'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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Where is Teddy Roosevelt now that 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.
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.
i absolutely agree, but i seriously doubt president biden will take any of these pro-active steps to protect the american people.
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.
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.
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!
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.
Higher corporate taxes, windfall taxes, and Wall Street reform through the SEC. Sounds like a plan. Don't say Joe won't do it.
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.