My informal weekly coffee with Heather Lofthouse (my former student and executive director of Inequality Media Civic Action), exploring the lows and few highs of the week.
He is a corporatist shill plain and simple. His previous affiliation with No Labels tells all. It gave him the cover and dog whistles to get his ATM set up. He is not a Democrat. He is a power hungry troll not yet finished milking his position. He is no centrist. If he was he be cutting deals left and right. He is a useful object to the Reds and an anathema to Blues.
He is a very powerful man because he is only one of a very few Democrats who are centrist enough to resonate with our American public though I consider it a conflict of interest for him to be involved in making our country's energy decisions when most of his money is invested in coal, and all of it is in fossil fuels.
It would be valuable to review the notion that the American people are "centrist." 1. Define the word "centrist." We will find many pundits with many definitions, over many decades. 2. Look at the policies that have majority American support according to the polls, and look at what American politicians have proposed those policies.
Start with his fellow coal operators. Ironically, he used to have the support of United Mine Workers but they support Better Back Biden.
Biden appointed Manchin's wife to the Appalachian Regional Commission.
"Gayle Conelly Manchin was sworn in as the Appalachian Regional Commission’s thirteenth federal co-chair on May 6, 2021, becoming the first ARC federal co-chair from West Virginia. Nominated by President Biden, Manchin works directly with ARC’s 13 member governors, their state alternates and program managers, and a network of local development districts to continue to build community capacity and strengthen economic growth throughout Appalachia.
"An alumna of West Virginia University, Manchin worked as an educator in Marion County Schools, served on the faculty of Fairmont State University, and was the director of the university’s first Community Service Learning Program. She directed the AmeriCorps Promise Fellows in West Virginia between 2000-2004 and implemented a statewide initiative, WV Partnerships to Assure Student Success. Manchin previously served as West Virginia’s First Lady between 2005-2010 and was appointed to serve as a member of the State Board of Education, serving her last two years as president. She was the chair of the Board for Reconnecting McDowell, Inc., an AFT initiative serving rural West Virginia, is a past president of the Vandalia Rotary Club of Charleston, and was an emeritus member of The Education Alliance. She also served as cabinet secretary for the West Virginia Office of Education and the Arts.
"Manchin’s top priorities as ARC federal co-chair are to support the creation of economic opportunities in the Appalachian Region, improve broadband access and critical infrastructure in Appalachian communities, and address the Region’s opioid crisis."
The political mentality is "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma!" I think it has something to do with "that's just politics." Remember when R & D's could have it out in congress, then have cocktails together as friends - and had genuine respect for each other? That all began falling apart with Reagan's "11th commandment": "Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican."
He's voted anti-D everytime. A centrist would be left leaning by today's measure given the rise of right-wing terrorism and disinfo tactics being used against Citizens. If he was centrist, he'd bring reasonable articulate arguments to the table and he can't.
He'd vote that mask mandates shouldn't be allowed but voted anti-abortion last week. He's an evil idiot undermining Democracy with his poor leadership.
He's delivering the work he was hired to do -- and not by his constituents. My West Virginia friends say he is a "POS" but nothing new to West Virginia: a Democrat who delivers for the coal industry.
Here in New Hampshire the lilacs are blooming! Oh, to bury your face in that fragrance. It softens all the difficult news of the week. On messaging? And the Dems? We can't go wrong with a spirited reminder that we're ALL in this together - yes, we have differences of opinion, but ultimately as Americans, we do best when we pull together. Biden can deliver this message with fire - he believes it to his toenails. We need a passionate, inclusive affirmation of our capabilities.
The lilacs here -- a couple hundred miles below you -- are very soothing indeed. I stop to inhale at their dewy blossoms. One heavenly lilac week out of 52. Not bad.
Thank you, Prof. Reich and Heather, for expressing the thoughts, frustrations, and fears of many of us. It’s the next best thing to having coffee together! And yes, Democrats need to listen to the Progressive/Populist leaders in the Party: Sanders, Warren, Jayapal, AOC. They all need to pressure Biden to be bold in his leadership on the economic front. And they need to point out to the American people what the Republican Party stands for and what Democrats are against: Anti-democratic, racist, misogynist, autocracy, and cruelty.
I will often remind myself that "Hope is not a strategy, and you have to EARN your optimism." I believe most can sense or acknowledge that our democratic system and way of life are in peril, and that our responses to this point range between denial and rage. (By "peril," I mean due for an earth-shattering rearrangement.)
One thing that really gets to me are these annual state of the union messages that have become exercises in denying that serious problems WITH OUR UNION exist.
One source of hope is the belief that we have the tools and ability to adjust to the shocks and storms that await us. We simply are not even beginning to use them.
Are Congressional Democrats afraid to lose big corporates donors? And is this watering down Dem’s messaging? All I receive from Democrats is constant requests for donations and complaints about Republicans. I have started deleting all political emails without reading them.
I do believe that you are correct in stressing a strong, coherent populist message, not one motivated by the greed of the wealthy and the general hatred of right-wing white supremacists and xenophobes but by a concern for working people who are not making it. We should applaud the brave young and old people who are taking on the wealthy (and their hangers-on) by supporting unions, civil rights marches, the Roe v Wade decision, Planned Parenthood, and decent people who have decided that each individual in the US has an intrinsic value and worth, each of us has a voice equal to anyone else, that those who are only motivated by personal gain (wealth and power) should not set the agenda but all of us. We need legislators, elected officials and executives, and Supreme Court and other justices, who will put our mutual and majority will above their own will and interests.
I think the Democrats have a message. It's too often too distant to mean much to individual voters. I cringe when they post things about the economy, unemployment, or the huge amounts that have been spent on infrastructure or covid relief. These things are too big or too abstract. I think what works is telling how individuals are helped. I agree our messaging needs to be more populist, and making it meaningful to individual voters is a crucial part of that. We also need to call out the Republicans for what they've done to obstruct and delay, and what they plan to do if voted back into power.
I live in rural Ohio. PaulaOH, I feel you. I was very politically active in the 60’s and 70’s but not so much lately. 2016 was a rude awakening. Realized I couldn’t just slide off into the sunset if I wanted to feel like an ethical human. I now live in the rustiest rust belt ever. I’m wondering what happened to the Rural Initiative I volunteered for in 2020.
I grew up in Bowling Green and have a good chunk of time in Cincinnati, where I currently live. I've been donating to Tim Ryan. I realize we are a red state, but he's got a good economic message and is way, way better than JD Vance. we can't give up on Ohio; lots of moderates still in the suburbs of Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus who can swing statewide elections if the Dems can get on message.
Jobs are coming to Ohio. Lordstown Motors Company (LMC) announced yesterday it had closed a deal to sell its Lordstown plant to Foxconn, 400 new GM jobs, $230 Mil project. The State of Ohio will receive $20,739,853 this year under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to install electric vehicle charging stations along key roads and highways. $1 Bil so EPA can continue its progress in the clean-up and restoration of Lake Erie’s most environmentally degraded sites, including the Cuyahoga and Maumee Rivers, and secure clean water and a better environment for Ohioans who live, work, and use those areas for recreation. $1.5 Bil to modernize bus fleets in Ohio. Tim Ryan announced a $2.7 million grant to Trumbull County, Ohio, from the Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) for road and sewer infrastructure improvements in the 1,000-acre Golden Triangle Industrial Area. Ohio offered Intel Corp. incentives worth roughly $2 billion to secure a new $20 billion chipmaking factory in Jersey Township near New Albany that the company says will help alleviate a global shortage and create a new technology hub in the Midwest. There's more....
This go around, the Republicans have offended the Ukrainians, Poles, Belarusians, etc. Many of these folks were MAGA but will support Democrats.
Meanwhile, the Ohio Republican Party is corrupt. The Ohio nuclear bribery scandal involves allegations that electric utility company FirstEnergy paid roughly $60 million to Generation Now, a 501(c)(4) organization purportedly controlled by Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives Larry Householder, in exchange for passing a $1.3 billion bailout for the struggling nuclear power operator. Householder has pleaded not guilty, as has former Ohio Republican party chair Matt Borges. Two codefendants have pled guilty. A trial is upcoming.
Gym Jordan has a lot of problems, from sexual allegations to allegations he was a collaborator in crimes surrounding the 1/6 insurrection.
Meanwhile money is missing from Republican coffers. "Mark Bainbridge, one of 66 members of the Central Committee and a retired partner with the major international accounting firm Ernst & Young, is leading a group of high-ranking Republicans now questioning leadership about millions that he claims vanished from the books.
"Rising from his chair many times, Bainbridge made it clear why he is leading the questions about missing cash.
“I believe I am the only CPA on the state central committee,” Bainbridge declared, reminding leadership of his role as he repeatedly claims that $3 million is missing from ORP’s financial records over the past four years without a reasonable explanation as to where the money went."
We are all exhausted because Biden, for whatever reason, is still beholden to corporate interests, and too many Democrats have made a fortune while serving to seriously push for the wealth tax. It is, of course, a no brainer. Unfortunately too many voters in trailer parks are waving Trump 2024 signs and think that he helped them. How? They can't specify - but it's the bigotry really. He hated (and still hates) the same people these poor trailer-park-haters hate. We need a STRONG populist message about how the billionaires are the "elites" who are ripping us all off. And we need to show how EVERYTHING they say are crimes that Dems (really Progressives) have committed are actually crimes THEY have and continue to commit., voting fraud, killing babies, unfair tax liability, letting people die because they have no health insurance and are poor etc.etc.etc. The economy is great for the rich - and we MUST clearly state that the economy is not so great for US - the working people. AOC and Katie Porter are great at this - but Establishment Dems keep side-lining them - to OUR collective peril. Talk about overwhelm and exhaustion - THIS is what keeps me up at night.
Thanks again for the coffee klatches. IMO the dem's messaging is weak, and has been weak for many years, simply because they try so very hard not to alienate their corporate donors. Biden's recent statements that capitalism without competition is akin to exploitation, while it rings true to me, is not a truly a succinct, populist message that you can really get behind. He doesn't forcefully tie it the impact it has on pricing power and inflation like you have so many times in your newsletters and wealth & poverty classes. Please cut me some slack here, as I spent my life working in engineering, I think a more populist message would be "You can't help but win when you make the rules" or something like that. Of course, the dem's can't say that because many of them have helped the monied write the rules and have been complicit in the process. Now that we're the fallout from the draft R v W decision taking hold, my impression is that the dem's feel as is the repub's dropped a gift basket in their laps, that they can take to the bank. I'm not so sure that it's going to be enough. In my mind, until the dem's cut their dependence on corporate donations, they will never be a party that a majority of working families can really rally behind. I'll just keep supporting Bernie and other progressives because that is where I believe the real future and continuing prosperity for our country will be found. If Jessica Cisneros can defeat Henry Cuellar in the Texas in the Tx congressional democratic primary, maybe it will send another wake up call to the dem establishment to get their house in order and start prioritizing working families instead of the large monied corporations.
I don’t really feel very anxious or upset at the moment. If a recession comes, we are still ok because our retirement income stays the same and prices go down. I have to do a little more budgeting right now with prices being so high but still feel confident in our government. My greatest fear is of Trump getting back into power and will do everything I can to assist the Democrats. I have mixed feelings about Roe v Wade. It has never affected me personally, will never affect me. I am certainly not on board with killing babies but, I feel strongly that what treatment or procedure is decided between a patient and a doctor should be kept private and is none of my business. I am not the one who will have to deal with the consequences of an unwanted pregnancy. What ever happened to the “right to privacy” laws?
So sad that "fetus" has been replaced with "baby" or "unborn child". When does a fetus become a baby? This will never be agreed upon. Politics & medicine should never have mingled.
the coffee klatch is great. I would feel better about both the midterms and the stock market if the democrats had a clear policy approach to inflation that would likely work. agree that higher interest rates - while IMO needed at some level - won't solve the problem. at least longer term I think a lot of it is about supply issues - labor, energy, housing, etc. Make good investments in education, including vocational schools, get lower cost housing built in urban areas, let more immigrants in, absolutely invest in clean energy, do child care and elder care to increase labor participation rate - those are types of things that will give us a BETTER and more EQUITABLE economy. lay out the vision and policies even if you don't have the votes (now) - and the votes very well may follow. Do things that make a difference for those in the working class - the managerial class will figure out ways to make it no matter what ....
Manchin is a little man swinging his little dick. But the D's need to stop playing victim.
He is a corporatist shill plain and simple. His previous affiliation with No Labels tells all. It gave him the cover and dog whistles to get his ATM set up. He is not a Democrat. He is a power hungry troll not yet finished milking his position. He is no centrist. If he was he be cutting deals left and right. He is a useful object to the Reds and an anathema to Blues.
The question is, can a real Dem defeat him or win his seat in deep red West Virginia?
So let's unpack this question. 1. What do the West Virginia voters want? https://www.pfaw.org/blog-posts/new-poll-voters-in-west-virginia-support-voting-rights-legislation-want-senator-manchin-to-vote-to-modify-senate-rules-to-allow-it-to-pass/ . https://www.theintelligencer.net/news/top-headlines/2022/02/poll-west-virginians-back-manchin-stance-on-build-back-better/. https://www.newsy.com/stories/west-virginia-voters-react-to-sen-joe-manchin/.
So let's stop and look at these. West Virginia voters want to keep Joe Manchin in the Senate and disagree with his positions.
2. What does this tell us?
He is a very powerful man because he is only one of a very few Democrats who are centrist enough to resonate with our American public though I consider it a conflict of interest for him to be involved in making our country's energy decisions when most of his money is invested in coal, and all of it is in fossil fuels.
Centrist? Not with that Big Boat of his.
"Centrist enough to resonate with our American public."
His constituents support Better Back Biden. https://twitter.com/dataprogress/status/1472692523374194689?lang=en
He still says there are aspects he can support. "Manchin said he could support a reconciliation package that reforms the tax code and lowers the cost of prescription drugs if the money raised is split between spending on new climate change proposals and deficit reduction and fighting inflation. " https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/596580-manchin-proposes-dramatically-scaled-down-version-of-build-back-better/
It would be valuable to review the notion that the American people are "centrist." 1. Define the word "centrist." We will find many pundits with many definitions, over many decades. 2. Look at the policies that have majority American support according to the polls, and look at what American politicians have proposed those policies.
Who is funding him? He is nothing without the money behind him. So let's look at who he represents. https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/joe-manchin/summary?cid=N00032838
Start with his fellow coal operators. Ironically, he used to have the support of United Mine Workers but they support Better Back Biden.
Biden appointed Manchin's wife to the Appalachian Regional Commission.
"Gayle Conelly Manchin was sworn in as the Appalachian Regional Commission’s thirteenth federal co-chair on May 6, 2021, becoming the first ARC federal co-chair from West Virginia. Nominated by President Biden, Manchin works directly with ARC’s 13 member governors, their state alternates and program managers, and a network of local development districts to continue to build community capacity and strengthen economic growth throughout Appalachia.
"An alumna of West Virginia University, Manchin worked as an educator in Marion County Schools, served on the faculty of Fairmont State University, and was the director of the university’s first Community Service Learning Program. She directed the AmeriCorps Promise Fellows in West Virginia between 2000-2004 and implemented a statewide initiative, WV Partnerships to Assure Student Success. Manchin previously served as West Virginia’s First Lady between 2005-2010 and was appointed to serve as a member of the State Board of Education, serving her last two years as president. She was the chair of the Board for Reconnecting McDowell, Inc., an AFT initiative serving rural West Virginia, is a past president of the Vandalia Rotary Club of Charleston, and was an emeritus member of The Education Alliance. She also served as cabinet secretary for the West Virginia Office of Education and the Arts.
"Manchin’s top priorities as ARC federal co-chair are to support the creation of economic opportunities in the Appalachian Region, improve broadband access and critical infrastructure in Appalachian communities, and address the Region’s opioid crisis."
https://www.arc.gov/
By the way, if you have a cite for previous comment re bribery for headnote in Santa Clara, it should go into the Wikipedia article on the case.
Sounds like WV should dump him and elect her!
Wonder how she puts up with him...
The political mentality is "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma!" I think it has something to do with "that's just politics." Remember when R & D's could have it out in congress, then have cocktails together as friends - and had genuine respect for each other? That all began falling apart with Reagan's "11th commandment": "Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican."
He's voted anti-D everytime. A centrist would be left leaning by today's measure given the rise of right-wing terrorism and disinfo tactics being used against Citizens. If he was centrist, he'd bring reasonable articulate arguments to the table and he can't.
He'd vote that mask mandates shouldn't be allowed but voted anti-abortion last week. He's an evil idiot undermining Democracy with his poor leadership.
He's delivering the work he was hired to do -- and not by his constituents. My West Virginia friends say he is a "POS" but nothing new to West Virginia: a Democrat who delivers for the coal industry.
I love Coffee Klatch. I look forward to listening every Saturday morning. Thank you for the insights.
I love you guys! The bob and heather morning show! Dems unite!
Here in New Hampshire the lilacs are blooming! Oh, to bury your face in that fragrance. It softens all the difficult news of the week. On messaging? And the Dems? We can't go wrong with a spirited reminder that we're ALL in this together - yes, we have differences of opinion, but ultimately as Americans, we do best when we pull together. Biden can deliver this message with fire - he believes it to his toenails. We need a passionate, inclusive affirmation of our capabilities.
Saw NH state rep Susan Delemus scolding pro-choice demonstrators on May 5th.
She had an abortion in the late 1980s and wants the world to join her in penance.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a-republican-state-rep-shouted-youre-a-murderer-at-pro-choice-protesters-and-called-herself-one-too/ar-AAX1m6B
Hope you all intend to remove her from politics ASAP
Hello Cyrano - We will hope for the best! I never give up trying to support good candidates.
The lilacs here -- a couple hundred miles below you -- are very soothing indeed. I stop to inhale at their dewy blossoms. One heavenly lilac week out of 52. Not bad.
Thank you, Prof. Reich and Heather, for expressing the thoughts, frustrations, and fears of many of us. It’s the next best thing to having coffee together! And yes, Democrats need to listen to the Progressive/Populist leaders in the Party: Sanders, Warren, Jayapal, AOC. They all need to pressure Biden to be bold in his leadership on the economic front. And they need to point out to the American people what the Republican Party stands for and what Democrats are against: Anti-democratic, racist, misogynist, autocracy, and cruelty.
I will often remind myself that "Hope is not a strategy, and you have to EARN your optimism." I believe most can sense or acknowledge that our democratic system and way of life are in peril, and that our responses to this point range between denial and rage. (By "peril," I mean due for an earth-shattering rearrangement.)
One thing that really gets to me are these annual state of the union messages that have become exercises in denying that serious problems WITH OUR UNION exist.
One source of hope is the belief that we have the tools and ability to adjust to the shocks and storms that await us. We simply are not even beginning to use them.
Are Congressional Democrats afraid to lose big corporates donors? And is this watering down Dem’s messaging? All I receive from Democrats is constant requests for donations and complaints about Republicans. I have started deleting all political emails without reading them.
I do believe that you are correct in stressing a strong, coherent populist message, not one motivated by the greed of the wealthy and the general hatred of right-wing white supremacists and xenophobes but by a concern for working people who are not making it. We should applaud the brave young and old people who are taking on the wealthy (and their hangers-on) by supporting unions, civil rights marches, the Roe v Wade decision, Planned Parenthood, and decent people who have decided that each individual in the US has an intrinsic value and worth, each of us has a voice equal to anyone else, that those who are only motivated by personal gain (wealth and power) should not set the agenda but all of us. We need legislators, elected officials and executives, and Supreme Court and other justices, who will put our mutual and majority will above their own will and interests.
I think the Democrats have a message. It's too often too distant to mean much to individual voters. I cringe when they post things about the economy, unemployment, or the huge amounts that have been spent on infrastructure or covid relief. These things are too big or too abstract. I think what works is telling how individuals are helped. I agree our messaging needs to be more populist, and making it meaningful to individual voters is a crucial part of that. We also need to call out the Republicans for what they've done to obstruct and delay, and what they plan to do if voted back into power.
They should scream from the rooftops about the bills that pass the House but can't get a hearing in the Senate.
I agree.
I live in rural Ohio. PaulaOH, I feel you. I was very politically active in the 60’s and 70’s but not so much lately. 2016 was a rude awakening. Realized I couldn’t just slide off into the sunset if I wanted to feel like an ethical human. I now live in the rustiest rust belt ever. I’m wondering what happened to the Rural Initiative I volunteered for in 2020.
I grew up in Bowling Green and have a good chunk of time in Cincinnati, where I currently live. I've been donating to Tim Ryan. I realize we are a red state, but he's got a good economic message and is way, way better than JD Vance. we can't give up on Ohio; lots of moderates still in the suburbs of Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus who can swing statewide elections if the Dems can get on message.
Jobs are coming to Ohio. Lordstown Motors Company (LMC) announced yesterday it had closed a deal to sell its Lordstown plant to Foxconn, 400 new GM jobs, $230 Mil project. The State of Ohio will receive $20,739,853 this year under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to install electric vehicle charging stations along key roads and highways. $1 Bil so EPA can continue its progress in the clean-up and restoration of Lake Erie’s most environmentally degraded sites, including the Cuyahoga and Maumee Rivers, and secure clean water and a better environment for Ohioans who live, work, and use those areas for recreation. $1.5 Bil to modernize bus fleets in Ohio. Tim Ryan announced a $2.7 million grant to Trumbull County, Ohio, from the Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) for road and sewer infrastructure improvements in the 1,000-acre Golden Triangle Industrial Area. Ohio offered Intel Corp. incentives worth roughly $2 billion to secure a new $20 billion chipmaking factory in Jersey Township near New Albany that the company says will help alleviate a global shortage and create a new technology hub in the Midwest. There's more....
This go around, the Republicans have offended the Ukrainians, Poles, Belarusians, etc. Many of these folks were MAGA but will support Democrats.
Meanwhile, the Ohio Republican Party is corrupt. The Ohio nuclear bribery scandal involves allegations that electric utility company FirstEnergy paid roughly $60 million to Generation Now, a 501(c)(4) organization purportedly controlled by Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives Larry Householder, in exchange for passing a $1.3 billion bailout for the struggling nuclear power operator. Householder has pleaded not guilty, as has former Ohio Republican party chair Matt Borges. Two codefendants have pled guilty. A trial is upcoming.
Gym Jordan has a lot of problems, from sexual allegations to allegations he was a collaborator in crimes surrounding the 1/6 insurrection.
Meanwhile money is missing from Republican coffers. "Mark Bainbridge, one of 66 members of the Central Committee and a retired partner with the major international accounting firm Ernst & Young, is leading a group of high-ranking Republicans now questioning leadership about millions that he claims vanished from the books.
"Rising from his chair many times, Bainbridge made it clear why he is leading the questions about missing cash.
“I believe I am the only CPA on the state central committee,” Bainbridge declared, reminding leadership of his role as he repeatedly claims that $3 million is missing from ORP’s financial records over the past four years without a reasonable explanation as to where the money went."
Where's the Money?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UBPUEXQj9c
Impressive grasp of the goings on in OH. Well done sir!
Just glad I am dual. Moving to Canada next year.
Jealous!!!!
Stay and fight. Over 1 million Canadians citizens living in the US.
If they'd move to Wyoming and the Dakotas, they can take over and petition to join Canada. Native Americans, btw claim the land.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Sioux_Nation_of_Indians
Right!
Why isn't Manchin asked to leave the Democratic Party? His voting record shows that he does not agree with our policies and philosophy.
We are all exhausted because Biden, for whatever reason, is still beholden to corporate interests, and too many Democrats have made a fortune while serving to seriously push for the wealth tax. It is, of course, a no brainer. Unfortunately too many voters in trailer parks are waving Trump 2024 signs and think that he helped them. How? They can't specify - but it's the bigotry really. He hated (and still hates) the same people these poor trailer-park-haters hate. We need a STRONG populist message about how the billionaires are the "elites" who are ripping us all off. And we need to show how EVERYTHING they say are crimes that Dems (really Progressives) have committed are actually crimes THEY have and continue to commit., voting fraud, killing babies, unfair tax liability, letting people die because they have no health insurance and are poor etc.etc.etc. The economy is great for the rich - and we MUST clearly state that the economy is not so great for US - the working people. AOC and Katie Porter are great at this - but Establishment Dems keep side-lining them - to OUR collective peril. Talk about overwhelm and exhaustion - THIS is what keeps me up at night.
Thanks again for the coffee klatches. IMO the dem's messaging is weak, and has been weak for many years, simply because they try so very hard not to alienate their corporate donors. Biden's recent statements that capitalism without competition is akin to exploitation, while it rings true to me, is not a truly a succinct, populist message that you can really get behind. He doesn't forcefully tie it the impact it has on pricing power and inflation like you have so many times in your newsletters and wealth & poverty classes. Please cut me some slack here, as I spent my life working in engineering, I think a more populist message would be "You can't help but win when you make the rules" or something like that. Of course, the dem's can't say that because many of them have helped the monied write the rules and have been complicit in the process. Now that we're the fallout from the draft R v W decision taking hold, my impression is that the dem's feel as is the repub's dropped a gift basket in their laps, that they can take to the bank. I'm not so sure that it's going to be enough. In my mind, until the dem's cut their dependence on corporate donations, they will never be a party that a majority of working families can really rally behind. I'll just keep supporting Bernie and other progressives because that is where I believe the real future and continuing prosperity for our country will be found. If Jessica Cisneros can defeat Henry Cuellar in the Texas in the Tx congressional democratic primary, maybe it will send another wake up call to the dem establishment to get their house in order and start prioritizing working families instead of the large monied corporations.
I don’t really feel very anxious or upset at the moment. If a recession comes, we are still ok because our retirement income stays the same and prices go down. I have to do a little more budgeting right now with prices being so high but still feel confident in our government. My greatest fear is of Trump getting back into power and will do everything I can to assist the Democrats. I have mixed feelings about Roe v Wade. It has never affected me personally, will never affect me. I am certainly not on board with killing babies but, I feel strongly that what treatment or procedure is decided between a patient and a doctor should be kept private and is none of my business. I am not the one who will have to deal with the consequences of an unwanted pregnancy. What ever happened to the “right to privacy” laws?
So sad that "fetus" has been replaced with "baby" or "unborn child". When does a fetus become a baby? This will never be agreed upon. Politics & medicine should never have mingled.
You are absolutely right about that. Overturning Roe won’t stop abortion anyway. It will only stop “safe” abortion.
the coffee klatch is great. I would feel better about both the midterms and the stock market if the democrats had a clear policy approach to inflation that would likely work. agree that higher interest rates - while IMO needed at some level - won't solve the problem. at least longer term I think a lot of it is about supply issues - labor, energy, housing, etc. Make good investments in education, including vocational schools, get lower cost housing built in urban areas, let more immigrants in, absolutely invest in clean energy, do child care and elder care to increase labor participation rate - those are types of things that will give us a BETTER and more EQUITABLE economy. lay out the vision and policies even if you don't have the votes (now) - and the votes very well may follow. Do things that make a difference for those in the working class - the managerial class will figure out ways to make it no matter what ....