It’s really simple to fix every permutation of this problem. Pass legislation that makes ALL campaign donations from any source illegal, and allows candidates to use only public money-- the same amount of public money given to every candidate. When it has all been spent campaigning is over.
as a scientist and journalist, i've relied more and more on twitter to make connections with, and communicate with, scientists, political figures and others (astonishingly, i even chatted with Malala on twitter shortly after she was nearly killed) which kept me informed and nimble within the science and news streams. i am also on mastodon and counter social, but these platforms are NOTHING like twitter. i feel completely out-of-touch with both of my worlds now, and that lack of knowing about stuff is terrifying to me.
it's utterly depressing to think that one egomaniacal oligarch can take this incredibly valuable platform away from us, the people, cuz he's mad at twitter for telling him he could not join its board of directors without passing a background check.
Taxing the rich and making it a requirement that political donations be grassroots and never beyond a certain amount regardless of how much money they have would be two giant steps in the right direction. I realize how unlikely those things are but it’s the truth.
Biggest obstacle to holding them accountable? The old All-American "Free Enterprise vs. Socialism" bugaboo, as lately exploited to the max by Trump's MAGA minions.
“You own it, you can break it” IS an insane norm for a complex society.
To me, bankruptcy is a license to steal. I know that it's in the Constitution. But here in Florida, it seems to be the last stage of a lot of business plans.
Last night I watched the Heat/Suns NBA game. The "Heat's House" had been called the FTX Arena since June 2021, after the crypto trading platform agreed a 19-year deal worth US$135 million for the naming rights. The agreement promised the Heat US$2 million per year, while the county was to be paid about US$90 million over the duration of the contract.
While they are removing the name from the basketball arena, I learned that bankruptcy will protect some of the fortune of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried; $16 billion. I'm a Miami Heat fan but until this week I never heard of Bankman-Fried. I had seen the omnipresent commercials starring Heat players and Tom Brady and his ex. I wonder who else has been screwed?
In research, I find that although he is an American, Bankman-Fried probably lives in the Bahamas. From what I can tell, control of FTX was taken over by Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao last month. Apparently, simultaneously, Zhao invested $500 million through Binance to finance the acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk.
How right you are Robert, but it seems the only 'morality' the lunatic rertrumplicans and ilk care about is sexual morality, as if the fact that two men or two women love each other matters a rat's ass. They moan and scream about abortion but don't care a fig about the resulting child. What we need is more like you who point out that real morality touches everyone's lives and livelyhood, and National presence in the real world.
Sure hope we can move forward now to restore our democracy! We must pass am amendment to reverse Citizens United! Elizabeth Warren had introduced a bill to do this in the Senate. I hope we can all come together to reclaim our democracy by passing this amendment.
There are some things that can be owned. Corrupting The commons for gain by making things up for profit that have no purpose, service or value, propaganda, unprovable theories and outright lies isn’t one of them. It’s fraud and more hot air. People have been conned by these guys and enabling businesses and institutions. Causing devastating harm as usual. Predators is a good word for them and predatory in every way.
This credo begs to be applied to our own democratic republic, wherein our former wealthy President in many ways irreparably damaged our governmental institutions, especially those beyond the protection of the electorate (i.e. the Supreme Court), while coming way too close to an actual coup d'etat. For him, "drain the swamp" meant trying to set himself up as another dictator, just like his buddies Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-Un.
There are astounding similarities now to the time when Teddy Roosevelt was president and the economy was run by the robber barons as so brilliantly laid out in Ken Burns' documentary, The Roosevelts: An Intimate History.
Fortunately, we had a president in Roosevelt who was willing to take on the robber barons and bring them to heel. He made no bones about their designs: "Regarding the very wealthy, Roosevelt privately scorned, "their entire unfitness to govern the country, and ... the lasting damage they do by much of what they think are the legitimate big business operations of the day.” - Wikipedia
Years later, another Roosevelt, Franklin, in a speech on October 31, 1936, described forces which he labeled "the old enemies of peace: business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.” - Wikipedia
Until we the people stand up and demand an end to special interest influence, and an end to the idea that “corporations are people, too,” we are at the mercy of corporate greed and the corporate vision that EVERYTHING exists to be controlled, exploited, and monetized.
On October 20, 1912 Teddy Roosevelt said in a speech, "Perhaps once in a generation, there comes a chance for the people of a country to play their part wisely and fearlessly in some great battle of the age-long warfare for human rights.”
Was watching a movie last night, not particularly a good one, "Killing Them Softly". I thought the last line in the movie kind of relates to Dr Reich's comment today. In the end Brad Pitt says " the US is not a country it's a business".
It’s really simple to fix every permutation of this problem. Pass legislation that makes ALL campaign donations from any source illegal, and allows candidates to use only public money-- the same amount of public money given to every candidate. When it has all been spent campaigning is over.
Thank you again for these essays, they are like a handbook of democracy. Appropriate stories, clear conclusions.....
as a scientist and journalist, i've relied more and more on twitter to make connections with, and communicate with, scientists, political figures and others (astonishingly, i even chatted with Malala on twitter shortly after she was nearly killed) which kept me informed and nimble within the science and news streams. i am also on mastodon and counter social, but these platforms are NOTHING like twitter. i feel completely out-of-touch with both of my worlds now, and that lack of knowing about stuff is terrifying to me.
it's utterly depressing to think that one egomaniacal oligarch can take this incredibly valuable platform away from us, the people, cuz he's mad at twitter for telling him he could not join its board of directors without passing a background check.
Taxing the rich and making it a requirement that political donations be grassroots and never beyond a certain amount regardless of how much money they have would be two giant steps in the right direction. I realize how unlikely those things are but it’s the truth.
Biggest obstacle to holding them accountable? The old All-American "Free Enterprise vs. Socialism" bugaboo, as lately exploited to the max by Trump's MAGA minions.
“You own it, you can break it” IS an insane norm for a complex society.
To me, bankruptcy is a license to steal. I know that it's in the Constitution. But here in Florida, it seems to be the last stage of a lot of business plans.
Last night I watched the Heat/Suns NBA game. The "Heat's House" had been called the FTX Arena since June 2021, after the crypto trading platform agreed a 19-year deal worth US$135 million for the naming rights. The agreement promised the Heat US$2 million per year, while the county was to be paid about US$90 million over the duration of the contract.
While they are removing the name from the basketball arena, I learned that bankruptcy will protect some of the fortune of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried; $16 billion. I'm a Miami Heat fan but until this week I never heard of Bankman-Fried. I had seen the omnipresent commercials starring Heat players and Tom Brady and his ex. I wonder who else has been screwed?
In research, I find that although he is an American, Bankman-Fried probably lives in the Bahamas. From what I can tell, control of FTX was taken over by Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao last month. Apparently, simultaneously, Zhao invested $500 million through Binance to finance the acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk.
The road goes on forever......
Days of yore:
"If you're so smart, why ain't you rich?"
The implied corollary:
"If you are rich, you must be smart."
It ain't necessarily so.
'
How right you are Robert, but it seems the only 'morality' the lunatic rertrumplicans and ilk care about is sexual morality, as if the fact that two men or two women love each other matters a rat's ass. They moan and scream about abortion but don't care a fig about the resulting child. What we need is more like you who point out that real morality touches everyone's lives and livelyhood, and National presence in the real world.
Gosh, the idea of morals in public life…what a quaint, old-fashioned idea.
Thank you for writing so eloquently about and idea whose time has come (back).
Sure hope we can move forward now to restore our democracy! We must pass am amendment to reverse Citizens United! Elizabeth Warren had introduced a bill to do this in the Senate. I hope we can all come together to reclaim our democracy by passing this amendment.
There are some things that can be owned. Corrupting The commons for gain by making things up for profit that have no purpose, service or value, propaganda, unprovable theories and outright lies isn’t one of them. It’s fraud and more hot air. People have been conned by these guys and enabling businesses and institutions. Causing devastating harm as usual. Predators is a good word for them and predatory in every way.
Our gov coukd help by making tax payable from ALL. BUT IT DOESNT. WHY.
This credo begs to be applied to our own democratic republic, wherein our former wealthy President in many ways irreparably damaged our governmental institutions, especially those beyond the protection of the electorate (i.e. the Supreme Court), while coming way too close to an actual coup d'etat. For him, "drain the swamp" meant trying to set himself up as another dictator, just like his buddies Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-Un.
2 words: Citizen’s United. Our political system was sold by (and to) our Supreme Court.
There are astounding similarities now to the time when Teddy Roosevelt was president and the economy was run by the robber barons as so brilliantly laid out in Ken Burns' documentary, The Roosevelts: An Intimate History.
Fortunately, we had a president in Roosevelt who was willing to take on the robber barons and bring them to heel. He made no bones about their designs: "Regarding the very wealthy, Roosevelt privately scorned, "their entire unfitness to govern the country, and ... the lasting damage they do by much of what they think are the legitimate big business operations of the day.” - Wikipedia
Years later, another Roosevelt, Franklin, in a speech on October 31, 1936, described forces which he labeled "the old enemies of peace: business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.” - Wikipedia
Until we the people stand up and demand an end to special interest influence, and an end to the idea that “corporations are people, too,” we are at the mercy of corporate greed and the corporate vision that EVERYTHING exists to be controlled, exploited, and monetized.
On October 20, 1912 Teddy Roosevelt said in a speech, "Perhaps once in a generation, there comes a chance for the people of a country to play their part wisely and fearlessly in some great battle of the age-long warfare for human rights.”
NOW is our chance.
Was watching a movie last night, not particularly a good one, "Killing Them Softly". I thought the last line in the movie kind of relates to Dr Reich's comment today. In the end Brad Pitt says " the US is not a country it's a business".