university should have a Zero Waste dept. that does nothing but redesign commodity designs and flows for industry so that goods cannot be designed for the dance of the dump. No product should be allowed to be made until there is a genuine plan for its long term reuse. I have no illusions about how easy it would be to impose that kind of regime, but nevertheless, this is what MUST be done in a sane society.
For my money, I believe that the existence of a garbage company, garbage collection and dumping, and all the mechanisms of garbage cans, trucks, dumpsters etc. prohibits calling any society civilized. Garbage is barbarism. Throwing unwanted goods in a hole is a behavior that started about a million years ago and never changed up to today. It is so familiar that science has totally passed it by. There is not one piece of research that has been done in the past fifty years (my estimate) that applies any kind of science to the question of how we should be using physical resources long term. There are endless papers on recycling, but that is a delusion which is totally useless for any benefit while the real problems cruise onward in an ever building tsunami. Like climate change, which is building to a climax that we can barely contemplate,, the destruction of oceans and marine creatures by our negligence is rising to a crescendo. But it sails on - there is no research worthy of the name as to how to scientifically deal with the problems of excess production.
I like your idea of zero waste, but taxes on harmful products & conduct are useful in discouraging harmful practices, while still preserving choice, & also paying for the extra costs to society, health & the environment, the externalities that mmanufacturers have been mostly getting away with without paying, but they should be paying for them.
Around the beginning of this century I was on a flight to Asia, eventual destination Thailand, & near the shores of the Philippines, when I looked down from the plane, noticing a lot of mostly white structures that I initially took as sailboats, but something appeared wrong with them. As we got nearer, I could see that instead they were mounds of plastic garbage floating around. I'm sure it's much worse by now.
Thank you for your reply. I tried to get to the link you placed in your answer but it gets to a page where they are selling the URL. So in economics what is the “heatsink”?
Luisa: I surely hate to hear about selling the URL. I hope you mis-entered the URL since I just put in that URL and got to the Zero Waste Institute page. Google is always playing games with my URL. Please try again. Which URL did they list for sale. There was some Chinese domain registrar that was messing around last year.
It's funny you asked the question that way. I wrote a book called Parasites Lost which hits every single one of Robert's points (see an earlier comment). The very last Note in the book is a discussion of what I call Caltopy which I posit as a parallel to Entropy but which creates an always increasing function of wealth that, akin to the heat death of the universe, demonstrates the wealth death of our universe. (gettingtozerowaste.com). It's meant to be suggestive, more than literal but I enjoy applying scientific principles (quantum theory is a good candidate) to human societies in parallel ways. I always thought that quantum mechanics is based on our inability to study a system without perturbing it (Heisenberg principle) and that human studies are the same. Because we are big creatures, exploring other big, sentient creatures, we cannot study another human being without changing or perturbing them. Do these two ideas go together?
You presume that his Substack is his only platform and has little reach beyond the comments here. I am sure his efforts extend much further. The results don’t always get attributed to him, though, which I think he is ok with. Heather Cox Richardson is a grand example in point - she gets a fair bit more media attention, but also far much more often her influence on news stories and opinion pieces in the media is cited as from “a noted historian “. These things have reach.
"The first step toward changing the system is to understand it. If we cannot comprehend the truth we become entrapped in conventional falsehoods and false choices, unable to envision new possibilities. Seeing the system for what it is will empower you to join with others to change it for the better."
The quality of Bob's proposals for addressing our sick capitalism will depend upon how he defines human nature-how able he is to see that Hobbs- Hayet-Harden- Friedman worked off a premise that man is a selfish being not capable of managing the commons cooperatively and how much Bob sees that no man deserves that much more than any other man when we understand the economy as a circular web that has been distorted to become a pyramid-in fact a pyramid scheme.
I always got a kick of Americans fearing the word socialism when American wealth is based on a very distorted form socialism given to those that need it least and denied to those who need it most.
"Since the late 1970s, inflation-adjusted pay for most U.S. workers has largely stagnated, while pay for the country’s highest earners has skyrocketed.....Yet, the root causes of these trends have frequently been wrongly attributed....In fact, disappointing wage growth for most workers in the U.S. economy was not an unintended consequence—it was the intentional outcome of legislative, regulatory, and corporate policies deliberately implemented to constrain labor costs, decisions made on behalf of the rich and corporations and validated by many economists."
You are correct dogant, and why is that? Who is to blame for their misery? The voter who is susceptible to right wing media, who lacks critical reasoning skills, who lets others do their thinking for them. And my criticism is not leveled at the MAGAts alone, it includes those on the left, that worship their own idols, and falls in line with their peers And I don't mean Robert Reich's or Thom Hartmann's fan clubs. (except for right wing trolls like Leftie Fact Check.
William: I think dogant was just quoting the American Bar Assoc. who were pointing out that events which appear at first glance to be inadvertent or unavoidable are often, when looked at more closely, intentional and well planned. Their inadvertent nature is a convenient cover. I think back on the cold war. It seemed like a response to an emerging Soviet Union, based on blind hatred of communism (though no one knew why or was challenged to provide a coherent reason for it). Actually, all of that folderol about our Mutually Assured Destruction (juvenile games with real nuclear weapons) was directly intended to reverse the New Deal and to beat down rising labor consciousness. So they were able to eject the most vigorous and smartest leaders of the labor movement (the lefties) in return for personal power offered to labor leaders who basically sold out their constituents. We have reaped the whirlwind today, with a weak union movement striving to reassert itself with great effort and gigantic fortunes that can control all of us by the use of money. These losses may take decades to overcome. Meanwhile, the fortunes are growing so we are getting deeper in the soup. Fascism will just be the next logical stage of this thrust to absolute control of workers and the rest of us.
Yes, the unending diatribe about "free markets" resulting in the natural state of true economics is nonsense; average joe is not getting what he deserves because special interests have forced the issue until pieces of paper, corporate charters, have greater power and influence today than flesh and blood citizens. This is the message that must be explained, over and over again. Unfortunately, pieces of paper have no moral obligations, nor conscience. Capitalism can provide tremendous economic motivation, but it can't generate its own guardrails.
We are in an age of wondrous technology--which includes mass brainwash and mind control at levels of sophistication the public is not prepared to avoid. IO, information operations of the military "....are primarily used to target foreign audiences, but numerous senior leaders want to...... allow the direct deployment of these tactics on the American public......the State Department and Pentagon can go beyond manipulating mainstream media outlets and directly disseminate campaigns of misinformation to the U.S. public."
If any candidate for a federal office cannot pass a National Security Questionaire to obtain a Top Secret-SCI clearance, then why are they allowed to run, campaign, take campaign contributions and eat up so much news time? I was a military recruiter for 17 of my 23 years of military service. I couldn't send a new recruit to basic training if they has so much as an unpaid speeding ticket until it was adjudicated and had proof of case closed. Trump flunks the test on 100+ levels. He should never again have access to TS-SCI information or hold the nuclear football. Why is nobody talking about this? Why isn't this an issue? It needs to be. The media needs to address this issue.
Yes exactly. I have been waiting for someone to tell me how can a convicted felon run for office let alone President? I really don't understand this. I understand that he has a lot of power and money behind him but this does not answer the basic question.
Is the USA now a Banana Republic?
Yes Jenny the United States today is a banana Republic because of the Republi-Con party of lies and those that are making them their political party. What we need to do is figure out how to get these con men out of office and how to replace them with people interested in the common good. Vote, Vote blue 💙 for everyone from dog catcher to president.
Actually, the term "banana republic" understates the danger that Trump & his supporters pose. Putin, Mussolini & especially Hitler are the models they're striving to be like. A full-blown fascist regime is what they want.
I read that top 1% repubs favor this because they want to find ways to make money and believe tRump will get them tax cuts and control.
And one they won't be getting by the amazing grace of God.Remember,'One nation under God'.
Absolutely Jaime!
Jaime, you are right on this one and the Trumpers and Trumpettes are working hard to overuse the word "fascist" so it will look to a bunch of Americans as though it is a good thing to be or at least not scary. Those alive now who do remember Hitler and his crew may have forgotten what the soldiers who fought in Europe found wherever Germany had been present. The German people got to blame everyone but themselves for the disaster: it was Hitler or it was those horrible Americans or it was those Jews or something else. It took years of concerted effort to change the thinking of most of the German people so they could live differently. Very little effort by our media has been put into place to help the American people deal with Trump and Kump. We let Trump do and say pretty much whatever he wants to, even run for President when he has committed an insurrection against our nation. We need to fix this. He should be in jail awaiting trial, but that is not going to happen. We need other strategies to stop the poison that is invading and that we are permitting to harm us.
I'm starting to use "Nazi" more & more. I think Trump, Flynn, Stephen Miller, Bannon & Gosar have all earned that designation.
Jaime, the sad thing for me is that as a people, we have forgotten the horrors of WWII and the Holocaust. Europe, for example is grasping for what they think is the comfort of fascism as though it has anything positive to offer anyone. They don't call it Nazi in public, but that is what they mean. Even the Netherlands, once a bastion of freedom has voted in a right-wing nut because somehow they have decided immigrants are the cause of all their troubles. They're not, but when a whiny white boy claims it and he has a loud enough mouth he can get his message across to the discontented folks who just must blame someone that they don't have everything they want or believe they should have. Sound familiar? The Trump crew want to be the power behind the throne while they know perfectly well that Trump is not fit to be in charge of anything, even himself. I can see the problems, but not good solutions when our media is so enthralled by the right-wing nuts. Their false equivalencies are disgusting and anti-freedom, but they don't care because it brings in the bucks and that is what the media is now all about.
I think blindly voting for members of a party because they are members of that party got us into this mess in the first place. Americans need to do the work to find out who these individuals are, what they actually believe and who is funding them. Not as a group, but individually. Canonizing the members of one party, vilifying the members of the other, and blindly assuming they are good and upright people will eventually lead to the members of that party wielding too much power. The power corrupting them through their alliance to the big money donors and we'll all be screwed again, just by different people. At some point people need to see others as individuals not as members of a party.
Carol, I can agree with you that we need to do the work to find out about the person we are supporting. I am a Democrat but I saw how Liz Cheney, Adam Kinsinger, Rusty Bowers, and other republicans stood up against the corrupt MAGA. I truly believe that there are not only Democrats but also Republicans that believe in our Democracy and want to see it continue.
Problem is, the republican party is no more, and those occupying those seats must be voted out. Democrats must take majorities in both houses of Congress. When this country is rid of the maga right wing and all those who are trying to destroy the Constitutional Republic, then people can actually vote for the person who is best for the job. Until then, a vote for a republican, even the "good" ones, is a vote against the Constitution.
I honestly do not know a "good" one right now. I am sure there are still some moderates in the republican party; however, they have let the louder more extreme faction of their party take over and don't do anything to curtail them! I couldn't vote for anyone who will not stand up to these out-of-control idiots!!
And a vote against unions and a vote against science and judicial fairness and regulations and oversight. They are the party of big business. Some years back the senate took a vote on whether to overturn Citizens United and McCutchean, all Dems voted to overturn, all Rs (except for two abstentions) voted to keep it.
One party rule leads to all sorts of problems too. It's a conundrum.
I think Bowers said that if trump were the nominee he would vote for him, maybe he's changed his mind. Yes Liz Cheney proved she has integrity and courage but there is little policy I would agree with her on,
I largely agree with this, but I think if you do all that "due diligence" you will find the problem is much more concentrated in the GOP, to the point that it's worth tolerating some unlikable Dems rather than let control of the house or senate fall to the GOP.
Okay I can see that, but if you do your due diligence it's okay to split your votes and support someone who has a virtue or two. Blind allegiance is just wrong and perpetuates the problem.
Think of this: what if there is a Republican you like and vote for and they win. Then what if that good Republican tips the majority and thus Republicans control the House. The good Republican will not control the agenda. Unless there is a significant majority of good Republicans, the problem continues. Sadly, unless and until that happens (not in my lifetime), we must vote Democrats up and down the ballot. I suspect that Republicans feel this way about Democrats. However, their fear of us is based on propaganda about LGBTQ +, “wokeness” and abortion, etc. Ours is based on Agenda 45 and Project 2025.
Blind allegiance is never a good idea and is much of the reason the GOP has become the abomination it is. Most of the Maga mob has no idea what Trump is actually all about, just that he's the anti-left. By all means, investigate the candidates, investigate the opposition, but also be aware of the consequences of the seat they are to hold. Unfortunately it is our instinct to be lazy and use shortcuts.
Republicans have become so uniformly extreme that, unless a Republican candidate actively & loudly criticizes the Republican Party both in general but also on specific issues like climate disruption (in my view, it is an absolute must that they recognize the gravity of this crisis & call for robust action to address it), economic disparity, democracy, reproductive rights, etc., ...
Maybe for Mayor or even Governor but not for House and Senate. Vote blue no matter who. We can encourage a primary contender if they aren't the Dems we want.
Absolutely.
I agree with you, but only in part, because this only has to do with voting for who should represent us in our representative democracy. Voting, as vitally important as it is, is actually the least we can do and have any claim at all to being participants in our self-government.
In addition to voting there are many other things that We the People need to do to make sure that our elected and appointed representatives are doing what they are supposed to be doing for the benefit of ALL of us – for the "greater good" that Mr. Reich keeps bringing up.
And for decades, for generations, We the People have been failing to be engaged in OUR political process and in OUR representative government. It is through our neglect that others have stepped in and quite easily redesigned our political process and our government to suit themselves so they can accumulate more wealth and more power, all at the expense of all the rest of us.
Any candidate who has a record of climate denial or any plying down of the serious problems caused by CO2 emissions deserves to lose. And should get out of the way.
A little digging shows that most Republicans fall into this category
Yes. Get active: phone-banking, post-carding, letters to voters, sending money, writing and calling our Reps. Yes, yes, yes.
Excellent thoughts here Carol two heads of the same snake.
People should review their voting record on gun control, forced birth and voter protections.
I used to believe that and vote accordingly. I no longer vote this way and will continue to vote only for Democrats until the Repubicans clean up their act.
It is the only way we get Dem senate leader and Speaker of the House, the only way to just get a bill on the floor.
I want Money Out Of Politics, with short substantive, publicly funded campaigns.
Carol, you are right of course but who do you suggest we vote for this time? And, what do you think the results will be if we don't vote for the Dems? Think about that.
Carol, you are right, but checking out candidates and their histories and what they stand for is challenging and most people whine that it is too hard for them, so the letter behind the name is good enough. It isn't. People who are citizens need to keep up on who is running all the time even if it is just a little a day. Find a couple of trusted news sources (I did say trusted, not just by them and what they like to watch) to see who is worthy of representing them in government at any level. Poor choices got us where we are now and good choices could help us get out of the mess. "The Common Good" and how candidates see it should be the most important criteria to consider and all candidates should regularly be asked meaningful questions related to it. Their answers should be recorded all over so people can see what candidates plan to do for the common good. Maybe they will be able to make better decisions.
Right on!
This is what HAS already happened.
Carol, that would be nice but the way congress works means we must consider party. The minority party has little to no power to even bring up a bill for debate and a vote. The senate has the ridiculous filibuster and that gets us nowhere and doesn't get a bill to the floor.
The republican party has gone to great lengths to pretend be a con game, but their marks have always known the game and their role in it.
S Howard : as long as they are not 'bought' and have integrity.
We can still lose our right to reproductive freedom, we can still lose SS and Medicare etc. Just because they have "integrity," doesn't mean I would vote for them, nor should anyone.
If Trump gets elected again, Gd forbid, a Banana Republic we will surely be. And if the US were a game of criminal corporate Monopoly, then Trump would become their 'Get Out Of Jail Free' card.
One big problem. With Project 2025 it isn’t limited to Trump anymore.
You are right, Jan. And we should be very afraid.
I am afraid.
Fear not but fear itself.
With no offense intended for our brilliant Professor Reich, You might find my post from a tangential perspective of interest: https://open.substack.com/pub/ilenewinnlederer/p/on-the-nature-of-evil?r=1o61zy&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Project 2025 gives the unitary executive power to start eradicating vermin from America. When we can predict genocide in America, then we simply have to do whatever we can to prevent it. Not only that, but the new American genocide has already started.
https://www.genocidewatch.com/country-pages/united-states-of-americahttps://www.genocidewatch.com/country-pages/united-states-of-america
I will do all that I can.
Project 2025 concentrates too much power into the hand of too few. Who defines "Vermin"?
It's odd. I can't think of anyone who Trump hasn't already targeted.
The one who has managed to steal the next election will decide who the vermin are-basically anyone who doesn't bow to kiss his ring and kiss his ass after that (in private ceremonies of course..)
One quibble, Jenny: although he SHOULD be, tRump is not a convicted felon. Yet. And there's nothing in the Constitution that forbids felons from running for office. Here in Ohio years ago, we literally had a guy running for re-election to the U.S. House from his jail cell, after conviction on ten felony counts.
Right, Eugene Debs ran for president and got around 3% of the vote.
I have confidence he will be in DC. He is a convicted rapist, and criminally indicted so many times the number alone speaks for himself. I listened to some experts today who are certain that jail is in his future.
I'll open a bottle of the good stuff if TFG ends up wearing clothing that matches his hair. I most devoutly hope the experts you mention are correct, Susan. OTOH, the experts also said he had no chance in 2016.
He didn't win, did he? He hope he lost in a landslide!
Nope, he lost. After his conviction, the Dems ousted him, and he ran as an Independent. Then he ran again, after he got out of the slam (served a mere 7 years), and lost again.
I need clarification, please. Wasn't #45 found guilty of insurance fraud and real estate tax evasion in a NY court by a judge. Weren't those charges felonies?
The trial in NY is a civil trial, not a criminal one. Unfortunately.
Yikes
Power and especially the money underlying it has ALWAYS been not just a major factor, but the determining factor in trends and civil conflicts.
Couldn't agree more, Steve.
Exactly!
Too many people think it's all about political parties and which party is in the WH or congress. It's not really. Those people are only puppets. What RR is trying to point out is that we have been gaslighted for at least the last 40 years into believing its politics and the economy and if we only got the "right person" into office it would make a difference. In reality it's the super rich and the corporations who have the real power and they are going to do anything and everything to hold on to that power. They use us against each other to keep us too busy to see what is really happening. Party against party, color against color, citizens against migrant or immigrant, straight against gay. They dont care who really wins in political wars or culture wars as long as we are too busy fighting each other to see what they are doing.
I'm not sure what the remedy is but I do know that "a house divided will surely fall".
That is exactly what the former president and current traitor wants...a "shithole" country all his own.
Let's not let that happen.
No,it's our beloved nation fighting off his mega greedy,hateful attacks.
I'm afraid it is
He has been indicted, but he hasn’t been convicted yet. I’m not condoning that he’s able to run for president, but I’m just pointing out the difference between those two words.
He was convicted of rape and fined.
The Civil Suit is already decided against Trump it's just about how much he has to pay. This is as far as I understand it.
I have heard the USA called a Banana Republic a lot lately. I don't like it, but does it fit for us now?
Peggy Freeman : not as long as we outnumber them and vote blue, like we have in the recent special elections, the mid terms and the 2020 election!
Laurie, your words need to be on billboards everywhere!! It needs to be the rallying cry for all Democrats, Independents, and undecideds!! We are the majority even though they can scream and holler louder. We must encourage the vote and it must be blue!!!
Yes!
Jenny, I don't think we are a banana republic yet. What we are is scared of the mob boss and his legions which are not as numerous as Trump believes they are but they have guns and the will to do harm to their fellow citizens, and those who live and work here who are not citizens. He has lassoed in a bunch of resentful folks who don't have every little thing they think they should have, conned by the prospect that Big Orange will give them everything they want. They missed the part that he cares nothing for any of them except as he can use them. Maybe their goal in life is to be used by someone, as long as it is the right someone. Disgusting, but possibly true.
Ruth. The very fact that you have Trump running in a Presidential election makes me sure you do have a Banana Republic. Imagine if some other Country in the World had a Trump, the US would be bombing the shit out of them in the name of Democracy.
I do follow all sorts of news.
Thanks
Pretty much !! As is the Uk and Australia. On the Trump matter you just change or ignore the rules as Reich says !!
Roger Stanton: watch retired Judge Michael Luttig and Neal Katyall argue the disqualification clause before the Supreme Court. You will see/hear how we are not a banana republic. the Constitution rules, and is above politics.
But the Supreme Court also rules, with their ludicrous “originalist” interpretations of the constitution. Next they will decide that since there is no reference in the Constitution that allows government to regulate extraction of fossil fuels, storage of nuclear waste and auto safety, well, then, POOF, all those standards disappear. Wait for it.
You know you bring up a great point. Jack Teixeira gives away military secrets and goes right into pretrial detention. A past or present candidate does EXACTLY the same thing and it gets dismissed as "politics" and the pursuit of charges against said offenders as "partisan". If there is something "partisan" going on here its in the way the media is NOT reporting these aggregious breaches of our national security as......aggregious breaches of national security! Which sadly shows who main stream media supports.
Bill Reitz ; The Constitution Trumps politics, and damn the MSM! We will see an important and historic Court Case! the greedheads will lose! along with all the other billionaires!
By the people for the people. Words that dont count for big monied media these days. Just like many other businesses monopolization of the free press has made it exactly opposite of free. At least as I see it. Monetizing of the press is against the tenants of democracy.
MSM will say anything that brings in more money $$$$. The current guilty lawyers from his legal team make the truth clear. The fellow conspirators fear for their own futures (those in Congress). His side is the squeaky wheel, though the only issue they do NOT talk about is THEIR PROOF OF INNOCENCE. For some reason, that is the ONLY the for which they are QUIET AS A MOUSE. Go figure. Nothing any of these strongmen say now has ANY influence once they step into court and they ALL know. Why else are the LAWYERS the first to take guilty pleas.
"why are they allowed to run, campaign, take campaign contributions and eat up so much news time" They are "allowed" because there is no mechanism in place to "un allow" it. We, the people, are completely subservient to those in power. We have no say. It's actually the stuff of REVOLUTION. Sadly folks are too busy paying bills and watching football on their big screen monitors.
Hit the nail on the head there!!!
My nightmare is the media (social, print, network, etc). IT IS ALL controlled by the super-uber RICH and as long as they purchase government officials (senators, representatives, judges & “justices”) or just become the government...we’re in a heck of a spot.
We need true civil servants like Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders AND others in government who try to reign in monopolies! Not weirdos like Tubercle, Hawley, Taylor-Green and Santos. 🤨🤮😤
Without real teeth in the punishment for violating law, WE and Democracy are going to have a steep battle OR downhill slide.
Rich people USED to do at least a few things good for others - for example Carnegie built libraries across all of North America.
What has Donald Trump and the likes of Rupert Murdock & the Mercers done for anyone except themselves- they just scam and con money & power from the rest of us??
Murdocks got kicked out of Australia for a reason...wanting to control all media & influence politicians with $$ and dishonest (lies) in reporting to ease Australia toward fascism and them controlling the narrative.
Australia Said: get the hell out! They came here and abuse “freedom of speech” to bring us the Trump/Bannon/Putin/Crow/Koch alliance to destroy America from the inside.
MONEY and Citizens United MUST BE Cast-Out of American Politics! NOW. No More Secret DARK Money!
John Roberts and his “supreme” court Have Helped with the Perversion of Democracy by enshrining Citizens United.
Having all our elected officials pass a security clearance is a must!!
Anyone who Can & Are given access to national security information must be able to pass a security clearance BEFORE being put on a ballot!!! If we demand such scrutiny for our military members- it’s the Very LEAST we should Demand of our officials.
Limiting the amount of years ANYONE is allowed to serve in government needs to happen.
Say, 12 years Max. And that includes both houses of Congress -not 12 yrs in the House and 12 years in the Senate. No- 12 YEARSS MAX.
Then go get a real job.
All I Want For Christmas IS the Democracy Promised in the CONSTITUTION - The PROMISE of A More Perfect Union and EQUALITY (power) for ALL!
Late night TV hosts declare this daily, that Trump is not qualified to run as president.
Good damn questions that no one has yet to answer or answer for allowing this boil on our national backside to get anywhere near the Oval again.
Suzie: LOL. I enlisted in 1957, retired 26 years later. The only reason I was accepted was that my 2nd cousin was the chief of police and cleared me.
Suzi, it seems Trump has some kind of immunity to the law and has throughout most of his life. Things he has done over the years should have made him ineligible to run for anything, but, nope, he just keeps on keeping on doing all the same stuff, even more troubling, but We the People don't seem to be able to do anything to stop him. I get it that Trump is a symptom, but when we get symptoms of an illness, we check them out, take medicines to treat the symptoms until our bodies can take over, and feel, at least, some better. We are not treating the Trump symptoms, just allowing him to malign people who have been properly elected and threaten anyone he does not think is loyal to him. He led an insurrection, yet is still all over the place lying about the election, and maligning and threatening. Had he been anyone else, particularly a person of color, he'd be in jail awaiting trial because he can't be trusted to be out in the world. He has been using Hitler language to describe his fellow Americans and the fans at his rallies cheer him on. I get it that they are not actually listening to him, but that is irrelevant if they get enough power in the white states to re-elect him. Rich corporations are supporting Trump, hoping he will give them free rein to do whatever anti-American actions they wish, in the name of "capitalism" of course. I am looking forward to learning some strategies to deal with this ever-present danger of one ignorant, hateful mob boss trying to become dictator and his cult totally on board.
Have you ever heard of the "good old" boys club? The club, is a system of networks based on friendship, family connections, and people of influence who provide favors, give breaks to, make connections for, and information to mostly White guys, sometimes related to certain areas of our country. It's only recently that a few women have been able to break the glass ceiling (it should have been called the cement ceiling). Even with all her education, experience, and legal background Hillary couldn't break through. In fact the more background and power a women possesses, the more fear it creates for these powerful men. Even today, the majority of Republican Congress people who hate the minority MAGA republicans group, still refuse to throw Trump under the bus bec they would rather preserve their own "Old Boys Club" (for which Trump is not a member) in order to keep their power from being destroyed by Trump's vindictive behavior. They know the party needs a better candidate, so their party could win in 24', but it's all about protecting their own power. They will do it by connections, judgeships, new legislation, propaganda, rich financiers, & to promote their behavior they still make no effort to say Biden won. And some of them are still quietly saying that they will send in the "shock troops" again like they did on January 6th. The old Republican Guard wants to stay in power & will do anything to keep it even if it means losing in Nov. 2024. Trump's running is just a fly in their soup.
Very, very true.
Your last sentence is the issue. It is not for the media to address, only report. This is for Congress to address...and well, good luck with that!!!
Suzi Reaves : I agree, we need a much better 'vetting' process. Especially for the job of Commander in Chief!
Of course the media should.
Hi Suzi
Ever heard the saying
Money talks Bullshit walks?
Just saying....
An excellent point.
Yes, & according to the Constitution, Trump isn't qualified due to having broken his oath of office to protect, preserve & defend the Constitution. This applies to numerous Republican members of Congress, too, for their part in illegally trying to overturn the 2020 election (+ Santos on a number of cases of fraud). Too bad that the Constitution keeps being ignored.
The Constitution can be ignored if you have power.
That seems to be part of the point Reich is making.
pmcs86 ; Not this time!
Legal qualifications. Nothing in it about moral, character or mental qualifications, and sadly.
And the reason why is the Constitution was written by the elite, wealthy, white men, merchants of the north, planters of the south (aka Tidewater Aristocracy).
The whole idea of our government was premised on the idea that only wealthy, property owning white men should run the country. Their role model was the Republics of Ancient Athens and Republican period of Rome, before it became an empire.
The Senate ruled, and selected consuls. The constitution they signed created a House of Commons (House of Reps), which were white property owning men, but commoners and a Senate composed of two property owning white men, selected by the states legislatures.
The government was to exist for serving the interests of property owning white men.
It took time for the states to enfranchise non property owning white men, and 27 Amendments to create a democracy.
Leftie fact check enjoys his status as a virtual serf, a human resource to be consumed in the production of profits. So long as he can own the libs, call blacks "nigrahs", ban books, speech, feminists and LGBT, and keep the darkie in his place.
All you say is true-to a point. In spite of “originalist” judges who enjoy arguing about how many fairies can dance on the head of a pin, our Founders with all their faults saw to it that our founding documents could be amended through the years as our country grew and changed. They all had their agendas then but they also had foresight. God knows they weren’t perfect but they actually gave a damn about the purpose of this country. Remember, they would all be condemned as traitors to the Crown if their vision wasn’t followed up by action. Compromises were made by the non slaveholding states so the slaveholders would allow passage of our Constitution. The hopes that somewhere down the line, white slavers would somehow see the error of their ways. They didn’t therefore we fought the un-Civil War. This country’s leaders broke treaties with, warred against, eradicated and rounded up onto reservations millions of our Native peoples. I would like to believe that our founders had great and good intentions but as with so many things about the Human animal, we got greedy. But you know what, for the longest time, our faulty system of government was the best thing going and we are in danger of losing it instead of making the necessary changes to really make us good again. We don’t need to be great again because we never really were. But we were good. Let’s go for good again.
We hate to face this truth, but we must because it's still the same - only modernized.
Is the constitution a good constitution ? Yes it is. The best if you believe that political power is a danger to ordinary men and women and that it generally attracts the greedy and the unscrupulous. If you believe political power is an opportunity for ordinary men and women to entrust their hopes and aspirations to their betters then the constitution is a constraint.
CP: It is now, after 27 Amendments, but in 1787 it was a document written by and for landed (property owning) white males, not the ordinary citizen. The colonial elites wrote the constitution for themselves, not for Joe the plowboy, are John the carpenter.
The constitution was written by men who understood the danger inherent in political power. A constitution so founded is of the greatest benefit to the least powerful who always and everywhere are in danger of being exploited by those who control the police the army and the tax gatherers.
Invalidating the constitution on class grounds is good marxist practise but marxism has been the deadliest of all political theories.
Marxist or not it is an indisputable fact. You seem to be some kind of libertarian or right winger.
I am 84 and so tired of hearing this Marxist this, Marxist that. FYI Marx was a proto libertarian.
He was a free trader, and not at all a friend of the working class (whom he called the prolitariate) he was financed by the financial elite, called the League of Just Men. he opposed Englands tariffs (The Corn laws) he wrote letters to the southern newspapers imploring them to free the slaves and hire them back at Market Wages. His partner, Frederick Engels, inherited a textile mill, and had buy the inferior and cheaper Egyptian Cotton.
Marx was also a gold bug. he advocated for a gold standard, where the amount of gold on hand, limited the amount of currency in circulation.
The Soviet Union adopted the Marxian currency scheme and valued a ruble at .9871 grams fine gold, and issued as many rubles as their was gold on hand. Thus causing a perpertual depression, a shortage of gold means a shortage of money in a gold standard economu
It was a felony to smuggle gold out of the USSR, because it could be presented to its window to the west, the NordBank in Paris, and demand gold in redemption, thus lowering the gold stocks and creating more economic agony.
FYI, I studied international financial institutions, in particular central banks, and the central bank of central banks, The Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, for my Masters degree.
Things are not as they appear to be, and feckless Americans are mushrooms, kept in the dark and fed shit.
By the way Fred Koch, father of the Koch Brothers, I assume you know of them David and Charles Koch founded the Libertarian Party and David ran for president in 1980. Well Fred made his money building oil wells and refineries for Stalin and came away with Libertarian Ideas, like a gold standard, and Article 12 of the 1936 Soviet Constitution "If you don't work you don't eat"
You are no different than the majority of Americans: A mushroom
Family bloodlines are ancient. One in particular has always ruled by subterfuge and controlling the narrative. The CROWNINC, the VATICANINC AND USAINC/ MICINC comprise the CITY OF THE EMPIRE. They must give clues and use movies, literature and music because ppl will believe it’s fiction. Each one is a CITY STATE. DC is a foreign country sitting on a 10x10 sq mile radius of land on the City of Washington with its own flag and Constitution and serves itself FIRST.
Your comment reminds me of the bubble bursting book, The Empire of the City, the financial district of London. If the King is to visit the FDL, it has to be arranged ahead of time, and the King shows up in street clothing to be met by the mayor decked out in Ermine, sceptre and all.
USAINC has TWO Constitutions. Look up Karen Hudes former world bank attorney about this.
This is probably why the 14 th Amendment was added to our founding document. It’s being tested in the courts now so I guess we’ll have to wait and see if LDFF can be omitted from the national ballot. Personally, I’m all for his omission. Let you and all the other MAGGOTS write him in. See how far that goes.
I disagree, Leftie Fact Check, the Constitution sets the minimum standards, age and citizenship. Then by Amendment 10 it leaves the rest of the "eligibility" up to the people. That worked well enough when we only had 4 million people, only landed, white, men, (most of whom knew each other) could run for office AND only landed, white, men could vote - but even they could not vote directly for President or Vice President - ONLY the electoral college had the right to vote for the Executive Officers; and even today we have no vote on the Cabinet, or even any control over the knowledge of who get appointed to office.
We can and should set higher standards for all offices. But of course to get an Amendment to do this is impossible in America today - we need a work around.
Fay Reid ; And a reasonably good fourth estate! As imperfect as our communications are in news, we can still get enough info to vote intelligently! There is an abundance of evidence that tfg is not Presidential 'material'! Majority rules! Along with the Constitution! There are enough of US who know the truth! And A Supreme Court that needs to redeem itself!
Let's hope so, Laurie. Like you I have faith in our citizens, my only fear is from the damage done by ALEC and the magapubicans to enable them to steal the election for real as they attempted following 2020.
Doesn’t mean it cannot be talked about.
@ Lefty Fact Check. Wrong (as usual) Eligibility of candidates generally is a state matter. The presidency is an exception. https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S1-C5-1/ALDE_00013692/#:~:text=No%20Person%20except%20a%20natural,been%20fourteen%20Years%20a%20Resident
A legal war is currently ongoing over whether Trump should be disqualified from the ballot in Colorado, which controls candidates. Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, bars a person from future office if they have taken an oath to the Constitution and later engage in an insurrection or aid the Constitution's enemies.
Leftie Fact Check ; If you are referring to the judge in Colorado, they did find that tfg committed an insurrection against the Constitution; a Crime that is not 'just politics'. Important fact.
That judge said 'no' to part of it. Does not have the last word. probably afraid of the MOB.
To whom are you addressing this comment to?
To whom are you directing this comment to?
To whom are you directing this comment to?
Yes me Lord. At your command. /S
Capitalism's best partner is socialism. Imagine two societies one which practices rank laissez-faire economics where it's dog-eat-dog and survival of the fittest and another which gives it's citizens free healthcare, education and makes sure no one is hungry or homeless and has a path to success, all of which is paid for by taxing the very rich. If that means no more luxury planes or boats and not owning ten mansions around the globe, tough shit lads, grow the fuck up.
Rich people are incompatible with a democratic or socialist society. The laws which guarantee their easy accumulations and ownership of everything CAN be different. You cannot have individuals with unholy amounts of power over the social and political defining characteristics of a whole society and have any pretense of democracy. We do not live in a democracy, no matter what the propaganda may say. We are the playthings of the rich. It cannot be otherwise.
There's a difference between rich and obscenely rich. Because large majorities of Americans have a roof over their heads, food on the table, clothes to wear, and at least some money in their pocket, they are rich COMPARED TO MOST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD. The US has in the past had widespread (not universal) prosperity AND a system that reined in the rich and powerful. As you say, Paul, it CAN be different than it is now. Spread that message and work to turn out the vote.
You better pay attention and vote, because if you do not conform you are "vermin," Trump says so!
A quick check of Norges bank the people of Norway own US$ 385 billion of shares in US companies,spread across 1190 companies( they'll have some rubbish in there that will lose them money)..
Apple being the largest company in the world with a market cap of $3 trillion is their largest shareholding.They go in at market weight which their proxy advisors will tell them to do.
$21 billion in Apple shares.Then Microsoft,Alphabet, ( google ) etc.Around $6 billion in Berkshire Hathaway ( Buffett.).
You or anybody else can do the same.
Tax on the dividends is 30% collected by the IRS.Fill in W8 BEN forms for the IRS and the tax is reduced to 15%.The rules may be different for a large fund compared to me ( individual investor).The IRS may just say no W8 for you,30% tax will be withheld..
That $ 385 billion is just under 30% of fund value,obviously with the US being by far the largest market in the world,that is where funds need to go.The Danish stock market would be extremely small compared to the US.
The entire Australian market is worth less than Apple is.Most markets areThe UK market is worth slightly less than Apple.
The problem is people deny reality.The wealth is held by ordinary people,they refuse to see it..
If the USA has 140 million workers and average wages are $30 per hour then reality is easy.. 3x 14 is 42.Round that to 40 and add the 0000s ( move the decimal point to the right).
$4 billion per hour as wages,plus add ones.That is where the money is,that is where the tax is raised.
Musk is the richest man in the world, around $200 billion.He owns just under 13% of the shares in Tesla. You can own shares in Tesla,Musk gets richer,you get richer.Musk gets poorer,you get poorer.Tesla goes bankrupt,people are out of work etc,Musk loses say $100 billion,you lose $X.There are ways to control that risk.
Do the reverse,the Musk $200 billion is shared out equally,divide it by 330 million, (population of the USA? ) you've got nothing,and a company is destroyed..
Norway has a huge fund ( Norges Bank) owned by the govt and invested in most companies around the world.Their web site will tell you exactly what they invest in and what it is worth.
Australia has a pension fund of A$ 3.6 trillion,that is where the money is,that is where the tax will be raised as the govt slowly reduces the tax advantages of the pension funds.You would call it a 401K and other variations.Money is also raised ( saved).A pension in Australia is means tested.When the superannuation system in Australia matures,( around 2050) then some people will fund their own retirement as I do now.Some people will perhaps be 50% self funded.Some people will get the full govt pension .Whatever happens they are dependant on exactly what has happened for 200 years of easily traceable facts .Companies will employ them,companies grow,profits grow,profits are returned to shareholders,the workers.They will still bite the hand that feeds them.As an example the company has a market cap of say $100 billion. 90% of that is owned by the workers, ($90 billion).90% of the profits go back to the workers through dividends.The person that started the company gets 10% of everything. Exactly the same as an old UK feudal system,or a cooperative system ( Rochdale coop)
As Robert says derivatives are lethal.I can control $100 worth of assets for say 1 cent,the asset rises to $110 dollars,I make a fortune,1 cent makes me $10.The reverse also occurs,1 cent can lose me $10 unless I control that risk and I'm not taken out by 3rd party risk. The CLO and CDO risks that nearly destroyed the financial system in 2008/2009.
Deny the basics,or see them,that is up to you.
“We must make our choice. We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both.”
― Louis D. Brandeis
Looks like "we" made our choice. Or someone made it for us while we amused ourselves to death.
@ Paul Palmer. Plenty of rich people live in the democratic socialist countries in Scandinavia, in France, Germany. etc. Not mutually exclusive.
https://www.businessinsider.com/why-socialist-scandinavia-has-some-of-the-highest-inequality-in-europe-2014-10
Daniel: I think you must have put your finger on the phenomenon now taking place in Scandinavia. My friend in Denmark complains that he went to sleep one night and suddenly Denmark had a right wing government. He doesn't know how it happened. I believe that it is reported Sweden and Norway are both moving away from their classic social benefit economic systems. Once again, I will say, that you cannot have rich people and democracy. The clash is not because I say so. There is an organic conflict between those two elements. One will destroy the other, and since the rich and powerful are sneaky and relentless in pushing for their own growing power and wealth, and ordinary people have their own lives to live, wealth will out every time. I predict that unless morbid wealth is squelched, the whole social experiment aspect of life in Scandinavia is due to become a cherished memory.
I would hate to see that happen.
In France there will be a revolution!
Absolutely! Here in America, I believe we will not tolerate trump in office again. I have thought long and hard about this. Trump wants to say that President Biden is against Democracy which is projection. I believe most Americans simply do not want others telling them what they can and cannot read, who they can love, and what choices women can make regarding their own bodies. Those are all individual freedoms that we hold dear. When one of the parties begins to take those away, including the right to vote, I believe the American people will say NO very loud!! We do not want authoritarianism! We want to preserve our Democracy!!
Peggy Freeman ; ending up with "no nose at all", or, God forbid ; oligarchs becoming extremists!? I think we have the latter!
You're right Laurie. Here in the USA the oligarchs have become extremists. After all, if they have someone in the White House they can control to do their bidding, they don't give the furry crack of a rat's ass about the rest of us! We'll be the ones that suffer!
Paul, over two thousand years ago Aristotle showed that this not so. The problem arises, he noted, when one side goes to extremes, and then, like the person who wants to perfect the shape of his nose ends up with no nose at all. Today we have a situation in which oligarchs are becoming extremists.
One point a lot miss is a Country with a well established health system is not so easy to overcome. IF Le Pen got in in France (looks likely) and she tried to take away parts of the health system there will be a revolution.
We already saw what happened in France when Macron raised the Retirement age. You might think the Gov. did not hear this but I bet in the next election the 'retirement age' will come up again and someone will be voting to bring it back down!
Most of the obscenely wealthy Presbyterians and Methodists of the robber baron era in Pennsyltucky and Ohio, believed in and financed the social gospel.
In some cases, it was a form of paternalism. The concept of the "trust" i.e. the corporation which did not have a "soul" wasn't created until the 1870s by the Rockefeller standard oil trust. Even he, as corrupt and monopolistic as he was, created charities, foundations with his money.
Before the 18th Century (Adam Smith and the Industrial Revolution) we had feudalism.
Yes! I was just thinking that wealth inequality wouldn’t much matter if we had a social safety net that included housing, healthcare, education, etc. for all!
between Reich's beliefs and those held by so many on this post, you would think the majority of our lives must be miserable. I think it is fool's folly to believe to believe socialism is a superior economic and social structure. It is also very obvious that many of the individuals and corporations that are railed against in this stack donate extraordinary monies to help the less fortunate. Many of these corporations have helped to build the economy and lifestyles that we enjoy along with our freedoms. i don't understand why many folks want to tear it down.
JJ, it is not working for most people. It’s a rigged system that deprives people of their Constitutional rights and the most basic human needs like clean air, clean water, sanitation, safe housing, and the ability to live productive and happy lives. The vote is the last thing we will lose if we don’t fight to keep our democracy.
Mary, I'm afraid that some are in the process of even taking the vote away from many. That is scary to think about!
They don't. Or at least I don't. The point is that there needs to be more of a balance so that capitalism is bridled for the good of all. I don't believe in socialism where all means of production and natural resources are owned by the state. Whether corporations donate extraordinary monies is arguable and anyway largely beside the point when viewed against the extra extraordnary resources they have. To be specific about "freedoms": Edward Jones and many corporations are donating money to politiicans in Congress who continually block further progress fighting climate change. Other pharmaceutical companies make huge profits while they put their products out of price reach of many. Recognizing these things doesn't make me an anti-capitalist. It makes me someone who wants to see capitalism function better--and yes -what it means to "function better" should be up for all citizens to decide through their elected officals. And if it's not, then there is no democracy.
What we have now is socialism for the rich and powerful.
JJ. Certainly there are people in this country who advocate socialism to the extreme. I can't speak for Reich though I suspect he embraces capitalism in need of major reforms. Fixing a badly flawed wealth/power imbalance is very different from "tearing it down". Indeed it may strengthen capitalism.
J J Laurenzi ; There is socialism for the already obscenely wealthy ; The bail outs for those deemed "too big to fail". Democratic Socialism might have guardrails to limit the wealth on top to a certain ratio of rich to less rich ; CEO to lowest paid worker. It has been done, I think, in some European countries. Maybe it will be covered in this substack as the examination of capitalism continues.
JJ: The ones who want to tear it down are those who are attacking our institutions, spreading hate, and fueling anger. Many of them hate the "elites" and the "globalists," because so many good jobs have off-shored. As to corporate charity, it's tax deductible. Tax deductions are a racket.
We have always had a "mixed" economy. Washington built a series of "post roads" to effectuate the Constitutional monopoly postal service, f=distributed land rights to Revolutionary War veterans and gave them pensions, created a welfare system for the new city named for him, etc.
What bothers me is the idea that petit bourgeois farmers, shop keepers, professionals should be held to the same disdain as monopolies and robber barons.
I probably was one when I practiced law or when I tried my hand at being an author.
On the other hand, some of you would condemn me as a member of a deep state bureaucracy. The major advantage I had probably came from my VA points.
Anecdotally, people who are good at probability and statistics, are good at games, surely can figure out how to buy low and sell high.
Inside baseball. Most rich people I know started out on third and think they hit a triple. However, I know some who started on third and got picked off. Life style has a lot to do with it. Luck more so.
I love your dream. And I share it. Someone earlier in these comments said (paraphrased) corporations and their leaders have, at some point, made the decision to chuck values in favor of unimaginable wealth. Yet, they freak out when someone proposes a new wealth tax. I am part-Cuban, with my father initially fighting for Castro, then fighting against a Communist regime once Castro came into power and revealed his ties to Russia. In my younger years I was very interested in learning more about Cuban culture and government. The last article I remember reading was years ago, but it stuck with me. A new generation of Cuban young adults were advocating for a hybrid socialist-capitalist system. They had grown up with cradle-to-grave socialism that provided health care and education all the way through college and beyond, based on aptitude and ongoing success in chosen fields. They also advocated for incorporating capitalism in the form of selling to global markets to grow their economy and improve Cubans' lives (shortages of basic products, like soap, were common). These young dreamers had lived all their lives with a sense of security that they did not want to give up. And from that base, they yearned to spread wings and fly. I think of those young Cubans often when proposals about enhanced health and education benefits for the poor and middle classes are sneered at as "socialism"--even by those Americans whose lives would be greatly improved. And I too wonder how painful would it really be for the 1% or so to buy a few less mansions and planes and yachts to fund such programs. But, the ultra-wealthy are also the ultra-powerful, so we may never realize to what heights a healthy, well-educated, positively energized America could soar. Hmmm.... Let's finally make America great -- for everyone.
Addendum: This reply was to Ian Patton's post (08:23, above), "Capitalism's best partner is socialism...."
Which of those societies is more likely to succeed?
define “succeed.” There’s a lot of options.
Really, well lay out those options. For me success means peace and prosperity and a path forward for everyone and it seems to me the best way to ensure that is to ensure everyone has healthcare, education, food and a decent place to live. That, in and of itself, is success. If you take care of people's basic needs I submit they'll have a lot more energy, enthusiasm and because they were not malnourished as kids, brain power, to build a good life for themselves and for others.
Ian, thanks for that post! In our competitive, success-obsessed society, we fail to notice or care that economic, health and housing insecurity is damaging generations of our fellow Americans. The allostatic load/weathering effects of the chronic stress of poverty, homelessness, and discrimination reduces cognitive function and even lifespan. So much wasted energy and creativity.
Perhaps Robert Reich would like to comment. Also, I like Joe Scarborough but sadly when it comes to socialism he is woefully ignorant. Please educate the man.
I imagine what a great country we would have if the very rich were taxed accordingly!! Everyone would benefit!!
Every other industrialized democracy in the world has Universal Health Care.
Some are socialized medicine, Great Britain for example.
Some are pure private sector, Switzerland for example.
All provide equal quality care to 100% of their population at a cost much less that the US spends.
If you look at the bulk of the systems, their costs, pre-Covid, came in at 1/3rd less than the US spends as pct of the economy. That is enough money to pay the Pentagon's entire annual budget, with enough left over to make Social Security solvent as far as can be foreseen.
I live in England and my daughter lives in California and I have been to see her and had nearly 50 American guests. As I am a Socialist and give back to society. And had a refugee from Sudan to stay for 6 weeks. I am a leader cares. Who worked with homeless people. Who went to Romania on Ceausescu’s plane flown by Romanian Air Force. Tarom was on strike. I was at The London Protest when Trump and family came over. Thousands were there with music and drums because we love America but don’t like what is happening there. I was a railway child and travelled on trains. Employment law gives us paid holidays. I did food for AIDS people in NYC. I stayed in a Squat there and the people create community gardens. I have freedom Choices and give back.
Suppose we would distribute the wealth of billionaires evenly among the 340 million Americans. How much would everyone get? I calculated that it be approximately $ 15,000.-. I asked my friends: “What do you think would happen to the money?” The unanimous answer was: “they would piss it away.”
The point is not the money, per se. The Billionaire class exerts unbounded influence which then redefines national interests, removes them from accountability in most circumstances, and pushes the whole of power dynamic more towards further entrenching their hold on that power and its scope of influence. Enforcement of stringent bounds on wealth creation and persistence, and enforcement of antitrust to more effectively bound what can be done with that wealth aren’t some hatred of wealthy people. And these aren’t about “giving” $15,000 to each of us. Those measures are about Saving Our Democratic Republic by again rebalancing power away from a moneyed elite, restoring more of it back to the rest of us.
As to “they would piss it away”, agreed, in so far as that if the underlying “machinery” of our corporate economy is left as is, it will continue doing what it already does: convey wealth ruthlessly to the top.
Yes, it not the money. It is the power. Without their money, the billionaires would lose their outsize influence on our lives through their control of the media and government with their wealth. I don't care if someone is rich, but I do care if he is using his wealth to keep me down!
It should go into a fund not given out to just anyone.
The fund should then decide on what area it should go to. Maybe people could even vote?
UBI
?
UBI=Universal Basic Income, which is an amount of money to be distributed to all citizens, which is taken as the minimum amount of money that humans can get by with to meet their basic needs. Andrew Yang made it the cornerstone of his presidential campaign in 2020.
Check out Norway, Sweden and Norway. I don't think they've failed.
Actually it is called democratic socialism.
Germany a major powerhouse of the European economy pays for university education up to and including a PhD. That is an expression of value: that everyone should be able to rise to their own potential despite their family circumstances.
On a recent trip to Berlin after walking 70,000 steps around that city, we saw 2 street people.
Some call it democratic socialism. It can also be called responsible capitalism.
Liberal socialism.
Love this discussion & I think if more people could read & comprehend, as well as differentiate the misunderstandings of labels used, our country would operate more fairly. Personally, I am in a high income bracket and would not be overburdened to pay more taxes, IF the wealthy 1% were made to pay more (share more) taxes also.
Education has always, and continues to be, the answer to many of the problems we (as in all societies) have regarding the “have & have nots.” Think of the mAGaS, pRoUd bOYs, & other blind followers of tfg., what if they were educated & understood enough to recognize the
D. Allen, I have been watching what has been happening with education. The process of 'dumbing down' has begun so that the sheep will be easier to lead and control. As a retired teacher, it saddens me to see Prager U and other propaganda being taught as if it were the truth. Taking away Black History and replacing with a white version, banning books, and allowing one parent to dictate what a whole group can and cannot do. True education will always be the answer and if it is not addressed soon, kids graduating in the future will not be educated to perceive true facts from propaganda.
education and healthcare.
...the way economics and societies really work.
D Allen ; I think that this is the education "The way economics and societies really work" that is provided here in Robert Reich's Substack.
Sweden is a competitive open mixed economy. The vast majority of Swedish enterprises are privately owned and market-oriented. There is also a strong welfare state, with public-sector spending accounting up to three-fifths of GDP.[26][27] In 2014, the percent of national wealth owned by the government was 24%.
The Norwegian state maintains large ownership positions in key industrial sectors concentrated in natural resources and strategic industries such as the strategic petroleum sector (Equinor), hydroelectric energy production (Statkraft), aluminum production (Norsk Hydro), the largest Norwegian bank (DNB) and telecommunication provider (Telenor). The government controls around 35% of the total value of publicly listed companies on the Oslo stock exchange, with five of its largest seven listed firms partially owned by the state.
So that's socialistic and succeeding, not failing. The Nordic model isn't pure socialism and we aren't pure capitalism. The founders were very proud of the public library and it's socialistic, same for the post office. Do you want to get rid of the parks? The happiest people in the world live in the Nordic model, what could be a better measure of success? The socialism we have for the rich, is it failing them?
I never said it failed.
They are also socialist.
Liberal Socialism!
And what's wrong with that? Nothing!
Denmark is an example of the Nordic model, characterized by an internationally high tax level, and a correspondingly high level of government-provided services (e.g. health care, child care and education services). There are also income transfers to various groups, such as retired or disabled people, unemployed persons, students, etc. Altogether, the amount of revenue from taxes paid in 2017 amounted to 46.1% of the GDP. The Danish fiscal policy is generally considered healthy.
And they are also socialist
What morons on the right don't understand is that
Socialism and capitalism are ECONOMIC theories and that they don't govern.
Both exist within any political structure like a Democracy, a Republic or an autocracy like Hungary, Russia, China.
China is a prime example, economically Capitalist, governed by an autocracy.
Russia the same. Actually Russia under the Bolsheviks was a combination of seven trusts, organized along lines of resource and production (1922 Fortnightly magazine), Gorbachev at the urging of international finance and the Bank for International Settlements in Basil Switzerland declared it to be a failed experiment and needed to be reorganized, Gorbachev was hired to do the job (Reagan or his script writer knew as much, that's why he uttereed (Gorbachev tear down this wall).
Gorbie was rewarded with a pension from the B.I.S. a dacha on lake Geneva, and they created a non profit, the Green Cross, and made him the President.
Yelsin sold off the trusts to prominent insiders and KGB operatives,we now call Oligarchs.
They are mixed economies blending regulated capitalism with democratic socialism, & that has proven to be the most successful form of economy. It was when we had the most progressive tax system, boosted unions & implemented social programs like Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid from FDR-LBJ that the US improved the fastest in standard of living at all socioeconomic levels to become the top country in the world in most measures of prosperity and well-being. We were also able as a unified nation able to confront all major challenges. This huge disparity in wealth & power is a major source of the great division & destabilization of our nation.
I totally agree.
I live in France (also a mixed economy) and whether you call it « social democracy » or « caring, regulated(!) capitalism » …it works. All kids can go to school through university, and every everyone has access to good basic healthcare. Public daycare is available from age 3 months, and nursery school from age 3 to first grade (fees are scaled to your revenues , so the less affluent get the most help). And there are still multi billionaires like Bernard Arnault of LVMH.
America could easily be the best place on earth, if it would just look at what works elsewhere? No need to re-invent the wheel!
Yes! We'll, French citizens are a lot more politically active & it's paid off.
You have brought up a point I have often made. Americans are so ethnocentric & egocentric that they think that they know everything, that they're superior to the rest of the world & have nothing to learn from other countries, which of course is absurd. As a result, Americans have missed out on so many amenities that other nations take for granted.
Even when (a few of) our politicians like Bernie campaign on universal healthcare, pointing out that other countries have it at half our cost, & large majorities of citizens support it, the political & corporate establishment put the kibosh on such notions. Almost 60 years after Japan introduced the bullet train & long after Europe & China have developed comprehensive rapid transit throughout their territory, the US is still at a very primitive stage. And so on...
Oh great. That means that in the U.S. there is no such thing as a free market because of monopolies and leveraged buyouts and corporate pirates. There are five large grocery stores in a five mile radius from me, and they're all the same store. My HOA provides my ISP service, so if I'd rather have a different service I would have to pay the HOA fee and the new service as well. I shouldn't get started.
Leftie checker: this what you mean by "free Market:" Five employers, five hundred applicants--provided we have tariffs (a contradiction?), otherwise the number of applicants is in the millions, because the employers can pick and chose all over the world.
Capitalism is not doing well for most of the people either. At least not the kind of capitalism practiced in the US today.
Also, some of the successful socialists countries were meddled with by capitalist that did not want socialism to succeed.
I don’t think it’s capitalism when monopolies rule.
Midwest ; True! embargoes and other interference can stymie any economy.
For who?
Leftie working hard only leads to perpetual poverty, and early death.
No body works harder than someone standing behind a fast food counter, busing dishes, cleaning pots, pans and dishes, picking fruit and veggies, collecting garbage, cleaning sewers, all of those dirty jobs that white middle class men refuse to do.
Convince me that Musk, Gates, Ellison, Bezo's work hard. Convince me that CEO's and Boards of Directors work hard.
Work is an expenditure of energy. It is not work if you enjoy what you are doing. The dictionary definition has been modified, to include the activities of those that have the money and power to influence definitions. like their corporate owners.
All communication is propaganda,even parent to child, friend to friend, and you got sucked in to right wing propaganda, as did I from the time I learned to read, 1944, but almost 50 years later My latent, unused critical reasoning kicked in.
You my friend, are a slave to those that use you as a tool, to secure their wealth and position.
I worked hard for over 40 years. Seventeen years of actual physical labor, on my feet up to 18 hours a day, and the rest at multiple high-responsibility office jobs, plus side gigs. Managed to keep my head >just< above water for the duration. The result was that I was "down-sized" at age 61, along with several other over-55ers in the company. Ended up having to retire as soon as I hit 62, because ageism. I'm certainly NOT doing fine, and neither are tens of thousands (millions?) in comparable circumstances. But then, you just post those sparky jabs to get a rise out of the audience here, right?
You mean serfs don't you. The modern version of medieval serfs and freemen, whose existence is at the pleasure of the nobility and landed gentry.
and pay more taxes which we are happy to do.
I remember meeting a retired VP from a large insurance company who in his retirement starting reading country comparisons on OECD websites . He remarked. " I have discovered that the USA is not the best country in the world."
It is worth going to their site.
Not true there are different types of Socialism......Liberal Socialism for one which most of Europe is. ie Healthcare/education/school meals/daycare.
Only because the exploiters have the money and power to destroy it.
Where would you be now were it not for socialism. The Common or General welfare is mentioned in the Constitution. Socialism is the common good, the general welfare.
Examples of Socialism: Roads, highways, post office, police, fire department, free public education, agencies that ensure the food you eat and the products you use are safe and will not kill you or put you n the hospital, and before these agencies were captured by those that they were suppose to regulate did a good job. Before the FDA, meat and sausages could kill you, if a worker fell into a rendering vat, They would fish out his clothes and bones, and sell the fat.
So is the world you want, a primitive backwards agrarian society, where the best you can hope for is to own a piece of land on which to grow cabbages?
Because that is where your druthers take you, but at least your masculinity isn't threated by "femiNAZIs', queers non white "furriners" who can't speak English, darkies who don't know their place, and we the people are under the thumb of religious authorities.
Yep that is it. a theocracy run by white Christian males, and re enslaved darkies, Muslims , queers, atheists and Jews in concentration camps waiting to be pushed into an abbatoir.
WELL SAID
Fails for whom? Those who want to hoard all the wealth for themselves and their fellow rank capitalists, while redistributing wealth throughout society, making life better for that society as a whole? If so, let socialism fail the former. Their greed has caused centuries of suffering and needs to end.
Socialism always fails? You are misinformed. Been to Finland? Sweden? Austria? You may be mistaking the Soviet Union for a socialist system. Its name, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, implied that, but it was not socialist. It was communist, where the farm, the farmer’s house, and the harvest all belonged to the State. In socialism, private property is the norm, taxes are relatively high, but are returned to the taxpayers in free services, including health and education.
It is doing quite well for the wealthy with all their tax benefits and perks!
Better write your congresscritter to explain. Of course you don’t want to send your letter by the SOCIALIST post office. You will have to send it via FedEx ($$$).
For best results, write it on a $1000 bill!
Leftie Fact Check; Do you think the Scandinavian countries are failing? They don’t appear that way at all to me. Please enlighten me.
Well "Leftie Fact Check" tell me what is wrong with my statement. And tell me also which of those societies is more likely to succeed.
this raises the serious question of what a “successful” society and economy looks like. Is “success “ GDP? Technological advancement? Equality? A sustainable relationship with the climate? Success for whom? Us? Our children? Our grandchildren? Other people’s grandchildren? There simply is not an obvious answer to “which is successful?”
Health, happiness, productivity & sustainability are some of the more important measures of success in a society. I like most the Happiness Index as a measure. Finns & Danes & others living in countries with a strong dose of democratic socialism have been among the leaders in this index in recent years, while hard-working Americans are way down the list.
And Jaime, I would add that kindness is a measure of a successful society: Are people kind to one another? Do they help one another? Kindness is inclusive; the common good is deeply understood , woven into everyday interactions. This is one of the hallmarks of a successful society.
We are more likely to be kind when not stressed and resentful about not having the basics of survival: housing, food, clothing, etc. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. We can’t think about actualizing our best selves until our basic needs are met.
Yes, I am all for kindness, thoughtfulness & compassion.
The USA leads the world in technology because of its outstanding scientists, conscientious workers-- and laws that protect person and property. These laws are in jeopardy now.
Life IS BETTER for the few.
Not-so-good for the vast majority.
Are you actually chat gpt programmed to defend the right? You really don't seem to put much thought into your statements.
Tell that to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden!
Maybe try socially-responsible, kinder capitalism. That’d be what I personally think “socialism” is. Not some old idea from a different era. Kind of like the old idea of capitalism- and the old idea of conservatism or republicanism; not what we really experience here & Now.
I am SO grateful for YOU, Robert Reich!!!
Wow! Max Weber and Peter Blau were well ahead of their time! And your application of truth in the face of many well-hidden realties is powerful. As a sociologist, I stand in awe of your clarity. As a citizen, I stand, with fear, in the face of the enormity of the issues. Thank you, I think. I hope your final lesson has some reasonable suggestions for action.
Yes, powerful indeed. Robert Reich has outdone himself this time.
Indeed. Indeed.
This is the discussion that I want to have, that our country needs, to try to understand why we have a flawed system that breeds inequality. Thank you.
By dictionary definition “Capitalism is an economic and political system in which property, business, and industry are controlled by private owners rather than by the state, with the purpose of making a profit:” By definition, capitalism has no responsibility to assist the common good.
As we have experienced it in the past, government was required to put some limits on capitalism or an unsustainable wealth disparity ensues. The ability of American democracy to put limits on capitalism have become so limited so as to be virtually non-existent. When the capitalists use their wealth to undermine government controls through manipulation of the electoral process, capital accumulates in the hands of the wealthy while the middle and working class becomes impoverished, frustrated and angry.
According to Heather Cox Richardson’s latest book, these frustrated and angry citizens are now easy targets for an authoritarian leader who asserts that only his or her strong authoritarian leadership can assert the power to correct their plight. Once they accept that type of approach as the answer to their problems, the followers of the leader are loath to consider they made a bad choice and willingly overlook any and all evidence to the contrary. To win the favor of the citizens, usually a minority or religious group is blamed for the problems which leads to the loss of their rightful place in the society. (This can be used as justification for removal of their rights, imprisonment or in some extreme cases, justify deportation or genocide of that blamed group.)
Unbridled capitalism and authoritarian leadership go hand and hand. That is why in the United States “capitalism is so rotten.” Capitalists feel absolutely no obligation to work towards the common good. By definition, their only goal is to make a profit. Democracy as elucidated in the Constitution has depended on an assumption that all work for the “Common Good.” There are few effective mechanisms to defend against undermining this assumption.
A “...religious group is blamed for the problems...”? Which religious group are you referring to?
There is one in particular that is a recurring target. I wish we could get better organized and stop all that. Free mental health services for everyone!
Obligatory mental health services for Donald Trump.
Started with Islam and just grew from there.
Islam is a faith practiced by millions of peaceful people. Yet, we have come to equate Islam, in general, with the Taliban's imposition of "Islamic law" on its citizens. However, I haven't seen enough concern expressed about the "Biblical law" promised as a replacement for democracy by a rising tide of Christian Nationalists. Think Biblical law couldn't be so bad, given the average American's perspective of Christianity as loving and compassionate, per Jesus' example? Look up the actual goals of Christian Nationalism, and the movement's symbiotic relationship with Mr. Trump's presidency and his plans for a second term. Also, against this backdrop, consider carefully the words and actions of our newly minted Speaker of the House. I am afraid. Very afraid.
All of this bluster is meant to make us afraid. Don’t be afraid, be brave and take action. Be bold and be ready to take to the streets as necessary.
wow--would you rather have Islamic law as law of the land or a
Judeo/Christian influenced law of the land. I guess the 9/11 perpetrators and the Hamas faction were just outliers. At least with Christianity and democratic republic you can practice almost any religion you want----animal sacrifice maybe as one exception---without worrying about the state ;imprisioning you or Islam killing you as an infidel/
Islamiphobia first, Jews are next. Although not a religion, Hispanic immigrants are targeted to be rounded up at the rate of one million a year.
Both Muslims & Jews have been the recipients of a lot of hate, bigotry & discrimination recently.
There are so many different factions of Islam which one are you talking about?
Muslims in America are often the objects of discrimination with no distinction by sect for the actions of Muslims abroad associated with terrorism like Al Qaeda, ISIS & Hamas. Obviously that's unfair, but that's how many American bigots & xenophobes react. They can be angry at China for something the government did & take it out on not only Chinese nationals, who are blameless for their government's policy, but also on Chinese Americans & members of other Asian ethnic groups. Sikhs have also been victims of Islamophobia even though not Muslim. Bigotry is such an ugly & deplorable (in)human trait!
I find the dictionary definition useful in providing a beginning place. What this doesn't talk about is an environment that makes wealth possible but receives no return as those who benefit refrain from supporting the very structures that enabled their wealth by not paying their fair share of taxes.
sclipman38. See my response to Marc N above. The dictionary is useful, EXCEPT when it comes to defining words like capitalism, socialism and even work
That is when the interests of corporations kicks in and publishers of dictionaries and encylopedia, are like the RCA dog, they listen to the masters voice.
I looked a the definition of capitalism in several dictionaries. I chose this one as it seemed to have the most accuracy, clarity and brevity. (I believe it was a British dictionary).
The Declaration of Independence was a “Revolutionary” document. The Constitution however no longer operates on behalf of the people. Bit by bit it has been co-opted and is now more akin a system of governance with huge loopholes that are exploited by the capitalist system for its goal of accumulating wealth. The concept of “by the people and for the people” as elucidated in the Declaration of Independence is now effectively undermined. Despite requiring 27 amendments, the constitution is unable to be an effective document for governance. Capitalism, by any definition or dictionary, has successfully undermined it.
Thanks Marc.
Look closely at the US Constitution, then fully consider who wrote it. The "founding fathers" were not eqalitarians they were rich northern merchants and southern planters (the tidewater aristocrats)
The document created a government run by the property owning, white man.
The senate was staffed by influential property owning white men, selected by state legislatures who were property owning white men.
The constitution gave the several states the power to determine eligibility to vote and hold office.
States, slowly, one by one, enfranchised all white men, including share croppers and plow boys,
It took 27 Amendments to make this a full blown democracy and now the corporate elite, Plutocrats, oligarchs, cabals are behind the movement to return us to our origins. hence the Federalist Society and SCOTUS, originalists.
We the people did not apply to women, men without property, or slaves.
That is totally correct. It is why I take an unpopular stand that we must write a constitution that is not 200 years old.
The Constitution is fine. We are supposed to breathe life into it. Amendments are signs of life. It sometimes happens that the government fails to serve the people as it should because pols are human and can be manipulated by private power. We need to clarify who is eligible to run for office because the halls of government are the favorite places for grifters to launch their schemes. Vote blue if only to end the shame of Republican Party capitulation to their overlords.
Marc, do you know who influences dictionaries? Companies that produce them are corporations. Corporations have boards of directors which represent the owners, and the owners themselves are corporations and eventually capitalists.
So naturally dictionaries reflect the propaganda of the owners and that includes defining capitalism, it is not a political system. It is an economic theory. Capitalism fits very well into an autocracy, hence not a political system. Russia, China, Hungary and many countries are autocracies and capitalism is doing very well in those countries.
I am confused as to what Russia and China are. Britannica.com says both have evolved into oligarchies. But what is an oligarchy? Is it a power structure where power rests in a small number of people? If so, are we haded in that direction?
You can have rich people and socialism. Just recently in China a top businessman was gaoled for fraud.
I think we have to parse things out alot more here. But pumpkin pie is calling me. No "ism" has a responsibility. People do , in common language.
Sclipman38, I think we know how and why the inequality of wealth and power exists. It’s what to do about it and how to stop it that keeps us awake at night. :-)
This is spot-on, but it isn't just about America. The same problems have arisen throughout the Western world. I live in the UK, but the exact same things are visible here, especially public services going to rack and ruin because they are starved of resources.
For example, we have had a round of strikes in the health services. Partly, pay is an issue - pay has fallen 25% in real terms under the present government (in power since 2010) - but it is more. Several family members are nurses or doctors, and they say the staff-patient ratios are now so bad that they do a night duty with double the patients they should have and half the support from nursing assistants. Inevitably, there will be mistakes, but when that happens the managerial response is to stand back from any responsibility and blame the individual. So, the "offender" may be up before a disciplinary tribunal and even lose their licence. So, staff leave for other jobs, or other countries, and things get worse.
This government claims to be in favour of market solutions, and there is a market solution to this problem - pay people more, to retain staff and improve staff ratios, and relieve the fear that staff endure. But no, we can't afford that, apparently. There are more tax cuts for the wealthy, paid for by the rest of us. We can afford those, it seems. But productivity and investment have stagnated for over 10 years. It is no longer a case of more productivity financng a better life for all of us. Yet the rich elite have doubled their wealth over that same 10 years. The rest haven't, though they still work just as hard. Hmm. As the saying goes, "If hard work were the key to wealth, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire".
Or maybe we could get rich by marrying an heiress from a wealthy family. Like our Prime Minister did.
England has been run by wealthy right wing Capitalists..that is why your healthcare system is failing.
UK is just a poodle of the USA
Now we agree Jenny
Ha.
I agree that this isn't just about America. The Golden Rule -- He who has the gold makes the rules-- applies to almost every country and human endeavor. I am looking forward to Mr. Reich' s course on this subject and how we can take back the gold, and therefore the power, from the small minority who control everything.
UK’s health system sounds like our own. And it is growing worse as private equity firms buy medical practices, clinics, hospitals and nursing homes, then squeeze every dime of profit by reducing staffing, cutting services, raising prices - with the aim of flipping the business in three to five years. This has been documented to result not just in lowered quality but also increased death rates. If that situation doesn’t exemplify the dangers of unregulated Capitalism...
I totally agree. The quality of regulation is key. Private equity firms have been a pain the proverbial here as well. They took successful and popular retail firms and reduced them to bankruptcy, somehow always managing to skip away just before the collapse with truckloads of money.
Robert, the market solution that the Tories, and perhaps even your labour party, which I understand drifts to the right, is what the American Association of Health Insurance Providers (AHIP) is pushing for and that is the total privatization of health services (Medicare and Medicaid here)
Then they can raise their premiums and profits by denying services, and still put the squeeze on Medical Centers, Hospitals, and Physcicians, which puts the squeezee on staff.
I think it's what they'd like, but the fact is that most people here couldn't afford the insurance. Taking away state cover here would never be forgiven. Ever. It has existed here for 75 years. Even poor people have a vote. More likely, I think, is that they would buy services in (which has always been done to some extent) and siphon off the most profitable bits to the private sector. The Labour Party really couldn't connive at it - too many of their supporters and MPs are NOT right-leaning.
On this subject, it is often not appreciated that the UK working class generally is economically radical, although socially more conservative!
The IMPERIAL British system is becoming defunct.
American capitalism always has been a game played by grifters who start with the assumption that we're all suckers. This goes back a long time, and, as long as we play along, we can't win. The suckers need to get educated, think about where all of this is leading, and then reject the crap the grifters are selling. But Repug attacks on the public-education system are designed to keep the suckers in their place.
If you sit down at a poker table and don’t see a sucker, get up: you’re the sucker.
Yep, & the first step is to ban books that teach about the horror of past behavior.
Please tell anyone, If you can't vote for Biden at least vote for democracy, or don't vote. Don't vote for the death, destruction and dictatorship party! The GOP deserves a new name!
Beware of voting for someone who takes votes away from Biden, this is a proven way to throw the election to another candidate.
First, take the vote away from the death, destruction and dictatorship party. We have to vote for Biden in the hopes he will defend democracy.
He is defending democracy
He appointed Garland and Garland waited several years before looking into anything. Trump should be tried by now and all of the other GOP conspirators. About 300 of them.
To Susan Eustis, worth repeating over and over!!!
Bob Johnson, love your new GOP name,
"death, destruction and dictatorship party!".
The GOP does need to rebrand. Perhaps the 3D party is it or maybe it is what the Russians describe as "GOPniks" гопник.
Marianne Williamson is the only candidate whose policies make sense. That’s why the maimscream media doesn’t mention her or her poll results. They would rather focus on a loser unknown corporate congresscritter (or a deranged wacko like RFK Jr.) who poses no threat to the system and will only take votes away from serious candidates.
Thanks again Bob. Hello from an old Florida man, living the past 35 years in Denmark. Unfettered capitalism is like a mad dog and needs a collar and a stern hand. We have a well functioning capitalistic economy here, with restraints and an attempt at a social balance (at least until the past few years where the financial gap is growing between the rich and poor) - there are no perfect systems, but keeping the resources spread as wide as possible is important.
Robert Thompson in Denmark: Lucky you. I looked into immigration a few years ago but was told it was being denigrated. Not surprising. My friend Mark Ballan has also been there as long as you, from the States. I spent a year. What a wonderful country.
Superb intro. This needs to be taught to all highschool and college students.
The sustainable root of capitalism is competition which is being dismantled. Why does the public blame the Dems for all this? While no party's hands are sqeaking clean... we now have an entire party who've sold us out to the highest bidders. Why believe the liars?
John Davidson Rockefeller:"Competition is a sin"
Why do they believe liars, because the liars know that a great swath of the public is motivated by fears, anger, and angst, and they have directed those to the culture war.
It appears that 40 to 50% prioritize the culture war over their own well being
Just unreal, isn’t it?!!!!!!!!!!!!
11-24-2023, AMERICAN CAPITALISM, LIKE MOST CAPITALISM, "IS TOTTEN THROUGH AND THROUGH FROM THE VERY TOP, ESPECIALLY WHEN DEALING WITH CORRUPT POLITICIANSM CLERGY (VATICAN), LAWYERS, USED-CAR-SALES-PERSONS, AND OTHERS!!! GET OUT OF ALL BUILDINGS IMMEDIATELY AND REGISTER QUICKLY/QUIETLY AT YOUR LOCAL "POLLING-SITE" AND BECOME FULLY PRREPARED TO CAST YOUR "MOST-PRECIOUS-AMERICAN-VOTE" THROUGHOUT 2023/2024, MOIST ESPECIALLY ON NOVEMBER 5, 2024, FOR THE U.S. DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE OF YOUR CHOICE; OR, FOREVER REGRET THE AUTHORITARIAN/FASCISTIC LUNATIC IN AMERICAN OFFICE. TEARS AND REGRETS WILL NOT CURE THIS ENDEMIC SCOURGE, VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!!! AOIFE
Change, what we currently have for something better, what did you have in mind? The system we have in place now is like a clogged artery, the necessary flow of vital fluids has been disrupted to the point where wealth has become locked in the upper 1% of the population, while the rest of us suffer waiting for Reagan's absent "trickle down" theory to magically appear. This country was built on the whims of "Capitalism." Our very heart throbs to the beat of the monster many would love to see replaced, but with what? Trump-in-economics, that would be a disaster.
Capitalism must be properly regulated. One problem we have is that the power people have undue influence on the regulation or lack thereof.
But how do you regulate it?
You have a 2 party system backed by money.
For one thing, you keep corporate money out of politics.
You actually use the antitrust laws on the books already to prevent and breakup monopolies.
You establish an income floor and ceiling. (No one can fall below the floor and no one can rise above the ceiling. )
You establish minimum wages that automatically increase with inflation.
You outlaw gerrymandering and you establish term limits for all federal political positions including judicial appointments at all levels.
No state or federal political positions are without a code of ethics.
The IRS is funded to the level necessary to audit all returns.
You promote labor unions so that employers have to deal fairly not just on wages but on safety, health, work hours and disciplinary issues.
Education should include courses to insure graduates are politically competent and understand lawful employment ethics.
BUT who is going to do this?
Democrats I hope 🤞
True but is money everywhere that controls politics. It was financial and corporate money that enabled the NAZI's to gain power in Germany, as in America they thought that with their money they could control Hitler, they couldn't but Hitler did reinvigorate the industrialists and they made out like bandits.
There was even board meetings in Switzerland after D Day, between the boards of Ford, GM, and our Petro Chemical industries on how to preserve German corporations, and they did, the major corporations that enabled Hitler and prospered still function, and we buy their products like coffee machines,and aspirin.
Download free: https://www.academia.edu/49222235/The_Crime_and_Punishment_of_I_G_Farben
Midwest--Amend, does not replace.
yes, vote but not for an authortarian.
Ann Marie. I can't read your comment, because it is in all CAPs.All caps is a turn off, and actually makes anything you type hard to read.
I am constantly amazed at how easily the corporations can convince people to oppose what is good for them and support what is destructive for them.
Thank you for all the effort you are putting to educate the masses. One thing I never understood is why in economy we need continuous growth when the laws of thermodynamics for a close system state that continuous growth brings to the collapse of the system. I am looking forward to the next sessions. 😀
Luisa: We do not live in a closed thermodynamic system. It is wide open to the constant flux of radiation coming from the sun. Second law arguments cannot be applied. I treated this at some length in the Thermodynamics sections of my website, zerowasteinstitute.com. I was always facing wiseguys claiming that thermodynamics forced the creation of waste. The argument is quite wrong. With abundant energy constantly streaming in, waste-free pathways are very achievable. They are just politically opposed by corporations who are terrified of regulations on the production of their goods and have chosen useless recycling as the way to con the public into taking on the (hopeless) reuse of all goods after they are designed to be discarded.
Paul, I am glad you mentioned recycling, because the vast majority of recycled goes into landfill . In my county if you live with the city limits your garbage is collected once a week and taken to the transfer station. I live rural and have to take my own garbage to the transfer station, or pay an outrageous fee, to have their big trucks tear up the dirt road and my 2 football long dirt driveway.
The transfer station charges me $10 for a bag of trash, and $5 for a bag of recyclables.
Years ago the recycling was free, now they charge, as most of it is send to landfill.
On PBS News Hour last night, there was a piece on how Thailand is being virtually buried in waste plastic from the US which supposedly going to be recycled. (This is happening since China refused to take any more of our garbage.)
Effective plastic recycling is impossible, we are being sold a scam.
One way to mitigate the plastic waste problem would be to place a huge tax on the PRODUCTION of non-degradable and single use plastics and plastic products, other than for medical use.
Greg and William: For the last forty years, I have probably been the most stringent critic of all recycling anywhere. I promote Zero Waste Theory which is a theory of redesigning all products for perpetual reuse. It may sound overreaching to think about perpetuity but it is not. Once you drop your bias, and actually begin to design methods, you find the solutions will flow. See zerowasteinstitute.org for a forty year collection of thoughts, philosophies and methods including many redesigns and principles of redesign.
I have to object to Greg's embrace of a huge tax. I feel taxes and bans are lazy ways to address a serious problem. They depend on not having real answers, so the environmentalists grasp at the easy straws. Solving the problems of lousy, short term design for discard will not yield to such an easy butter knife cut of tax and ban. It will take research and the funds to support that. Every university should have a Zero Waste dept. that does nothing but redesign commodity designs and flows for industry so that goods cannot be designed for the dance of the dump. No product should be allowed to be made until there is a genuine plan for its long term reuse. I have no illusions about how easy it would be to impose that kind of regime, but nevertheless, this is what MUST be done in a sane society.
For my money, I believe that the existence of a garbage company, garbage collection and dumping, and all the mechanisms of garbage cans, trucks, dumpsters etc. prohibits calling any society civilized. Garbage is barbarism. Throwing unwanted goods in a hole is a behavior that started about a million years ago and never changed up to today. It is so familiar that science has totally passed it by. There is not one piece of research that has been done in the past fifty years (my estimate) that applies any kind of science to the question of how we should be using physical resources long term. There are endless papers on recycling, but that is a delusion which is totally useless for any benefit while the real problems cruise onward in an ever building tsunami. Like climate change, which is building to a climax that we can barely contemplate,, the destruction of oceans and marine creatures by our negligence is rising to a crescendo. But it sails on - there is no research worthy of the name as to how to scientifically deal with the problems of excess production.
Absolutely agree.
Tell me how many people (especially older people like me) spend hours trying to get cellophane off one packet of cookies etc.
Then you place the plastic in one container, cardboard in another/paper in another. Yikes!
We pay for garbage in our municipal taxes this includes recycling. France.
I like your idea of zero waste, but taxes on harmful products & conduct are useful in discouraging harmful practices, while still preserving choice, & also paying for the extra costs to society, health & the environment, the externalities that mmanufacturers have been mostly getting away with without paying, but they should be paying for them.
Around the beginning of this century I was on a flight to Asia, eventual destination Thailand, & near the shores of the Philippines, when I looked down from the plane, noticing a lot of mostly white structures that I initially took as sailboats, but something appeared wrong with them. As we got nearer, I could see that instead they were mounds of plastic garbage floating around. I'm sure it's much worse by now.
Thank you for your reply. I tried to get to the link you placed in your answer but it gets to a page where they are selling the URL. So in economics what is the “heatsink”?
Luisa: zerowasteinstitute.org, not .com
Luisa: I surely hate to hear about selling the URL. I hope you mis-entered the URL since I just put in that URL and got to the Zero Waste Institute page. Google is always playing games with my URL. Please try again. Which URL did they list for sale. There was some Chinese domain registrar that was messing around last year.
It's funny you asked the question that way. I wrote a book called Parasites Lost which hits every single one of Robert's points (see an earlier comment). The very last Note in the book is a discussion of what I call Caltopy which I posit as a parallel to Entropy but which creates an always increasing function of wealth that, akin to the heat death of the universe, demonstrates the wealth death of our universe. (gettingtozerowaste.com). It's meant to be suggestive, more than literal but I enjoy applying scientific principles (quantum theory is a good candidate) to human societies in parallel ways. I always thought that quantum mechanics is based on our inability to study a system without perturbing it (Heisenberg principle) and that human studies are the same. Because we are big creatures, exploring other big, sentient creatures, we cannot study another human being without changing or perturbing them. Do these two ideas go together?
I appreciate his efforts too but I'm afraid he is reaching mainly those who agree with him.
I bet much of this course will be put out into the internet by his Inequality Media Civic Action group.
Which is exactly why every single one of us must share important posts like Mr. Reich's with as many people as possible.
You presume that his Substack is his only platform and has little reach beyond the comments here. I am sure his efforts extend much further. The results don’t always get attributed to him, though, which I think he is ok with. Heather Cox Richardson is a grand example in point - she gets a fair bit more media attention, but also far much more often her influence on news stories and opinion pieces in the media is cited as from “a noted historian “. These things have reach.
I suspect you are right but truly doubt it reaches the fox audience.
Well tell us what you don't agree with?
I don't understand your comment. I agree with him but fear he is preaching to the choir.
It really depends on who comes to substack.
"preaching to the choir" sometimes in times of difficulty people need to know there is a 'safe' place.
You can say anything on here but it means you might get differing opinions.
"The first step toward changing the system is to understand it. If we cannot comprehend the truth we become entrapped in conventional falsehoods and false choices, unable to envision new possibilities. Seeing the system for what it is will empower you to join with others to change it for the better."
The quality of Bob's proposals for addressing our sick capitalism will depend upon how he defines human nature-how able he is to see that Hobbs- Hayet-Harden- Friedman worked off a premise that man is a selfish being not capable of managing the commons cooperatively and how much Bob sees that no man deserves that much more than any other man when we understand the economy as a circular web that has been distorted to become a pyramid-in fact a pyramid scheme.
I always got a kick of Americans fearing the word socialism when American wealth is based on a very distorted form socialism given to those that need it least and denied to those who need it most.
"Since the late 1970s, inflation-adjusted pay for most U.S. workers has largely stagnated, while pay for the country’s highest earners has skyrocketed.....Yet, the root causes of these trends have frequently been wrongly attributed....In fact, disappointing wage growth for most workers in the U.S. economy was not an unintended consequence—it was the intentional outcome of legislative, regulatory, and corporate policies deliberately implemented to constrain labor costs, decisions made on behalf of the rich and corporations and validated by many economists."
American Bar Association 1/6/23
Highest earners? The highest paid are not earners in the true sense of the word. These people only make money for the already filthy rich.
.....yes, "highest earners" was a poor choice of words in this context.
You are correct dogant, and why is that? Who is to blame for their misery? The voter who is susceptible to right wing media, who lacks critical reasoning skills, who lets others do their thinking for them. And my criticism is not leveled at the MAGAts alone, it includes those on the left, that worship their own idols, and falls in line with their peers And I don't mean Robert Reich's or Thom Hartmann's fan clubs. (except for right wing trolls like Leftie Fact Check.
William: I think dogant was just quoting the American Bar Assoc. who were pointing out that events which appear at first glance to be inadvertent or unavoidable are often, when looked at more closely, intentional and well planned. Their inadvertent nature is a convenient cover. I think back on the cold war. It seemed like a response to an emerging Soviet Union, based on blind hatred of communism (though no one knew why or was challenged to provide a coherent reason for it). Actually, all of that folderol about our Mutually Assured Destruction (juvenile games with real nuclear weapons) was directly intended to reverse the New Deal and to beat down rising labor consciousness. So they were able to eject the most vigorous and smartest leaders of the labor movement (the lefties) in return for personal power offered to labor leaders who basically sold out their constituents. We have reaped the whirlwind today, with a weak union movement striving to reassert itself with great effort and gigantic fortunes that can control all of us by the use of money. These losses may take decades to overcome. Meanwhile, the fortunes are growing so we are getting deeper in the soup. Fascism will just be the next logical stage of this thrust to absolute control of workers and the rest of us.
Yes, the unending diatribe about "free markets" resulting in the natural state of true economics is nonsense; average joe is not getting what he deserves because special interests have forced the issue until pieces of paper, corporate charters, have greater power and influence today than flesh and blood citizens. This is the message that must be explained, over and over again. Unfortunately, pieces of paper have no moral obligations, nor conscience. Capitalism can provide tremendous economic motivation, but it can't generate its own guardrails.
We are in an age of wondrous technology--which includes mass brainwash and mind control at levels of sophistication the public is not prepared to avoid. IO, information operations of the military "....are primarily used to target foreign audiences, but numerous senior leaders want to...... allow the direct deployment of these tactics on the American public......the State Department and Pentagon can go beyond manipulating mainstream media outlets and directly disseminate campaigns of misinformation to the U.S. public."
https://www.businessinsider.com/ndaa-legalizes-propaganda-2012-5
I can't read your link, because I won't turn off my ad blocker
So you identify the enemy as the State Department and the Pentagon.
Well you certainly have company.: Putin, Xi, Orban, Kim