'Course the Fox News/Republican/Conservative voices are eager to blamed Biden for the inflation. How can an economics understanding such as this be communicated and sold to the public? The price-raising inflation-causing corporations are only too eager to blame Biden. Distract and deceive--that's a time proven strategy. It takes informed communicators like Dr. Reich to tell the real story. It takes an informed and educated voter to vote "correctly" and it takes courage to standup to the distraction and deceit. Sifting and sorting the information and messages in the political media takes too much time and energy, too. Argh!! Trusting you, Dr. Reich, for good information and policy recommendations!
Those seem like good long term ideas, ones that we’ve heard again and again, but they will do nothing to lower costs and help lower/middle income Americans now.
Not a troll. Sorry you feel the need to disparage me because I have an opinion.
I didn’t say they were bad ideas. I simply feel that they are more long term goals. That’s not a bad thing. Surely there are other things that can be done to help people right now.
Love the idea of PBS and some excellent minds to offer their thoughts, along with suggestions for needed change. The Koch brothers, have been Charles since his brothe was measured for the six foot slumber, likely in the netherworld.
What is stopping Biden from daily news conferences exposing these Mark Ups and their cause to voters every day the way Trump pushed "Build this wall"
As long as Biden leaves it to leaders like Reich to spread the word on his social media platforms then there is no hope voters will vote factoring in this information.
I don't understand why you blame Fox? They are going to do what they do just like CNN and MSNBC are going to spend hours talking about Jan 6th while all but IGNORING things like Mark Ups.
I blame Biden not Fox for Biden not getting his ass on the networks and in daily press conferences and for not demanding congressional hearings with CEO's of these companies. Instead he is doing almost nothing.
Yes Fox is spreading the Big Lie. Yes the Republican party is absolutely Fascist.
Sadly CNN and MSNBC are not different. They focus their viewers on Jan 6th endlessly while ignoring issues like the Amazon Warehouse working conditions and the efforts to get a Union. Same with Starbucks. They ignore that tens of millions of essential workers during covid do not have health insurance. They ignore that most Americans both democrat and republican support a $15 min wage, yet Pelosi and Shumer can't get it passed. They ignore that The child tax credit pulled millions of children out of poverty during Covid yet Pelosi and Shumer can't get it made permanent. They ignore that the majority of Americans want a ban on assault rifles but the Pelosi and Shumer can't get it passed
But they have endless analysts and experts and hours and hours of coverage on Jan 6th.
CNN and MSNBC are just as bad as Fox. Different side of the same coin, no?
Piketty....that is pretty much true. I listen to Free Speech TV and C-span. What we hear on cable news is mostly garbage. Every time we have mass shooting they talk endlessly about it. Nothing changes. The democratic establishment is wedded to their doners. Republicans are just fascists.
Agreed. But the US has been in worse circumstances. IF we want change we are going to have to fight for it. Just like they did to get unions, just like they did to end Jim Crow, just like they did for gay rights.
The Tea Party started in 2008 to oppose Obama and by 2016 the controlled the party. The Mitt Romney George Bush Republicans have been banished by Republican voters never to return.
When the progressives in the Dem party organize like the Tea Party we too can take over the party. But unlike the Team Party we do not have dozens of billionaires funding and organizing for us. But it can happen. We just have to care and take action
JTKing There is nothing Mr Lee said that I agree with. It seems he has been corrupted by the lies told on Fox News. Thank you for your responses. He needs to know the truth. I dont think he responded to Robert Reich's economic assertions and outline
I might have been unable to complete my sentence and maybe the messages collided causing inappropriate responses - hence we have helpful dialogue with greater understanding in this fast action world!
We need to slow down, listen more deeply and have respectful dialogue. Please read HR1111 and help us with the passage of a cabinet level Department of Peacebuilding .
Frank Lee.....Who won the 2020 election? You spout off about Biden but I suspect you worship Trump. I bet you believe in Jewish plot to rule the world. Do you have your SS tatoo handy?
It is bizarre to me that you would cite these as "examples:"
"Democrats in control of states and cities passes greater draconian restrictions on business to operate." Specifics, please?
"Biden Democrats have made numerous police moves that has decreased domestic oil and natural gas production." I know you mean "policy moves," not "police moves," but, again, can you provide specific examples of what you mean?
" Democrats have loaded up environmental regulation that prevents new oil refineries from being built or existing refineries to be expanded." With climate change in full advance and oil company profits at record highs, how is this a bad thing?
Your other points are well taken, but without clarification these three sound an awful lot like propaganda.
Thanks, Janet. At least I got him to expand on his, shall we say, "unorthodox" views. He reminds me of one of my college roommates, a misfit who always had a lot to say about everything, very little of which was coherent.
You sound like a loyal viewer and listener of Fox Propaganda. I watch Fox programming just to get a different perspective of American politics. After reading your narrative of what Biden has done to bring our economy to where it is today, I concluded that you should apply for a job with FOX. You are pretty good in expounding their rhetoric. You sound more like you wrote many of their talking points. I will not take the time to respond to any of your talking point, because it would be a waste of my time to convince someone who Trump once said, "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters". You get my point.
Yeah, we need Teddy and the Progressives who surrounded him to get major changes done. We need today's progressives and liberals to coalesce into the same kind of powerful movement.
Sorry, He is dead! We need someone who is alive right now to get the message to the one in the White House. It may be the last chance to get needed action before it is too late.
I totally agree. With proper exposure, I think he could have beat Trump. After all, he was the only Dem candidate willing to speak to the Fox audience as well as to the MSM audience when he spoke at a Fox Town Hall, and they wholeheartedly agreed with his policy points., He could have united the country instead of dividing it as Trump did.
If I were Bezos, I'd sue the oil companies under state law -- treble damages. If I were a Bezos share holder, I'd sue him for failing to seek damages for price fixing and price gouging.
True, Bezos/Amazon is getting screwed by the oil companies but he would never sue because they are using the same kind of monopoly powers to artificially jack up oil prices that Bezos is to boost profits on his ecommerce platform by crushing sellers.
Monopolists all have to stick together to insure that consumers or vendors are the only ones they screw. Not one another.
Yes! Otherwise, we remain serfs on the corporate plantation.
Not just Joe Biden, please! Every Democrat -- heck, every consumer -- should be pointing an accusing finger at the high-riding hypocrites in corporate suites.
Yes. Too many here are expecting Joe Biden to “fix” everything. This is a preposterous notion. The country is actually controlled by corporate oligarchs and the enormous power, influence, and leverage they wield through the economy and personal wealth. This must end and only a grassroots movement of democracy can do it.
You are spot on, Tom. Every single elected Democrat and a large number of appointees are needed to get on board and get things done. What we need is an Anti-ALEC group to work as tirelessly and efficiently for Democracy, as ALEC does for Oligarchy.
While I agree that the progressives could use the type of organizing and funding that the oligarchs provide at the grass roots level for the right, i also don't see that as realistic.
The left will never get the funding of the oligarchs that the right is getting. Just like blacks never got the funding to end Jim Crow that right gets today.
Absent that funding and organizing what the left needs to do is to organize and take to the streets.
Protests have an impact and when big things happen, like Roe, and protests end a week later it tells the right they are not going to be stopped.
The power of the left comes not from an ALEC or Herritage Founation or Corp funded Organizing like the Team party had but simply by taking to the streets and protesting.
But we do have some very wealthy people on our side, Soros for one and there are many others. ALEC was actually started by Jerry Falwell and another evangelical in 1973. it wasn't until 1978 that the wealthy corporations started taking over. They've worked very quietly and effectively below the radar. Of course they also bought some lazy, greedy, repugs to place there legislation into States. There are probably some of the same ilk among Dems.
I am sure there are some wealthy people on our side. But they are not organizing and funding liberal causes like the rich on the right. From Peter Theil to The Koch Brothers to the Mercers and well beyond the Billionaires on the right are actually funding the organizing and the billionaires on the left are not.
I totally disagree. People expect Biden to LEAD. It is as simple as that. That is his job..
When leaders lead voters organize and congress takes action or pays a price at the polls.
If Biden was as vocal about the causes of inflation as Congress is about Jan 6th then Americans would be focused on what matters.
Instead the most Biden has done about these corporations is "Tweet". Give me a break.
In the 30's FDR had congress put Banks CEO's responsible for the 1929 stock market crash in front of congress where they were ravaged by Congress and not soon after the Money Center banks were broken up.
Biden has the power. Biden has the bully Pulpit. The fact that he is using neither tells us exactly how ineffective a leader he is.
I certainly respect the role of leadership. But we need much more if we have any hope of saving democracy. We need more than the “pull” of a leader. We must also have the “push” of the people. This is far too important to wait on direction from the top. We must act with a sense of urgency to take back our democracy at the local and state levels because the country will never be reunited until we do.
I don't disagree with you at all. The 'push" of a leader is what actually drove FDR and LBJ.. Not their high morals or desire to help the poor and middle class.
That said, it is clear that Biden is not a leader. He is simply happy to do almost nothing to lead the country
That is why progressives that voted for him in the primary voted incorrectly. The MSM and DNC manufactured a narrative that Biden was the only one that could beat Trump and that was factually wrong.
The DNC did not want Sanders even if it meant victory because it would take power from the donor class who they work for.
The key is voting in the primaries and never ever for the party candidate.
I think people would if they knew. It’s the message that never gets out. Mainstream media is owned by corporations. Thus the inflation news never touches the obscene profits being made, instead hand wringing about “the conditions” causing this.
Mainstream media did not tell America that countries with universal health care were paying HALF of what the US was paying and 100% of their citizens were getting coverage, in some countries, ranked higher for quality than in the US.
It was a politician like Bernie Sanders that got this message out to the world. Not MSM...
It is Biden's job to choose what he wants the American people and congress to prioritize and focus on. And he has the bully pulpit to do that and make it happen. Trump was extremely good at doing this and it worked.
Biden has Chosen not us the Bully Pulpit to tell voters about this or to force congress to start bringing in CEO's and questioning them about this.
It is a Choice for Biden. And his choice is to do nothing but the occasional tweet.
Biden has been a disaster for the Democratic party and we are going to pay for it in November.
Of course the ultra rich don’t place any blame on themselves, nothing new there. As for Biden, he could do those things, but he won’t because even though the Republicans have many more rich donors, Democrats still have those people that they must answer to as well.
Yes, especially since Bill Clinton sold the Democratic Party to Wall Street. It's time we held him & the neoliberal Democratic Party responsible for Trump and the GQP. If the Dems hadn't abandoned the lower and middle class, Trump couldn't have grabbed them by lyingly telling them that he cared about them.
Stop blaming ourselves, political parties or individual. The issue is unregulated capitalism, the rise of oligopolies and the decline of competition. Everything else are just symptoms!!!!!
Again, you are correct - but how do we get that message out? Bob Reich uses Inequality Media to effectively reach the younger Americans, but they are not voting in the droves we older Americans (50 and up) do, We need either to get the message clearly and precisely to us, or somehow incentivize the younger voters to vote.
Tom, I hear you. And yet your observation to address the issues about “unregulated capitalism” suggests some regulation; “the rise of oligopolies” suggests some external intervention, and the “decline of capitalism” equally compels a counter response. It is unlikely that each of these would act against their self-interest. So, in a democratic republic, it requires the electorate (“ourselves”) to take some responsibility for effecting change. “Blaming ourselves” is not entirely a bad thing as it acknowledges in no small matter the power each of us, combined with others, truly possesses. We can respond. We can make a difference.
He didn't say "decline of capitalism”; he said "decline of competition." If you think none of these ever acts against their self-interest, I think you attribute more rationality to human nature than is the case.
That doesn't mean we as individuals have no responsibility, but we, as individuals, also often act against our own self-interest.
Not alone, but his shifting the party's official social and economic policy to neoliberalism took the turn to plutocracy out of the closet and put it on steroids.
You mean Clinton and the Democratic Party didn't favor "a political approach that favors free-market capitalism, deregulation, and reduction in government spending"?Coulda fooled me. That's the dictionary definition of "neoliberalism" (so called because it was the policy of the 19th century British Li8beral Party). Cut spending to balance the budget? Workfare instead of welfare?
Please provide some support for your assertion that Clinton didn't favor "a political approach that favors free-market capitalism, deregulation, and reduction in government spending."
Just saying it over and over proves nothing.
During his time in office, Bill Clinton passed the North American Free Trade Act (NAFTA) in 1993, allowing for the free movement of goods between Mexico, the United States, and Canada, signed legislation repealing the Glass-Steagall Act, a major plank of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal banking regulation, and deregulated the trading of derivatives, including credit default swaps, a complicated financial instrument that would play a key role in the 2007-2008 economic crash. In proposing a plan to cut the deficit, Clinton submitted a budget and corresponding tax legislation (the final, signed version was known as the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993) that would cut the deficit by $500 billion over five years by reducing $255 billion of spending.
These are all examples of ""a political approach that favors free-market capitalism, deregulation, and reduction in government spending," which is the definition of neoliberalism.
If you think "It’s really a cover for Aynn [sic] Randism," you may be confusing neoconservatism with neoliberalsim.
Teddy Roosevelt also had to answer to the rich when he won the Presidency. He hand picked only a handful and made example do of them. He carefully chose his fights and he won.
Biden could do the same. It is a choice. Biden choses not to upset the donors because that is who has been his entire career.
It is a choice. That is why we should have all voted against him in the primaries. And it is why the GOP is going to take back the congress in November.
Bernie could have won and won big nationally. MSM pushed the narrative that Biden was the only one that could win while Bernie was crushing Trump in all of the polls.
Biden was a terrible choice. He does not fight for the policies that the majority of Americans want like M4A, $15min wage, Regulating Banks, gun control etc... because he puts donors before voters.
They pushed the same narrative when he ran against Hillary. I think Bernie could have beaten Trump (he got a standing ovation at a Fox Town Hall as well as appealing to the left and a fair number of centrists--who, of course, didn't vote for him because "everybody knew" he couldn't win ); Hillary obviously couldn't (& she refused to appear at a Fox Town Hall). With such wide-ranging appeal, Bernie could have pulled the country together, and we wouldn't have many of the problems we have now.
I totally agree. That is why i no longer watch main stream news like CNN or MSNBC. They are are tools of the Democratic Party power structure and do not care about what Americans care about. They only care about protecting their sponsors Monopoly business models.
Things have been far worse in the US. If we want change we will have to do what Americans have always done, organize and vote.
Add Verizon to the list. From an email I received on June 30 that includes this phrase: "Due to rising operational costs, you'll see an increase of $6 per month." The rest of the email can be summarized as "prices are going up anyway, so why not pay EVEN MORE by upgrading to one of our 5G plans? So $6 multiplied by Verizon's 95 MILLION subscribers gives Verizon just...$570M to deal with those completely unspecified "rising operational costs". Now, how much of this grift goes toward stock buybacks? How much back to shareholders? How much in executive bonuses?
Corporate price gouging is happening under Biden right now to give advantage to Republicans in the midterms, because corporate America is marching in lockstep against democracy, against fairness, against YOU. That way when Republicans seize power in November (and they've passed the Enabling Acts all over the fascist South to ensure that they will do so) prices can come down, just as artificially as they rose, in time for the new Republican regime.
Republicans and the 4th Estate they now largely own throw gas on the fire and all but openly cheer mass shootings. This, too, is part of the calculation. After years of terror at the hands of Hitler's brownshirts in Germany, Mussolini's blackshirts in Italy, the people were appropriately terrified and accepted the strong man party in each case to restore order. Fox News is the voice of Republicanism, and that outlet provokes violence. The mass shootings in Buffalo, Uvalde, El Paso, Las Vegas...can all be attributed to Fox. Somehow, these hate outlets manage to both provoke the violence openly and also claim that Joe Biden can't keep us safe. "Strong Republicans" are needed to deal with the violence (provoked by Republican media and politicians)
So let me add a #5:
5. It is past time to drag these motherfuckers from their obscene mansions, seize their dragon hoards of UNTAXED wealth and send them to Hungary, where all fascists and dictators should go to die. Let's make it a goddamned reservation. I'll pay for the first brick laid in the Fletcher Memorial Home for Incurable Tyrants and Kings. We can keep our democracy or we can suffer these entitled, society-wrecking DC comic villain brats. Eviscerate the rabid rich. Destroy their fortunes and their lives.
Eject the Murdoch family from the USA and seize ALL of their assets (Rupert owns 340,00 acres immediately adjacent to Yellowstone National Park. What could go wrong? Countdown to Rupie or one of his maggots to take advantage of the absence of Environmental regulation to clear cut, strip mine and otherwise rape that pristine landscape)
Remove Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and the rest of the bloviators and shrieking harpies of Fox for openly promoting sedition, for polluting the public discourse.
Go gently or go fighting, but make no mistake, the rich are at war with you.
Thanks for the comments and likes, everyone. We all have to say it Loud or we really are going to lose our Democracy. I can rattle off a decent rant but haven't been to a single protest. I sign online petitions, give a little money when I can but I'm not doing enough. None of us is doing enough. If we wait until November, the Supreme Court decision to allow state legislatures to decide their elections over the will of the People will be only a month old. We and the Democratic party as a whole could spare ourselves the chaos that will come from that decision so close to an election by facing that eventuality head on. If we just wait for the election to play out, it's over. We will be the majority on the outside of a brutal cabal that will NEVER voluntarily relinquish power.
It feels like check mate. The Supreme Court is stacked with actual villains: rapists, coup accomplices, handmaids and venomous authoritarians. That they will destroy representative Democracy in October when they're back in session is a certainty. I don't know how to plan for that, but if we all wait to flood the polls in November...well, the fascists have accounted for that. What would be an absolute Blue Tsunami in favor of Democrats in a fair election will be legally overturned in the New Old South. I feel like The President and Democrats generally have some Grima Wormtongue-level advisors, (like Neera Tanden, the ultimate anti-progressive) advising against the only common sense remedy I can think of, which would be to impeach the Justices who perjured themselves under oath before Congress when they stated unequivocally that Roe was a firm precedent that they would not disturb. They lied under oath. Chris Wray, incomprehensibly still on the job after serving as Trump's hand-picked lackey, is STILL sitting on over 4,000 citizen complaints and leads about Brett the actual rapist Kavenaugh. Clarence Thomas' wife was a major part of the coup to overthrow the government on January 6. That could be easily remedied by a President or a party loudly demanding that those complaints be examined properly in the context of vetting a Supreme Court Justice. They could get results by saying it loud, over and over, you know, the way Republicans do. But somehow that sound, strong idea gets dismissed as Progressive pie in the sky tactics. I don't see another tactic.
So I've ranted myself into a plan of action, such as it is. We need to relentlessly go after Democrats to do just that: impeach the perjurers. Impeach Clarence Thomas for being a traitor. Impeach Kavanaugh for being an alcoholic rapist. Now, if only the billionaire-owned former 4th Estate turned Plutocratic Press will report the facts about these would be overlords in black robes.
No question that the "Billionaire Corps" completely owns our country. l I believe we are past the point of no return with respect to correcting the economic inequalities. Also, with the Supremes taking over the functions of the Executive and Legislative branches, things will only get worse from here.
idiocy rewarded with profits, so Bezos dumb like a fox or a regular corporate leader with self interest and without compassion and sustainability. Adam Smith and others have said capitalism depends on capitalists being moral and what he said 200 years ago is still true. Again Biden is limited by the mediocre middle that is hard to motivate with a long term crisis that may end a relatively humane trend in civilization.
global warming at the rate it is going and our lack of planning will diminish resources and thus make us more territorial/violent/emotional with more people/species competing for less energy/food/shelter. The long term crisis is the climate/global warming in combination with our inability so far to address it with high concern and large resources. Taxes and government borrowing for future benefits is as prudent now as when we did it for World Wars I and II and the Cold/Cyber War (again heating up).
Our inactivity to properly regulate all huge corporations has led to the current troubles. The men (and it is nearly always men) leading those corporations think they got where they are through their own brilliance and extreme intelligence when so much of it was luck. Instead of acknowledging that luck, they believe their wonderfulness gives them the right to do whatever they want to whomever they want. We the people need to find ways to put them back in their place as maybe somewhat above average in certain areas, but less than average in their humanity.
Hey, I'd get Biden a subscription to Dr. Reich's material too, but would his aides and filters even get it to him. How much is Biden online? Who is he listening to these days? The FED won't be any help because all they can think of is interest rates. They do nothing to curb corporations. Republicans in Congress are worse than useless because of their obstructionism in the cause of their own power-grabbing. Two Dems are so desperate to matter they have allowed themselves to be bought and paid for by, guess what, huge corporations. The media are so enamored with supply chain issues and fossil fuelers thwarted in their attempts to do more drilling they have missed the corporate involvement with this inflation. Who will Biden consult? Who will he hear?
Ruth S It’s not like Biden sits in his office and does nothing. It is the people who advise him who need this. Read the important suggestions, then devise ways to implement or make them executive power.
Ruth Sheets ; I know all these sad facts But! I can dream, can't I? What is there to lose to try to get the message to him? I would email or even call him to suggest that he read Robert Reich's current forum! posting things on Twitter was the former guy's method of communication. If R.R, is blocked he could not reach the one who needs to see it most.
Heck, I would send $100! It would be worth paying an enhanced subscription price to get this specific forum with these suggestions to the President ASAP.
SeekingReason ; Yes, it must be for his eyes specifically, if that is possible. Maybe if we all signed onto it and even paid for a special subscription price (for special delivery), it would get his attention! I would pony up $50. It would be worth it!
Robert Reich - hope you can get scheduled to appear on every news program throughout July to talk about your well thought out solutions. Bezos belongs in the same category as Musk - hypocrites who think their money makes them smart!
I do not understand why so many including the media are afraid to call the price-gouging corporations out for their bad behavior. Is everyone who could stop the insanity already bought and paid for by those corporations? I am guessing the Federal agencies are still under the influence of the Trump years when anything goes was the policy for corporate America. Prices are up, but wages are not up at nearly the same rate. This morning I learned that a federal judge has decided that drug corporations (Big Pharma) is not actually responsible for the massive opioid crisis in many communities. I know that a lot of medical personnel were giving out the destructive drugs like candy, but it was the corporations (mostly white-operated) that provided the massive amounts of drugs in the first place. Drug dealers and users in Black communities are regularly harassed and arrested while the white corporations pushing drugs in white communities face no penalty. We the people need to get a handle on this before all the judges and our Supreme Court are under the control of corporate America.
Good to know, Daniel. I'll email Governor Newsom. and AG Bonta today. I don't know your age, but if you're under 70, please consider running for office.
Ruth Sheets ; "I do not understand why so many including the media are afraid to call the price-gouging corporations out for their bad behavior." : Consider the source ; that media are increasingly controlled/owned by Corporate interests and the wealthy. They do not want to lose money on their investments or be slowed down by regulations in their pursuit of wealth.
Part of the problem is that big price-gouging corporations already own most of the media, and those in the media are reluctant to go against their bosses.
I am hoping Biden will step up and start pushing for serious reforms. IF the people or at least some people, can see he is holding this as a priority, it could nullify some of the Republican blaming-while-doing-nothing strategy. People need to ask Republican candidates, "what are you doing and proposing to do to improve the situation?" then don't accept the BS answer Republicans usually get away with, and keep pressing, regardless of the candidate's discomfort.
Robert, you said in your film that you thought you misbehaved in Washington and became too much of a troublemaker. I think you should have become MORE of a troublemaker! You should have YELLED!
One of our commentators on this site recently allowed that I was blinded by my partisanship! LOL (maybe). But clearly, Bezos is blinded by his. Why do people even care what Bezos and Musk say about the economy? Their perspectives cannot be useful to either policy makers, investors, or regular folks!
The President's "Deer in the headlights" approach is considered political moderation in this election year. Anything he does, and the SEC is pushed to do is analyzed for its mid term impact. Triple his pay and I still wouldn't take his job. As for Bezos. His day is coming.
'Course the Fox News/Republican/Conservative voices are eager to blamed Biden for the inflation. How can an economics understanding such as this be communicated and sold to the public? The price-raising inflation-causing corporations are only too eager to blame Biden. Distract and deceive--that's a time proven strategy. It takes informed communicators like Dr. Reich to tell the real story. It takes an informed and educated voter to vote "correctly" and it takes courage to standup to the distraction and deceit. Sifting and sorting the information and messages in the political media takes too much time and energy, too. Argh!! Trusting you, Dr. Reich, for good information and policy recommendations!
Well-said Mark. Dr. Reich should be a high-level consultant to the current administration so he will be heard by those who can respond.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/05/10/the-biden-harris-inflation-plan-lowering-costs-and-lowering-the-deficit/
Nothing about antitrust. Not good.
Those seem like good long term ideas, ones that we’ve heard again and again, but they will do nothing to lower costs and help lower/middle income Americans now.
Are you a troll.
The prices of many commodities are off 30%.
Not a troll. Sorry you feel the need to disparage me because I have an opinion.
I didn’t say they were bad ideas. I simply feel that they are more long term goals. That’s not a bad thing. Surely there are other things that can be done to help people right now.
Commodity prices are off because of Biden's persistence.
I will bet your gas prices are down-- although not nearly as much as they would be if Biden had authority to go after price fixers and price gougers.
That is a terrific idea !
I wish Inequality Media, Dr. Reich's online channel, were featured on PBS!
We need Reich, Chomsky, Hodges, Wolff and many others on PBS. Why don't we see them?
The answer is it would offend big corporate doners like the Koch brothers.
Love the idea of PBS and some excellent minds to offer their thoughts, along with suggestions for needed change. The Koch brothers, have been Charles since his brothe was measured for the six foot slumber, likely in the netherworld.
What is stopping Biden from daily news conferences exposing these Mark Ups and their cause to voters every day the way Trump pushed "Build this wall"
As long as Biden leaves it to leaders like Reich to spread the word on his social media platforms then there is no hope voters will vote factoring in this information.
I don't understand why you blame Fox? They are going to do what they do just like CNN and MSNBC are going to spend hours talking about Jan 6th while all but IGNORING things like Mark Ups.
I blame Biden not Fox for Biden not getting his ass on the networks and in daily press conferences and for not demanding congressional hearings with CEO's of these companies. Instead he is doing almost nothing.
Biden is an old man. He is not a bad man. He is establishment democrat just like Clinton and all the rest of Wall Street democrats.
Piketty....Do you believe Biden won the election in 2020? Be truthful!
Biden absolutely won the election in 2020.
Trump is lying about winning and the majority of Republicans believe his lie.
The Democrats won the 2000 election and Gore should not have conceded the rigged Florida results.
Ok Piketty you pass the test. I was not sure about you but now I am. You are ok.
was i being tested?
Fox is spreading the Big Lie. You republicans are taking us down the road toward fascism.
JTK
Yes Fox is spreading the Big Lie. Yes the Republican party is absolutely Fascist.
Sadly CNN and MSNBC are not different. They focus their viewers on Jan 6th endlessly while ignoring issues like the Amazon Warehouse working conditions and the efforts to get a Union. Same with Starbucks. They ignore that tens of millions of essential workers during covid do not have health insurance. They ignore that most Americans both democrat and republican support a $15 min wage, yet Pelosi and Shumer can't get it passed. They ignore that The child tax credit pulled millions of children out of poverty during Covid yet Pelosi and Shumer can't get it made permanent. They ignore that the majority of Americans want a ban on assault rifles but the Pelosi and Shumer can't get it passed
But they have endless analysts and experts and hours and hours of coverage on Jan 6th.
CNN and MSNBC are just as bad as Fox. Different side of the same coin, no?
Piketty....that is pretty much true. I listen to Free Speech TV and C-span. What we hear on cable news is mostly garbage. Every time we have mass shooting they talk endlessly about it. Nothing changes. The democratic establishment is wedded to their doners. Republicans are just fascists.
JTK
Agreed. But the US has been in worse circumstances. IF we want change we are going to have to fight for it. Just like they did to get unions, just like they did to end Jim Crow, just like they did for gay rights.
The Tea Party started in 2008 to oppose Obama and by 2016 the controlled the party. The Mitt Romney George Bush Republicans have been banished by Republican voters never to return.
When the progressives in the Dem party organize like the Tea Party we too can take over the party. But unlike the Team Party we do not have dozens of billionaires funding and organizing for us. But it can happen. We just have to care and take action
True again but what kind of action should we take. I say direct action since voting just won't do it.
Blame is easy, action, not so much.
hear HERE!!!
I agree
Margaret....you agree with Mr. Lee? I pity you.
JTKing There is nothing Mr Lee said that I agree with. It seems he has been corrupted by the lies told on Fox News. Thank you for your responses. He needs to know the truth. I dont think he responded to Robert Reich's economic assertions and outline
Sorry Margaret I misunderstood you.
I might have been unable to complete my sentence and maybe the messages collided causing inappropriate responses - hence we have helpful dialogue with greater understanding in this fast action world!
We need to slow down, listen more deeply and have respectful dialogue. Please read HR1111 and help us with the passage of a cabinet level Department of Peacebuilding .
www.peacealliance.org
Mr. Lee....do you believe Biden won the presidency in 2020? Do you believe the election was stolen from Trump?
Topic is inflation and you just want to blame Biden for it. That is dumb.
Frank Lee.....Who won the 2020 election? You spout off about Biden but I suspect you worship Trump. I bet you believe in Jewish plot to rule the world. Do you have your SS tatoo handy?
That's a bold statement... I'm sure you can back it up with examples, Right?
It is bizarre to me that you would cite these as "examples:"
"Democrats in control of states and cities passes greater draconian restrictions on business to operate." Specifics, please?
"Biden Democrats have made numerous police moves that has decreased domestic oil and natural gas production." I know you mean "policy moves," not "police moves," but, again, can you provide specific examples of what you mean?
" Democrats have loaded up environmental regulation that prevents new oil refineries from being built or existing refineries to be expanded." With climate change in full advance and oil company profits at record highs, how is this a bad thing?
Your other points are well taken, but without clarification these three sound an awful lot like propaganda.
Thanks, Janet. At least I got him to expand on his, shall we say, "unorthodox" views. He reminds me of one of my college roommates, a misfit who always had a lot to say about everything, very little of which was coherent.
You sound like a loyal viewer and listener of Fox Propaganda. I watch Fox programming just to get a different perspective of American politics. After reading your narrative of what Biden has done to bring our economy to where it is today, I concluded that you should apply for a job with FOX. You are pretty good in expounding their rhetoric. You sound more like you wrote many of their talking points. I will not take the time to respond to any of your talking point, because it would be a waste of my time to convince someone who Trump once said, "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters". You get my point.
Answer my question Mr. Lee. Do you believe Trump won the election?
Where is Teddy Roosevelt now that we need him?
Yeah, we need Teddy and the Progressives who surrounded him to get major changes done. We need today's progressives and liberals to coalesce into the same kind of powerful movement.
Sorry, He is dead! We need someone who is alive right now to get the message to the one in the White House. It may be the last chance to get needed action before it is too late.
We needed Bernie Sanders instead of center-right, neoliberal Hillary. That's the lesson Democrats should have learned.
I totally agree. With proper exposure, I think he could have beat Trump. After all, he was the only Dem candidate willing to speak to the Fox audience as well as to the MSM audience when he spoke at a Fox Town Hall, and they wholeheartedly agreed with his policy points., He could have united the country instead of dividing it as Trump did.
Do you mean Franklin?
TR -- Taft-- Trust busters.
If I were Bezos, I'd sue the oil companies under state law -- treble damages. If I were a Bezos share holder, I'd sue him for failing to seek damages for price fixing and price gouging.
https://www.ncsl.org/research/financial-services-and-commerce/price-gouging-state-statutes.aspx
DS
Brilliant idea...
True, Bezos/Amazon is getting screwed by the oil companies but he would never sue because they are using the same kind of monopoly powers to artificially jack up oil prices that Bezos is to boost profits on his ecommerce platform by crushing sellers.
Monopolists all have to stick together to insure that consumers or vendors are the only ones they screw. Not one another.
👍🏼
No, I mean Teddy, "the Trust Buster," but we could sure use Franklin, too.
Either Roosevelt would be good!
Better yet, both of them!
Wrestling with a bear somewhere, surely (he would probably win again, too)...
Where is V. Lenin when we need him?
Yes! Otherwise, we remain serfs on the corporate plantation.
Not just Joe Biden, please! Every Democrat -- heck, every consumer -- should be pointing an accusing finger at the high-riding hypocrites in corporate suites.
Yes. Too many here are expecting Joe Biden to “fix” everything. This is a preposterous notion. The country is actually controlled by corporate oligarchs and the enormous power, influence, and leverage they wield through the economy and personal wealth. This must end and only a grassroots movement of democracy can do it.
You are spot on, Tom. Every single elected Democrat and a large number of appointees are needed to get on board and get things done. What we need is an Anti-ALEC group to work as tirelessly and efficiently for Democracy, as ALEC does for Oligarchy.
FR
While I agree that the progressives could use the type of organizing and funding that the oligarchs provide at the grass roots level for the right, i also don't see that as realistic.
The left will never get the funding of the oligarchs that the right is getting. Just like blacks never got the funding to end Jim Crow that right gets today.
Absent that funding and organizing what the left needs to do is to organize and take to the streets.
Protests have an impact and when big things happen, like Roe, and protests end a week later it tells the right they are not going to be stopped.
The power of the left comes not from an ALEC or Herritage Founation or Corp funded Organizing like the Team party had but simply by taking to the streets and protesting.
That is what history tells me.
But we do have some very wealthy people on our side, Soros for one and there are many others. ALEC was actually started by Jerry Falwell and another evangelical in 1973. it wasn't until 1978 that the wealthy corporations started taking over. They've worked very quietly and effectively below the radar. Of course they also bought some lazy, greedy, repugs to place there legislation into States. There are probably some of the same ilk among Dems.
FR
I am sure there are some wealthy people on our side. But they are not organizing and funding liberal causes like the rich on the right. From Peter Theil to The Koch Brothers to the Mercers and well beyond the Billionaires on the right are actually funding the organizing and the billionaires on the left are not.
TJ
I totally disagree. People expect Biden to LEAD. It is as simple as that. That is his job..
When leaders lead voters organize and congress takes action or pays a price at the polls.
If Biden was as vocal about the causes of inflation as Congress is about Jan 6th then Americans would be focused on what matters.
Instead the most Biden has done about these corporations is "Tweet". Give me a break.
In the 30's FDR had congress put Banks CEO's responsible for the 1929 stock market crash in front of congress where they were ravaged by Congress and not soon after the Money Center banks were broken up.
Biden has the power. Biden has the bully Pulpit. The fact that he is using neither tells us exactly how ineffective a leader he is.
I certainly respect the role of leadership. But we need much more if we have any hope of saving democracy. We need more than the “pull” of a leader. We must also have the “push” of the people. This is far too important to wait on direction from the top. We must act with a sense of urgency to take back our democracy at the local and state levels because the country will never be reunited until we do.
TJ
I don't disagree with you at all. The 'push" of a leader is what actually drove FDR and LBJ.. Not their high morals or desire to help the poor and middle class.
That said, it is clear that Biden is not a leader. He is simply happy to do almost nothing to lead the country
That is why progressives that voted for him in the primary voted incorrectly. The MSM and DNC manufactured a narrative that Biden was the only one that could beat Trump and that was factually wrong.
The DNC did not want Sanders even if it meant victory because it would take power from the donor class who they work for.
The key is voting in the primaries and never ever for the party candidate.
I think people would if they knew. It’s the message that never gets out. Mainstream media is owned by corporations. Thus the inflation news never touches the obscene profits being made, instead hand wringing about “the conditions” causing this.
How could they complain about the obscene profits when they are among the culprits (:-)
Maggie
Mainstream media did not tell America that countries with universal health care were paying HALF of what the US was paying and 100% of their citizens were getting coverage, in some countries, ranked higher for quality than in the US.
It was a politician like Bernie Sanders that got this message out to the world. Not MSM...
It is Biden's job to choose what he wants the American people and congress to prioritize and focus on. And he has the bully pulpit to do that and make it happen. Trump was extremely good at doing this and it worked.
Biden has Chosen not us the Bully Pulpit to tell voters about this or to force congress to start bringing in CEO's and questioning them about this.
It is a Choice for Biden. And his choice is to do nothing but the occasional tweet.
Biden has been a disaster for the Democratic party and we are going to pay for it in November.
VS - Biden has the bully pulpit. One lousy tweet means nothing.
If he cared about the CAUSE of inflation he would be at the bully pulpit every day.
He cares about inflation about as much as he cares about preserving a woman's right to choose.
Actions speak louder than tweets
Maybe
Yes, Master!!!
Of course the ultra rich don’t place any blame on themselves, nothing new there. As for Biden, he could do those things, but he won’t because even though the Republicans have many more rich donors, Democrats still have those people that they must answer to as well.
Yes, especially since Bill Clinton sold the Democratic Party to Wall Street. It's time we held him & the neoliberal Democratic Party responsible for Trump and the GQP. If the Dems hadn't abandoned the lower and middle class, Trump couldn't have grabbed them by lyingly telling them that he cared about them.
Stop blaming ourselves, political parties or individual. The issue is unregulated capitalism, the rise of oligopolies and the decline of competition. Everything else are just symptoms!!!!!
Again, you are correct - but how do we get that message out? Bob Reich uses Inequality Media to effectively reach the younger Americans, but they are not voting in the droves we older Americans (50 and up) do, We need either to get the message clearly and precisely to us, or somehow incentivize the younger voters to vote.
Tom, I hear you. And yet your observation to address the issues about “unregulated capitalism” suggests some regulation; “the rise of oligopolies” suggests some external intervention, and the “decline of capitalism” equally compels a counter response. It is unlikely that each of these would act against their self-interest. So, in a democratic republic, it requires the electorate (“ourselves”) to take some responsibility for effecting change. “Blaming ourselves” is not entirely a bad thing as it acknowledges in no small matter the power each of us, combined with others, truly possesses. We can respond. We can make a difference.
He didn't say "decline of capitalism”; he said "decline of competition." If you think none of these ever acts against their self-interest, I think you attribute more rationality to human nature than is the case.
That doesn't mean we as individuals have no responsibility, but we, as individuals, also often act against our own self-interest.
It’s all a distraction!
Exactly. Until that occurs those classes will continue to feel abandoned
Not Clinton. https://inthesetimes.com/article/the-dcccs-long-ugly-history-of-sabotaging-progressives
Not alone, but his shifting the party's official social and economic policy to neoliberalism took the turn to plutocracy out of the closet and put it on steroids.
It wasn't Bill Clinton, Maureen. https://inthesetimes.com/article/the-dcccs-long-ugly-history-of-sabotaging-progressives
Neoliberal Democratic Party? Are you on crack? You must not know what the term means!
You mean Clinton and the Democratic Party didn't favor "a political approach that favors free-market capitalism, deregulation, and reduction in government spending"?Coulda fooled me. That's the dictionary definition of "neoliberalism" (so called because it was the policy of the 19th century British Li8beral Party). Cut spending to balance the budget? Workfare instead of welfare?
Be careful of your labels! Clinton was not a neoliberal. This label is misleading and often misunderstood. It’s really a cover for Aynn Randism.
Please provide some support for your assertion that Clinton didn't favor "a political approach that favors free-market capitalism, deregulation, and reduction in government spending."
Just saying it over and over proves nothing.
During his time in office, Bill Clinton passed the North American Free Trade Act (NAFTA) in 1993, allowing for the free movement of goods between Mexico, the United States, and Canada, signed legislation repealing the Glass-Steagall Act, a major plank of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal banking regulation, and deregulated the trading of derivatives, including credit default swaps, a complicated financial instrument that would play a key role in the 2007-2008 economic crash. In proposing a plan to cut the deficit, Clinton submitted a budget and corresponding tax legislation (the final, signed version was known as the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993) that would cut the deficit by $500 billion over five years by reducing $255 billion of spending.
These are all examples of ""a political approach that favors free-market capitalism, deregulation, and reduction in government spending," which is the definition of neoliberalism.
If you think "It’s really a cover for Aynn [sic] Randism," you may be confusing neoconservatism with neoliberalsim.
Well prove your assertions first
DW
Teddy Roosevelt also had to answer to the rich when he won the Presidency. He hand picked only a handful and made example do of them. He carefully chose his fights and he won.
Biden could do the same. It is a choice. Biden choses not to upset the donors because that is who has been his entire career.
It is a choice. That is why we should have all voted against him in the primaries. And it is why the GOP is going to take back the congress in November.
I would agree that he wasn’t the best candidate (that was Bernie) but I’m not sure he could have won nationally.
BW
Bernie could have won and won big nationally. MSM pushed the narrative that Biden was the only one that could win while Bernie was crushing Trump in all of the polls.
Biden was a terrible choice. He does not fight for the policies that the majority of Americans want like M4A, $15min wage, Regulating Banks, gun control etc... because he puts donors before voters.
They pushed the same narrative when he ran against Hillary. I think Bernie could have beaten Trump (he got a standing ovation at a Fox Town Hall as well as appealing to the left and a fair number of centrists--who, of course, didn't vote for him because "everybody knew" he couldn't win ); Hillary obviously couldn't (& she refused to appear at a Fox Town Hall). With such wide-ranging appeal, Bernie could have pulled the country together, and we wouldn't have many of the problems we have now.
M
I totally agree. That is why i no longer watch main stream news like CNN or MSNBC. They are are tools of the Democratic Party power structure and do not care about what Americans care about. They only care about protecting their sponsors Monopoly business models.
Things have been far worse in the US. If we want change we will have to do what Americans have always done, organize and vote.
i absolutely agree, but i seriously doubt president biden will take any of these pro-active steps to protect the american people.
Maybe we should send this forum to him and ask him?!
I like that idea.
Add Verizon to the list. From an email I received on June 30 that includes this phrase: "Due to rising operational costs, you'll see an increase of $6 per month." The rest of the email can be summarized as "prices are going up anyway, so why not pay EVEN MORE by upgrading to one of our 5G plans? So $6 multiplied by Verizon's 95 MILLION subscribers gives Verizon just...$570M to deal with those completely unspecified "rising operational costs". Now, how much of this grift goes toward stock buybacks? How much back to shareholders? How much in executive bonuses?
Corporate price gouging is happening under Biden right now to give advantage to Republicans in the midterms, because corporate America is marching in lockstep against democracy, against fairness, against YOU. That way when Republicans seize power in November (and they've passed the Enabling Acts all over the fascist South to ensure that they will do so) prices can come down, just as artificially as they rose, in time for the new Republican regime.
Republicans and the 4th Estate they now largely own throw gas on the fire and all but openly cheer mass shootings. This, too, is part of the calculation. After years of terror at the hands of Hitler's brownshirts in Germany, Mussolini's blackshirts in Italy, the people were appropriately terrified and accepted the strong man party in each case to restore order. Fox News is the voice of Republicanism, and that outlet provokes violence. The mass shootings in Buffalo, Uvalde, El Paso, Las Vegas...can all be attributed to Fox. Somehow, these hate outlets manage to both provoke the violence openly and also claim that Joe Biden can't keep us safe. "Strong Republicans" are needed to deal with the violence (provoked by Republican media and politicians)
So let me add a #5:
5. It is past time to drag these motherfuckers from their obscene mansions, seize their dragon hoards of UNTAXED wealth and send them to Hungary, where all fascists and dictators should go to die. Let's make it a goddamned reservation. I'll pay for the first brick laid in the Fletcher Memorial Home for Incurable Tyrants and Kings. We can keep our democracy or we can suffer these entitled, society-wrecking DC comic villain brats. Eviscerate the rabid rich. Destroy their fortunes and their lives.
Eject the Murdoch family from the USA and seize ALL of their assets (Rupert owns 340,00 acres immediately adjacent to Yellowstone National Park. What could go wrong? Countdown to Rupie or one of his maggots to take advantage of the absence of Environmental regulation to clear cut, strip mine and otherwise rape that pristine landscape)
Remove Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and the rest of the bloviators and shrieking harpies of Fox for openly promoting sedition, for polluting the public discourse.
Go gently or go fighting, but make no mistake, the rich are at war with you.
Wow. PLEASE ... Don't hold back.
Thanks for the comments and likes, everyone. We all have to say it Loud or we really are going to lose our Democracy. I can rattle off a decent rant but haven't been to a single protest. I sign online petitions, give a little money when I can but I'm not doing enough. None of us is doing enough. If we wait until November, the Supreme Court decision to allow state legislatures to decide their elections over the will of the People will be only a month old. We and the Democratic party as a whole could spare ourselves the chaos that will come from that decision so close to an election by facing that eventuality head on. If we just wait for the election to play out, it's over. We will be the majority on the outside of a brutal cabal that will NEVER voluntarily relinquish power.
It feels like check mate. The Supreme Court is stacked with actual villains: rapists, coup accomplices, handmaids and venomous authoritarians. That they will destroy representative Democracy in October when they're back in session is a certainty. I don't know how to plan for that, but if we all wait to flood the polls in November...well, the fascists have accounted for that. What would be an absolute Blue Tsunami in favor of Democrats in a fair election will be legally overturned in the New Old South. I feel like The President and Democrats generally have some Grima Wormtongue-level advisors, (like Neera Tanden, the ultimate anti-progressive) advising against the only common sense remedy I can think of, which would be to impeach the Justices who perjured themselves under oath before Congress when they stated unequivocally that Roe was a firm precedent that they would not disturb. They lied under oath. Chris Wray, incomprehensibly still on the job after serving as Trump's hand-picked lackey, is STILL sitting on over 4,000 citizen complaints and leads about Brett the actual rapist Kavenaugh. Clarence Thomas' wife was a major part of the coup to overthrow the government on January 6. That could be easily remedied by a President or a party loudly demanding that those complaints be examined properly in the context of vetting a Supreme Court Justice. They could get results by saying it loud, over and over, you know, the way Republicans do. But somehow that sound, strong idea gets dismissed as Progressive pie in the sky tactics. I don't see another tactic.
So I've ranted myself into a plan of action, such as it is. We need to relentlessly go after Democrats to do just that: impeach the perjurers. Impeach Clarence Thomas for being a traitor. Impeach Kavanaugh for being an alcoholic rapist. Now, if only the billionaire-owned former 4th Estate turned Plutocratic Press will report the facts about these would be overlords in black robes.
Saying out LOUD what so many of us are thinking. Thank You
No question that the "Billionaire Corps" completely owns our country. l I believe we are past the point of no return with respect to correcting the economic inequalities. Also, with the Supremes taking over the functions of the Executive and Legislative branches, things will only get worse from here.
idiocy rewarded with profits, so Bezos dumb like a fox or a regular corporate leader with self interest and without compassion and sustainability. Adam Smith and others have said capitalism depends on capitalists being moral and what he said 200 years ago is still true. Again Biden is limited by the mediocre middle that is hard to motivate with a long term crisis that may end a relatively humane trend in civilization.
It may end this current "civility," but it may be global warming gets us first.
global warming at the rate it is going and our lack of planning will diminish resources and thus make us more territorial/violent/emotional with more people/species competing for less energy/food/shelter. The long term crisis is the climate/global warming in combination with our inability so far to address it with high concern and large resources. Taxes and government borrowing for future benefits is as prudent now as when we did it for World Wars I and II and the Cold/Cyber War (again heating up).
Fascism will get us first (and soon) followed by global warming.
Our inactivity to properly regulate all huge corporations has led to the current troubles. The men (and it is nearly always men) leading those corporations think they got where they are through their own brilliance and extreme intelligence when so much of it was luck. Instead of acknowledging that luck, they believe their wonderfulness gives them the right to do whatever they want to whomever they want. We the people need to find ways to put them back in their place as maybe somewhat above average in certain areas, but less than average in their humanity.
It would be great if President Biden would actually read this forum post. Any way to get it to him? I would pay for his subscription!
Hey, I'd get Biden a subscription to Dr. Reich's material too, but would his aides and filters even get it to him. How much is Biden online? Who is he listening to these days? The FED won't be any help because all they can think of is interest rates. They do nothing to curb corporations. Republicans in Congress are worse than useless because of their obstructionism in the cause of their own power-grabbing. Two Dems are so desperate to matter they have allowed themselves to be bought and paid for by, guess what, huge corporations. The media are so enamored with supply chain issues and fossil fuelers thwarted in their attempts to do more drilling they have missed the corporate involvement with this inflation. Who will Biden consult? Who will he hear?
Ruth S It’s not like Biden sits in his office and does nothing. It is the people who advise him who need this. Read the important suggestions, then devise ways to implement or make them executive power.
Ruth Sheets ; I know all these sad facts But! I can dream, can't I? What is there to lose to try to get the message to him? I would email or even call him to suggest that he read Robert Reich's current forum! posting things on Twitter was the former guy's method of communication. If R.R, is blocked he could not reach the one who needs to see it most.
Laurie, Epublicans are in collapse, we can’t give up no matter how exhausting, dream on!
I mean dream on…in a good way! 😄
Heck, I would send $100! It would be worth paying an enhanced subscription price to get this specific forum with these suggestions to the President ASAP.
Laurie, Seriously, I agree. I’d also get them tuned in to FreeSpeech TV There is so much information there that would help.
I was thinking the same thing. Who has Biden’s ear in the WH. Better to get it to them.
SeekingReason ; Yes, it must be for his eyes specifically, if that is possible. Maybe if we all signed onto it and even paid for a special subscription price (for special delivery), it would get his attention! I would pony up $50. It would be worth it!
I just had the same thought. But I have no way of knowing who that person would be.
I will help pay for it. I think he would find it illuminating.
Robert Reich - hope you can get scheduled to appear on every news program throughout July to talk about your well thought out solutions. Bezos belongs in the same category as Musk - hypocrites who think their money makes them smart!
Yes, Dr. Reich should be an every-other-day guest on every network.
Dee Long ; They shamelessly defend their own interests while enjoying more wealth than everyone else!
I do not understand why so many including the media are afraid to call the price-gouging corporations out for their bad behavior. Is everyone who could stop the insanity already bought and paid for by those corporations? I am guessing the Federal agencies are still under the influence of the Trump years when anything goes was the policy for corporate America. Prices are up, but wages are not up at nearly the same rate. This morning I learned that a federal judge has decided that drug corporations (Big Pharma) is not actually responsible for the massive opioid crisis in many communities. I know that a lot of medical personnel were giving out the destructive drugs like candy, but it was the corporations (mostly white-operated) that provided the massive amounts of drugs in the first place. Drug dealers and users in Black communities are regularly harassed and arrested while the white corporations pushing drugs in white communities face no penalty. We the people need to get a handle on this before all the judges and our Supreme Court are under the control of corporate America.
I've been waiting for the states, which have jurisdiction to prosecute for price fixing, price gouging, to do something.
https://www.ncsl.org/research/financial-services-and-commerce/price-gouging-state-statutes.aspx
Good to know, Daniel. I'll email Governor Newsom. and AG Bonta today. I don't know your age, but if you're under 70, please consider running for office.
Flattered but 78.
Ruth Sheets ; "I do not understand why so many including the media are afraid to call the price-gouging corporations out for their bad behavior." : Consider the source ; that media are increasingly controlled/owned by Corporate interests and the wealthy. They do not want to lose money on their investments or be slowed down by regulations in their pursuit of wealth.
Part of the problem is that big price-gouging corporations already own most of the media, and those in the media are reluctant to go against their bosses.
Very well said. Thanks for your participation.
Higher corporate taxes, windfall taxes, and Wall Street reform through the SEC. Sounds like a plan. Don't say Joe won't do it.
I am hoping Biden will step up and start pushing for serious reforms. IF the people or at least some people, can see he is holding this as a priority, it could nullify some of the Republican blaming-while-doing-nothing strategy. People need to ask Republican candidates, "what are you doing and proposing to do to improve the situation?" then don't accept the BS answer Republicans usually get away with, and keep pressing, regardless of the candidate's discomfort.
Robert, you said in your film that you thought you misbehaved in Washington and became too much of a troublemaker. I think you should have become MORE of a troublemaker! You should have YELLED!
Thanks for your analysis of today.
One of our commentators on this site recently allowed that I was blinded by my partisanship! LOL (maybe). But clearly, Bezos is blinded by his. Why do people even care what Bezos and Musk say about the economy? Their perspectives cannot be useful to either policy makers, investors, or regular folks!
The President's "Deer in the headlights" approach is considered political moderation in this election year. Anything he does, and the SEC is pushed to do is analyzed for its mid term impact. Triple his pay and I still wouldn't take his job. As for Bezos. His day is coming.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/05/10/the-biden-harris-inflation-plan-lowering-costs-and-lowering-the-deficit/