I wish that you and the mainstream media would stop suggesting that uneducated white males voted for Trump for any other reason than racial resentment. Yes, they are getting screwed by big corporations, but the reason they voted for Trump is that he is a genius at stoking their rage.
They didn't vote for Trump because Harris was not liberal enough, because they didn't understand the policies she articulated, because she didn't have enough time to reach Americans, because Biden's war mongering. Because she said this and she should have said that, or she did this and she should have done that.
They voted against a black woman because she is a black woman.
Remember the quote from LBJ: "If you can convince the poorest white man that he is still better than the Negro, you can pick his pockets all day long."
You reminded me of one of my favorite quotes from union leader Frank Sobotka of the series "The Wire." "You know what the trouble is, Brucey? We used to make shit in this country, build shit. Now, all we do is put our hand in the next guy's pocket."
Frank describes the financialization of America, the last stage of capitalism. I don't want to believe our country is on the decline. I want leaders to understand what Robert Reich is teaching and what Bernie Sanders knows to lead us to prosperity for all, not just for the greedy few.
Gloria, I agree with you and that I also believe we are reaching the last stage of capitalism. The plundering of the purchasing power of the consumers will be the downfall of capitalism for as we lose our purchasing power, there will be no one to buy the products that the large corporations are offering us. If indeed, we are reaching the last stage of capitalism what do we have in place to replace it with? Personally, I have been doing some reading about the system of “Economic Democracy” and I do see a future for us by transitioning to that system. You can look up “Economic Democracy” on Wikipedia and or you can read the following article on the “Crisis and Transition “ Substack. https://crisistransition.substack.com/p/post-capitalist-compatibility-degrowth
It’s worse than that- the system is collapsing because it’s ONLY about consuming. How much stuff (reference George Carlin’s routine on Stuff- he nailed it) can producers cram down our throats to increase their profits? My form of protest is Not Buying, especially from the gouges- Unilever, GM, etc… wherever possible I find products with less chemicals and waste, preferably from smaller companies in the US.
I like everything about PROUT but it requires an educated public to understand it and we are far from that and going the opposite direction. 21% of our public is considered illiterate and 54% operate on less than a 6th grade literacy rate. We need to strengthen our educational system but we just put in people (trump) who want to do the opposite.
trump knows how to appeal to people's emotions which is what works with these people.
With Trumps cabinet picks the education system is only going to get worst and good teachers will leave willing or be or be forced out because they are teaching kids to do critical thinking. The Republicans want to dumb down America. They only care about money and power, damn, the rest of us.
Beverley, as a retired teacher, I can tell you that there are a lot of good teachers trying really hard to teach critical thinking and the other important skills, but what students consume through our social media is not that. They choose to find "nothing" answers on every media platform and will consume that instead of something more nourishing, like truly being able to understand a concept and use it. And, Trump and Kump are soooo not the brightest bulbs in any string and they don't want people in power who are smarter than they are and that is a low low bar.
They want uneducated serfs who will have to do the dirtiest jobs possible. Like the scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail where one serf says “There goes the King.”
They want a Constitutional Convention but don't seem to realize that the republicans would control the convention. Each state gets a vote and the republicans have most of the states. They could rewrite our Constitution.
Thanks so much for the link, Marc. Such a thought provoking read. Might be a switch worth making and if everything goes to hell in a handbasket as so many of us fear, it might be the perfect opportunity to do something truly radical.
Remember how wrong Russia went with its revolution? It depends on how local and who promotes the new spiritual paradigm and what it is. We want to avoid returning to feudalism and individual fiefdoms.
When the ponderous Soviet Union economic and political system failed, it seemed that no one had thought about an alternate political and economic future. As a result, the former Soviet Union’s resources were plundered by capitalists from surrounding countries and which was followed by the rise of the oligarchs. Also as a result, the Union fell apart and gave rise to independent countries. Many, such as Ukraine and Estonia have done quite well on their own.
It seems to me that our democracy is failing because we encourage the rich to get richer at the expense of all other living beings. The winner-takes-all rule encourages this, because then the winner makes rules more in favor of them winning.
Business is designed to allow those at the top to make all the decisions alone. So Musk brags about firing everyone and starting all over, regardless of the harm it causes - just so that he gets a bigger share of the company profits. Citizens United allows the richest people to have the loudest voices. That is not free speech, that is allowing the concentration of power at the top.
The use of delegates to control voting outcome was perhaps useful 200 years ago, but not it is a relic leading to 'swing states' (any state with a 50-50 voting population, to jump to 100-0 result, - ultimately leading to the winner often determined by a random chance, and certainly to an open invitation to cheat on the count.
With these basic flaws in our rules, democracy doesn't have a chance.
the final result is slavery - which is what some of the population want, and the ultra rich strive to obtain. .... The basic difference between old fashioned cotton picking slavery and being without a home, is that the slaves at least get fed to work.
Know of any grants or benefactors to help get corporations and money out of politics? ProjectLeapfrog.org hates to constantly ask for donations like some nonprofits.
Know of any grants or benefactors to help get corporations and money out of politics? ProjectLeapfrog.org hates to constantly ask for donations like some nonprofits.
A big shift in the economy happened in the 1970's. The offshoring of industry to F.I.R.E. (finance, insurance, and real estate). You make money by manipulating money.
Something for you to research, as if you don't have other things to do, lol., was The Powell Memorandum. From Greenpeace: The Lewis Powell Memo: A Corporate Blueprint to ... Written in 1971 to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Lewis Powell Memo was a blueprint for corporate domination of American Democracy.
From my notes Noam Chomsky said: "Redesigning the economy began in the 70's. The so-called Neo-Liberal shift to try to shift decisions from the public arena to what's called the "market". Neoliberalism is basically the idea to privatize, reduce the role of public institutions. The ideology claims it's increasing freedom. It's actually increasing tyranny. It means that instead of decisions and choices being made in the public arena, where the public in principle has some kind of role to the degree the state is democratic, maybe an actual role, shifting it dramatically to private tyrannies." Full stop. there's much more Thank you.
Bernie should have been the one running against Trump back in 2016. The voters wanted a choice between them and they said so. ANOTHER big mistake by Democrats. When are they going to stop making blunder after blunder?
Know of any grants or benefactors to help get corporations and money out of politics? ProjectLeapfrog.org hates to constantly ask for donations like some nonprofits.
On that count, Centrist Democrats FAIL! FEARFUL of being labeled "Socialist" or "Communist"! Rugged Capitalism untethered by Regulations, Enforcement, and Social Benefits for ALL, has never worked. Trump / Vance Republicans will drive this nation into a Depression reminiscent of Herbert Hoover!
I very much wish that I could be sure that financialization is the last stage of capitalism. I am afraid that it isn't, that stages worse than anything Marx could imagine are yet to come.
1 Marx did not simply dismiss capitalism. He was impressed by it. He argued that it has been the most productive system that the world has seen.
2 Marx accurately predicted that capitalism would foster what is today referred to as globalization. He saw capitalism creating a world market in which countries would become increasingly interdependent.
Anyway Capitalism is not the enemy of mankind, tyranny is.
Tyranny comes in many forms from the tyranny of the masses such as cultural communism ( which accounts for the rise of Trump).
In fact all tyranny exists because of support from the masses. As Mao said" The revolution swims in the sea of the people.
What we are witnessing is the logical organization of society. A nobility, a ruling class and the commons. The House of Lords (Senate) and the House of commons (House of Representatives)
The Soviet Empire had their nobility and their commoners. Milovan Djilas, a Yugoslavian Communist and political leader, in the New Class defined the new class as the political bureaucracy, "a monopoly over the working class itself". This "new class actually seized the lion's share of the economic and other progress earned by the sacrifices and efforts of the masses"
This is inevitable. In Iran the ayatollahs, live large with four wives, at the expense of the people,Putin in Russia lives large at the expense of the people.
As troublesome and difficult as Democracies are, the people in it prosper, and in America that prosperity is coming to an end. will it go out with a bang or a whimper.
Here Marx describes communism in the exact opposite of what it is
For as soon as the distribution of labour comes into being, each man has a particular, exclusive sphere of activity, which is forced upon him and from which he cannot escape. He is a hunter, a fisherman, a herdsman, or a critical critic, and must remain so if he does not want to lose his means of livelihood; while in communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, herdsman or critic.
In a democratic capitalist society, each person has the freedom to do what they want to do, be a hunter in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening , in a communist society your fate was cast the day you were born, either a laborer or a member of the new class.
Thank you for the reminder, Gloria, and thanks to Prof. Reich for laying bare the diversion of wealth from labor to the ultra-rich. This 'financialization' scheme signals the entrenchment of an oligarchy that enables the pliant emperor drumpf. The ringmasters of the scheme of national theft like musk, ramaswamy, bezos and dimon play an increasingly dangerous game to assume that drumpf's behavior pointing toward anarchy will not leave their fleeting financial empires in ruins, and the rest of us in the streets and the fields scratching for survival. So much for mr. he-alone-can-fix-us. P.S. my supply business with industrial raw materials has survived a few ups and downs since the Ford Admin, and let me say that the heaviest gut-punch to the consumer occurs when the petrochemical supply line and that of other mineral raw materials shuts down. Essentially none of the gyrations of the economy for the four years past are the fault of the Biden Administration. Place the blame on the 'other guy' who went before.
Our democratic leaders have been frozen in fear; fear of the unknown, fear for safety of their family, and loved ones, and fear of their own loss of power and influence. All the good thoughts and advice here and on other Substack forums float over their heads like silent clouds. Democrats need a young energetic firebrand to shake them out of their stupor and put us back into decency and democracy. How? Instruct the leaders of our military to refuse to cooperate with Trump‘s troopers on pain of indictment for treason while there is still time. Once Trump and his minions take office and acquire power to command them, it will be too late.
Remember that the Fed raised interest after the Oil embargo of 1973 and mortgages were at 12-13%. Chairman Volker justified this decision to break inflation. The problem was the value of the dollar rose to 2X the Japanese Yen or the German Mark. Manufacturing in the USA was shipped overseas as no manufacturer could be competitive with those low costs. Gas prices at the pump rose from $0.29 to $1.10 per gallon. Inflation was stopped, Manufacturing Jobs were lost, and the price of gas never went back down. Wages increased dramatically and the cost of energy was absorbed but manufacturing jobs and many factories in small towns disappeared.
Know of any grants or benefactors to help get corporations and money out of politics? ProjectLeapfrog.org hates to constantly ask for donations like some nonprofits.
Capitalism schmapitalism! A fancy word for greed and grinding the lesser haves. America has ALWAYS been ALL ABOUT MONEY -- and I am not referring to hard work and an honest dollar. Greed has ruled this land since Europeans came, to the point that West Africans were kidnapped (with their kinsman’s complicity), and taken halfway across the world. They were forced into brutal enslavement for 250 years to build the infrastructure of this new world. The slave women were raped to create more slave stock. This quality of greed, f-you ness, and cruelty is the foundation on which America was built. Now this greed, fomented for 400 years, is folding over and the country is starting to eat itself. Greed is baked into America’s DNA. There is no foundation of kindness, honesty, and civility to harken back to.
Not just America Faginzorro, but the world. It is the way of humanity.
Greed is simply the drive for social dominance, The more wealth you have the more power you have.
I sat on the grass at Marymoor park, listening to a Peter, Paul and Mary concert, I was surrounded by gray hairs, that use to be long hairs in tie dye and beads, but drove up in Mercedes, BMW's and Cadillacs.
I asked the guy seated next to me, "what ever became of us", his reply was short and to the point "we own stuff"
The greed has not been fomenting for 400 years, and it in fact is the reason that you are alive, eat and live well, and can afford to sit behind a computer on the internet and pontificate you are of a superior morality.
You aren't, maybe the problem is that they have "made it" and you haven't.
When a person attains a privileged position in the hierarchy, they will do anything to protect that position, and the best way to protect it is to get more of that which enables you to protect it. Money to get the power, power to protect the money.
This country was founded by property owning men and designed to be ruled by property owning men by way of representation, the vote, After the 1st two elections, the sovereign states, one by one enfranchised men who did not own property. it did not become a democracy until the 15th,17th and 19th Amendments.
But greed, well that is part and parcel of the human condition.
Did you know that the very first case of legal slavery was that of a black planter named of Anthony Johnson who filed suit for the return of a John Casor.
John Casor (surname also recorded as Cazara and Corsala),[1] a servant in Northampton County in the Colony of Virginia, in 1655 became one of the first people of African descent in the Thirteen Colonies to be enslaved for life as a result of a civil suit.
He had been indentured to Anthony Johson, himself a former indentured servant, who was released and became a planter, with indentured servants.
Indentured servants were essentially contract employees, like professional ball players, and were treated harshly by many a planter, especially since by terms of the indenture they had to provide them with seed corn, a musket and amule at the end of their indenture.
Johnson abused Casor, and Casor ran off to a nearby planter and Johnson sued for his return and the court declared him to be the property of Johson,however i wasn't until 1661 when the House of Burgess passed a law legalizing slavery and outlawing miscegenation.
I just finished reading it and am now reading "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent" by Isabel Wilkerson. Both have given me a new understanding of our society and where we came from.
Thanks for mentioning this. I thought I bought it a few years but I got what seemed to be an AI ripoff. I’ll look it up, though I’m not in any doubt about the existence of US castes.
💓Reich💓:"...Democrats have offered no alternative explanation for what’s happened to average working people or agenda for remedying it. Trump's baseless explanation and agenda are the only ones available."
💓Get the Sense of the D with D-sense: Desensitization💓
aka "Do one thing every day that scares you."--Eleanor Roosevelt
FDR and UN.org:FREEDOM FROM FEAR...but scientifically so FREEDOM FROM PLACEBO AND FREEDOM FROM MILITANT PLACEBOEES (aka Racists, Fascists, other Gullibles that are control freaks, etc
Excellent post Christopher Racism has always been a foundational characteristic of the white working class That is the genius of Norman Lear and his All in the family Dr King also realized this and after 1964 focused on uniting the white poor and working classes with minority poor and working class This view was the catalyst for his death by assassination Unless the Democrats aggressively attack corporate capitalism they are doomed because they will never out corporatize the Republicans and in trying they then force the GOP to make the battie on culture where they lose The Democrats must move to the right of the Republicans on culture and to the left on economics
Maybe he/she’s an oligarch and really will have a sweet outcome. Except for breathing dirty air, drinking contaminated water, taking quack medicine, and having to deal with those pesky wildfires and hurricanes.
Democratic economic policies were too complex for the average American to understand. The promise was, “We're going to build some factories and heck maybe you just might benefit, but there's no guarantee of it."
The Dems need to offer an economic Bill of Rights centered on a lifetime right to free job retraining.
Dems can win by selling ONE BIG Idea
Free lifetime job retraining for all American citizens
The majority of Americans who support Trump are either willfully ignorant, uneducated, insecure, racist, or selfish. And if/when Trump tanks this country, they'll be the last to accept accountability, just like their president.
Most of the reasons people cited for voting for Trump are inaccurate, based on lies and overall ignorance of voters, too often willful ignorance, and, of course, the sexism and racism that runs through the veins of this country.
The armies of racism are out of the closets and into the streets now . Trump's victory has emboldened them.
I will be wearing this "Totally Unhinged Radical Libera"l t-shirt the next four years 👇
Trouble you have there Heather, is you’ve painted yourself into a corner…
The ‘majority’ you speak of will remain a ‘majority’, in terms of those characteristics. And they’ll support Trump whatever does, as you said.
So the Dems had either better find a way of getting another bunch of voters to turn up at the polling stations, or give them something they understand, which sounds unlikely!
So you might like to write something more satyrical to cheers us all up for the next 4 years…
Too true. The $10 million or so spent by Russia was what turned the tide against the $1500 million the Harris campaign spent, not counting the lobbying by UK campaign consultants for Harris, and of course Israel spending over $100 million to ensure we had two candidates openly celebrating mass murder in the middle east. The reason the democrats have not crony capitalism and sleazy insider trading is that they benefit from it as much as the Republicans do. Until the DNC (or the RNC)is taken over by folks who actually want to change the status quo, there will be no major differences between legislative actions taken regardless of which party is in control of any branch.
Daniel, you gave it all, and I understand you frustration. The Republican trifecta is a great triumph for Putin, but scapegoating him for our loss is evasion of responsibility. We failed in more ways than one, and we must move on with 2028 in our minds. We know what voters want, and we know what Republicans want. We must produce our Project 2028 without wasting a minute.
It's too late for the democrats, they've continually fucked up and for too damn long. A 3rd party movement is needed and a Revolution is needed. Fortunately, we can create an incredible app for both. Here's how: https://www.humbledeeds.com
Bob, I understand your concern. However, I intend to engage the approximately 50% of voters who don't vote, as well as the other voters. You heard it here, first. Thanks for your comment.
than your still following along with the 2 parties. read my comment to Lee earlier. i think that's what their argument was for ending the choice that the forefathers wanted.
Lee: According to Kevin Roberts, Heritage Foundation, Project 2025, there is already a revolution afoot: "this is a second revolution, and it will be bloodless if the left allows it".
William, if the Revolution does not include the left and the right, then I don't believe it will be a Revolution. You won't change my mind about this. Any single sided 'Revolution' is a dangerous exacerbation of our already ridiculous, though currently mild and long simmering, father vs. son, neighbor vs. neighbor, brother vs. nephew, sister vs. aunt, my idiot Warpig is better than your woke Warpig, Civil War. Let me know if you need any further explanation.
Then I'll continue to fantasize, until I'm dead or until I succeed, whichever comes first. What do you think when you hear the word Revolution? Because what I've in mind is probably far from what you may be assuming...
I agree with you about a 3rd party.. i read that the founding fathers wanted there to be more than 2 parties. but somewhere after the Republicans came along in the mid 1800s both parties fought against it. and so the public went along with it. as usual. now if you bring it up people think it's a fantasy. or you're a troublemaker. myself i believe we need it. it has to be better than the crap we've got NOW.
This would be the ideal solution. In order to help it succeed, lobbying state governments to adopt ranked choice voting for all elections, and level the playing field by requiring all candidates on a ballot follow the same process, not allowing two private corporations to determine who they want on a public ballot, and everyone else having a different process.
Sean, have not you received the memo. That business as usual is dead.
Ranked choice voting in a country that is modeled after Hungary and Russia.
Do you not understand that Trump, using Project 2025 as a blueprint will deconstruct our politics and our constitution. Sure there will be elections in the future, just like there are elections in Hungary and Russia
The time is now to organize a resistance, but stay off cell phones and the internet,for they are being monitored by NSA at the humongous Bluffdale, UT data center.
Alan, what did Heather say was so wrong she painted herself into a corner?
Actually you confirmed her. She said that Trump humpers will suffer but never accept the fact that they are responsible for their own situation
You said that regardless they will remain the majority.
Heather hasn't painted herself into anything, because she doesn't have the paint or the brush. She has simply made a prediction, a forecast of what is to come.
If that bothers you, then she is either wrong and time will tell, or you are particularly bothered by the likelihood of that prediction becoming reality.
I suggest the latter, otherwise you would not have felt the need to react, as you did when you read her post and your heart rate increased.
If you need to be cheered up, give up on the internet, read or watch rom coms.
I agree, and that is why I gave up on MSNBC, once in awhile they will have a guest who throws out something interesting.
I will watch BBC's Christiane Amanpour and Company, though I do detect her own personal bias (what human doesn't have one?)
Last night on Amanpour and Company, appeared Paul Rozensweig , former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security a self confessed conservative said that Trump is an existential threat to America And Biden should not attend Trumps inauguration as that is normalizing him, and that he should follow the precedence of Washington and Carter by issuing a blanket pardon for all those whom Trump has threatened, and that from a conservative.
Has he shown up on any MSNBC show ? Not that I can find via google.
Good points Heather. I'm sure it was an oversight but misogyny, in my opinion, is one of the foundation blocks of DT's beliefs and rants. His life long perverted sexual attacks both verbal and physical on women should have appalled every citizen in our country. Most were, but evidently enough agreed that "women have no value except to abuse" and now women will "reap the whirlwind" of further abuse from sickos like DT. I see this every day in subtle and not so subtle ways among family, friends and folks in public. Of the people I know, the great majority are in the GOP camp. But not all. I don't know what the answer is but it isn't coming from the GOP, most religious leaders and certainly not most families. Keep posting you clear thoughts... GH
Know of any grants or benefactors to help get corporations and money out of politics? ProjectLeapfrog.org hates to constantly ask for donations like some nonprofits.
Racism is a convenient scapegoat for their economic pain. Unless Dems can find a way to communicate a message and policy which addresses economic inequality, our democracy is doomed. We're almost to the point of no return with a ruling oligarchy. Chomsky warned of this years ago: wealthy would use their wealth to pit middle/lower classes against each other to draw attenrion away from the real problems. While race, mysogany, genderohobia and the like are important to not back down from, they are mostly intended to divide and distract from the main issue: economic inequality. And Dems must change their attitude towards immigration. Biden botched this issue badly, especially in terms of communication. He should have been tougher from the get-go as Obama was. Finally, in terms of abortion, Dems have got communicate that they are also pro-life, that they are for the codification of Roe, which was NOT advocating abortion under any circumstances. Reasonableness is what we stand for.
Trump's tariffs were in 2019. Inflation hit 2022 when Biden was in office. Fed jumped in.
Trump's next tariffs go in 2025. Inflation will hit 2028. No time for Fed to fix before election.
Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur, has called for an across-the-board cut of 75% of federal government workers. If he gets his way, a recession is coming.
You are so correct. All you have to know is supply and demand, marginal utility and cost benefit analysis. My undergraduate is Econ, and the practitioners and schools make it complicated by use of algebra, calculus and statistics.
Oh, marginal utility simply means that the more I have of something, the less I want or need.
Like eating a watermelon, the first few bites you want more, but if you have eaten the whole thing, you would have to be forced to eat anymore.
You might think that there is a marginal utility to money, but money is simply a tool to get other things and power.
Henry VIII was not satisfied with owning England, he wanted more, he had not yet reached his marginal utility for ownership and power, thus he gathered together an army and tried t
I wish that you and the mainstream media would stop suggesting that uneducated white males voted for Trump for any other reason than racial resentment. Yes, they are getting screwed by big corporations, but the reason they voted for Trump is that he is a genius at stoking their rage.
They didn't vote for Trump because Harris was not liberal enough, because they didn't understand the policies she articulated, because she didn't have enough time to reach Americans, because Biden's war mongering. Because she said this and she should have said that, or she did this and she should have done that.
They voted against a black woman because she is a black woman.
Remember the quote from LBJ: "If you can convince the poorest white man that he is still better than the Negro, you can pick his pockets all day long."
You reminded me of one of my favorite quotes from union leader Frank Sobotka of the series "The Wire." "You know what the trouble is, Brucey? We used to make shit in this country, build shit. Now, all we do is put our hand in the next guy's pocket."
Frank describes the financialization of America, the last stage of capitalism. I don't want to believe our country is on the decline. I want leaders to understand what Robert Reich is teaching and what Bernie Sanders knows to lead us to prosperity for all, not just for the greedy few.
Gloria, I agree with you and that I also believe we are reaching the last stage of capitalism. The plundering of the purchasing power of the consumers will be the downfall of capitalism for as we lose our purchasing power, there will be no one to buy the products that the large corporations are offering us. If indeed, we are reaching the last stage of capitalism what do we have in place to replace it with? Personally, I have been doing some reading about the system of “Economic Democracy” and I do see a future for us by transitioning to that system. You can look up “Economic Democracy” on Wikipedia and or you can read the following article on the “Crisis and Transition “ Substack. https://crisistransition.substack.com/p/post-capitalist-compatibility-degrowth
It’s worse than that- the system is collapsing because it’s ONLY about consuming. How much stuff (reference George Carlin’s routine on Stuff- he nailed it) can producers cram down our throats to increase their profits? My form of protest is Not Buying, especially from the gouges- Unilever, GM, etc… wherever possible I find products with less chemicals and waste, preferably from smaller companies in the US.
Buying secondhand clothes and cars is my way of Sticking It to The Manx
Netflix. "Buy Now" must see
I like everything about PROUT but it requires an educated public to understand it and we are far from that and going the opposite direction. 21% of our public is considered illiterate and 54% operate on less than a 6th grade literacy rate. We need to strengthen our educational system but we just put in people (trump) who want to do the opposite.
trump knows how to appeal to people's emotions which is what works with these people.
With Trumps cabinet picks the education system is only going to get worst and good teachers will leave willing or be or be forced out because they are teaching kids to do critical thinking. The Republicans want to dumb down America. They only care about money and power, damn, the rest of us.
Beverley, as a retired teacher, I can tell you that there are a lot of good teachers trying really hard to teach critical thinking and the other important skills, but what students consume through our social media is not that. They choose to find "nothing" answers on every media platform and will consume that instead of something more nourishing, like truly being able to understand a concept and use it. And, Trump and Kump are soooo not the brightest bulbs in any string and they don't want people in power who are smarter than they are and that is a low low bar.
They want uneducated serfs who will have to do the dirtiest jobs possible. Like the scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail where one serf says “There goes the King.”
Before you can have PROUT, you need to fix the Constitution.
And Congress is NOT gonna do it.
Check out ProjectLeapfrog.org thanks
They want a Constitutional Convention but don't seem to realize that the republicans would control the convention. Each state gets a vote and the republicans have most of the states. They could rewrite our Constitution.
Thanks so much for the link, Marc. Such a thought provoking read. Might be a switch worth making and if everything goes to hell in a handbasket as so many of us fear, it might be the perfect opportunity to do something truly radical.
Remember how wrong Russia went with its revolution? It depends on how local and who promotes the new spiritual paradigm and what it is. We want to avoid returning to feudalism and individual fiefdoms.
When the ponderous Soviet Union economic and political system failed, it seemed that no one had thought about an alternate political and economic future. As a result, the former Soviet Union’s resources were plundered by capitalists from surrounding countries and which was followed by the rise of the oligarchs. Also as a result, the Union fell apart and gave rise to independent countries. Many, such as Ukraine and Estonia have done quite well on their own.
check out ProjectLeapfrog.org thanks
check out ProjectLeapfrog.org thanks
It might be Helpful to Study Why The Happiest Countries have the Least Wealth Disparity...
It seems to me that our democracy is failing because we encourage the rich to get richer at the expense of all other living beings. The winner-takes-all rule encourages this, because then the winner makes rules more in favor of them winning.
Business is designed to allow those at the top to make all the decisions alone. So Musk brags about firing everyone and starting all over, regardless of the harm it causes - just so that he gets a bigger share of the company profits. Citizens United allows the richest people to have the loudest voices. That is not free speech, that is allowing the concentration of power at the top.
The use of delegates to control voting outcome was perhaps useful 200 years ago, but not it is a relic leading to 'swing states' (any state with a 50-50 voting population, to jump to 100-0 result, - ultimately leading to the winner often determined by a random chance, and certainly to an open invitation to cheat on the count.
With these basic flaws in our rules, democracy doesn't have a chance.
the final result is slavery - which is what some of the population want, and the ultra rich strive to obtain. .... The basic difference between old fashioned cotton picking slavery and being without a home, is that the slaves at least get fed to work.
check out ProjectLeapfrog.org thanks
Know of any grants or benefactors to help get corporations and money out of politics? ProjectLeapfrog.org hates to constantly ask for donations like some nonprofits.
Know of any grants or benefactors to help get corporations and money out of politics? ProjectLeapfrog.org hates to constantly ask for donations like some nonprofits.
A big shift in the economy happened in the 1970's. The offshoring of industry to F.I.R.E. (finance, insurance, and real estate). You make money by manipulating money.
Didn't you mean 1990s?
Something for you to research, as if you don't have other things to do, lol., was The Powell Memorandum. From Greenpeace: The Lewis Powell Memo: A Corporate Blueprint to ... Written in 1971 to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Lewis Powell Memo was a blueprint for corporate domination of American Democracy.
From my notes Noam Chomsky said: "Redesigning the economy began in the 70's. The so-called Neo-Liberal shift to try to shift decisions from the public arena to what's called the "market". Neoliberalism is basically the idea to privatize, reduce the role of public institutions. The ideology claims it's increasing freedom. It's actually increasing tyranny. It means that instead of decisions and choices being made in the public arena, where the public in principle has some kind of role to the degree the state is democratic, maybe an actual role, shifting it dramatically to private tyrannies." Full stop. there's much more Thank you.
it began earlier than you think
Bernie should have been the one running against Trump back in 2016. The voters wanted a choice between them and they said so. ANOTHER big mistake by Democrats. When are they going to stop making blunder after blunder?
Know of any grants or benefactors to help get corporations and money out of politics? ProjectLeapfrog.org hates to constantly ask for donations like some nonprofits.
On that count, Centrist Democrats FAIL! FEARFUL of being labeled "Socialist" or "Communist"! Rugged Capitalism untethered by Regulations, Enforcement, and Social Benefits for ALL, has never worked. Trump / Vance Republicans will drive this nation into a Depression reminiscent of Herbert Hoover!
I forgot to add TAXATION (Regulations, Enforcement, TAXATION. and Social Benefits)
I very much wish that I could be sure that financialization is the last stage of capitalism. I am afraid that it isn't, that stages worse than anything Marx could imagine are yet to come.
Eight claims by Marx that might surprise you: https://jacobin.com/2019/01/karl-marx-engels-capitalism-political-economy
1 Marx did not simply dismiss capitalism. He was impressed by it. He argued that it has been the most productive system that the world has seen.
2 Marx accurately predicted that capitalism would foster what is today referred to as globalization. He saw capitalism creating a world market in which countries would become increasingly interdependent.
Anyway Capitalism is not the enemy of mankind, tyranny is.
Tyranny comes in many forms from the tyranny of the masses such as cultural communism ( which accounts for the rise of Trump).
In fact all tyranny exists because of support from the masses. As Mao said" The revolution swims in the sea of the people.
What we are witnessing is the logical organization of society. A nobility, a ruling class and the commons. The House of Lords (Senate) and the House of commons (House of Representatives)
The Soviet Empire had their nobility and their commoners. Milovan Djilas, a Yugoslavian Communist and political leader, in the New Class defined the new class as the political bureaucracy, "a monopoly over the working class itself". This "new class actually seized the lion's share of the economic and other progress earned by the sacrifices and efforts of the masses"
This is inevitable. In Iran the ayatollahs, live large with four wives, at the expense of the people,Putin in Russia lives large at the expense of the people.
As troublesome and difficult as Democracies are, the people in it prosper, and in America that prosperity is coming to an end. will it go out with a bang or a whimper.
Here Marx describes communism in the exact opposite of what it is
For as soon as the distribution of labour comes into being, each man has a particular, exclusive sphere of activity, which is forced upon him and from which he cannot escape. He is a hunter, a fisherman, a herdsman, or a critical critic, and must remain so if he does not want to lose his means of livelihood; while in communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, herdsman or critic.
In a democratic capitalist society, each person has the freedom to do what they want to do, be a hunter in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening , in a communist society your fate was cast the day you were born, either a laborer or a member of the new class.
Nope. Only way is to change the Constitution and Congress is not gonna do it.
Check out ProjectLeapfrog.org thanks
Thank you for the reminder, Gloria, and thanks to Prof. Reich for laying bare the diversion of wealth from labor to the ultra-rich. This 'financialization' scheme signals the entrenchment of an oligarchy that enables the pliant emperor drumpf. The ringmasters of the scheme of national theft like musk, ramaswamy, bezos and dimon play an increasingly dangerous game to assume that drumpf's behavior pointing toward anarchy will not leave their fleeting financial empires in ruins, and the rest of us in the streets and the fields scratching for survival. So much for mr. he-alone-can-fix-us. P.S. my supply business with industrial raw materials has survived a few ups and downs since the Ford Admin, and let me say that the heaviest gut-punch to the consumer occurs when the petrochemical supply line and that of other mineral raw materials shuts down. Essentially none of the gyrations of the economy for the four years past are the fault of the Biden Administration. Place the blame on the 'other guy' who went before.
Our democratic leaders have been frozen in fear; fear of the unknown, fear for safety of their family, and loved ones, and fear of their own loss of power and influence. All the good thoughts and advice here and on other Substack forums float over their heads like silent clouds. Democrats need a young energetic firebrand to shake them out of their stupor and put us back into decency and democracy. How? Instruct the leaders of our military to refuse to cooperate with Trump‘s troopers on pain of indictment for treason while there is still time. Once Trump and his minions take office and acquire power to command them, it will be too late.
Two words: Citizens United.
Remember that the Fed raised interest after the Oil embargo of 1973 and mortgages were at 12-13%. Chairman Volker justified this decision to break inflation. The problem was the value of the dollar rose to 2X the Japanese Yen or the German Mark. Manufacturing in the USA was shipped overseas as no manufacturer could be competitive with those low costs. Gas prices at the pump rose from $0.29 to $1.10 per gallon. Inflation was stopped, Manufacturing Jobs were lost, and the price of gas never went back down. Wages increased dramatically and the cost of energy was absorbed but manufacturing jobs and many factories in small towns disappeared.
Finance capitalist as the last stage of capitalism was a Marxist prophesy developed towards the end of the 19th century. It has not aged well.
Know of any grants or benefactors to help get corporations and money out of politics? ProjectLeapfrog.org hates to constantly ask for donations like some nonprofits.
check out ProjectLeapfrog.org thanks
Capitalism schmapitalism! A fancy word for greed and grinding the lesser haves. America has ALWAYS been ALL ABOUT MONEY -- and I am not referring to hard work and an honest dollar. Greed has ruled this land since Europeans came, to the point that West Africans were kidnapped (with their kinsman’s complicity), and taken halfway across the world. They were forced into brutal enslavement for 250 years to build the infrastructure of this new world. The slave women were raped to create more slave stock. This quality of greed, f-you ness, and cruelty is the foundation on which America was built. Now this greed, fomented for 400 years, is folding over and the country is starting to eat itself. Greed is baked into America’s DNA. There is no foundation of kindness, honesty, and civility to harken back to.
Not just America Faginzorro, but the world. It is the way of humanity.
Greed is simply the drive for social dominance, The more wealth you have the more power you have.
I sat on the grass at Marymoor park, listening to a Peter, Paul and Mary concert, I was surrounded by gray hairs, that use to be long hairs in tie dye and beads, but drove up in Mercedes, BMW's and Cadillacs.
I asked the guy seated next to me, "what ever became of us", his reply was short and to the point "we own stuff"
The greed has not been fomenting for 400 years, and it in fact is the reason that you are alive, eat and live well, and can afford to sit behind a computer on the internet and pontificate you are of a superior morality.
You aren't, maybe the problem is that they have "made it" and you haven't.
When a person attains a privileged position in the hierarchy, they will do anything to protect that position, and the best way to protect it is to get more of that which enables you to protect it. Money to get the power, power to protect the money.
This country was founded by property owning men and designed to be ruled by property owning men by way of representation, the vote, After the 1st two elections, the sovereign states, one by one enfranchised men who did not own property. it did not become a democracy until the 15th,17th and 19th Amendments.
But greed, well that is part and parcel of the human condition.
Did you know that the very first case of legal slavery was that of a black planter named of Anthony Johnson who filed suit for the return of a John Casor.
John Casor (surname also recorded as Cazara and Corsala),[1] a servant in Northampton County in the Colony of Virginia, in 1655 became one of the first people of African descent in the Thirteen Colonies to be enslaved for life as a result of a civil suit.
He had been indentured to Anthony Johson, himself a former indentured servant, who was released and became a planter, with indentured servants.
Indentured servants were essentially contract employees, like professional ball players, and were treated harshly by many a planter, especially since by terms of the indenture they had to provide them with seed corn, a musket and amule at the end of their indenture.
Johnson abused Casor, and Casor ran off to a nearby planter and Johnson sued for his return and the court declared him to be the property of Johson,however i wasn't until 1661 when the House of Burgess passed a law legalizing slavery and outlawing miscegenation.
https://encyclopediavirginia.org/primary-documents/court-ruling-on-anthony-johnson-and-his-servant-1655/
Greed knows no race, gender, class religious, ideological distinction
And picking pockets is where this country excels!
Read the book "White Trash" which reflects LBJs quote.
I just finished reading it and am now reading "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent" by Isabel Wilkerson. Both have given me a new understanding of our society and where we came from.
Gloria. I will look at the book. Also, recent interviews of PBS commentator David Brooks discuss issues of Caste in our country.
Thanks for mentioning this. I thought I bought it a few years but I got what seemed to be an AI ripoff. I’ll look it up, though I’m not in any doubt about the existence of US castes.
read it. Tough to read the horrors.
💓Reich💓:"...Democrats have offered no alternative explanation for what’s happened to average working people or agenda for remedying it. Trump's baseless explanation and agenda are the only ones available."
💓Get the Sense of the D with D-sense: Desensitization💓
aka "Do one thing every day that scares you."--Eleanor Roosevelt
FDR and UN.org:FREEDOM FROM FEAR...but scientifically so FREEDOM FROM PLACEBO AND FREEDOM FROM MILITANT PLACEBOEES (aka Racists, Fascists, other Gullibles that are control freaks, etc
💓
Robert has tried someone's not listening.
Seems like prejudice is stoked by the weird need to see people as lower than you when you are in a group you perceive as low.
Amazing quote but I can't find the original, do you have a reference?
Excellent post Christopher Racism has always been a foundational characteristic of the white working class That is the genius of Norman Lear and his All in the family Dr King also realized this and after 1964 focused on uniting the white poor and working classes with minority poor and working class This view was the catalyst for his death by assassination Unless the Democrats aggressively attack corporate capitalism they are doomed because they will never out corporatize the Republicans and in trying they then force the GOP to make the battie on culture where they lose The Democrats must move to the right of the Republicans on culture and to the left on economics
Together that would have been a powerful alliance and someone recognized that fact.
This attitude makes Trump's win even more sweet.
you will likely suffer with the rest of us LOL weee having fun yet?
Maybe he/she’s an oligarch and really will have a sweet outcome. Except for breathing dirty air, drinking contaminated water, taking quack medicine, and having to deal with those pesky wildfires and hurricanes.
Democratic economic policies were too complex for the average American to understand. The promise was, “We're going to build some factories and heck maybe you just might benefit, but there's no guarantee of it."
The Dems need to offer an economic Bill of Rights centered on a lifetime right to free job retraining.
Dems can win by selling ONE BIG Idea
Free lifetime job retraining for all American citizens
https://kathleenweber.substack.com/p/dems-can-win-by-selling-one-big-idea
The majority of Americans who support Trump are either willfully ignorant, uneducated, insecure, racist, or selfish. And if/when Trump tanks this country, they'll be the last to accept accountability, just like their president.
Most of the reasons people cited for voting for Trump are inaccurate, based on lies and overall ignorance of voters, too often willful ignorance, and, of course, the sexism and racism that runs through the veins of this country.
The armies of racism are out of the closets and into the streets now . Trump's victory has emboldened them.
I will be wearing this "Totally Unhinged Radical Libera"l t-shirt the next four years 👇
https://libtees-2.creator-spring.com/listing/radlib
With PRIDE.
Trouble you have there Heather, is you’ve painted yourself into a corner…
The ‘majority’ you speak of will remain a ‘majority’, in terms of those characteristics. And they’ll support Trump whatever does, as you said.
So the Dems had either better find a way of getting another bunch of voters to turn up at the polling stations, or give them something they understand, which sounds unlikely!
So you might like to write something more satyrical to cheers us all up for the next 4 years…
Actually, but for Russian psy ops we wudda won bigly.
Too true. The $10 million or so spent by Russia was what turned the tide against the $1500 million the Harris campaign spent, not counting the lobbying by UK campaign consultants for Harris, and of course Israel spending over $100 million to ensure we had two candidates openly celebrating mass murder in the middle east. The reason the democrats have not crony capitalism and sleazy insider trading is that they benefit from it as much as the Republicans do. Until the DNC (or the RNC)is taken over by folks who actually want to change the status quo, there will be no major differences between legislative actions taken regardless of which party is in control of any branch.
Daniel, you gave it all, and I understand you frustration. The Republican trifecta is a great triumph for Putin, but scapegoating him for our loss is evasion of responsibility. We failed in more ways than one, and we must move on with 2028 in our minds. We know what voters want, and we know what Republicans want. We must produce our Project 2028 without wasting a minute.
Part of the circular firing squad? We didn't do anything wrong. Nothing.
Approximately half the electorate acquiesces to the end of democracy.
It's too late for the democrats, they've continually fucked up and for too damn long. A 3rd party movement is needed and a Revolution is needed. Fortunately, we can create an incredible app for both. Here's how: https://www.humbledeeds.com
Unfortunately, A third party will only weaken the other two and ironically strengthen the plutocrats who own and run the show.
Bob, I understand your concern. However, I intend to engage the approximately 50% of voters who don't vote, as well as the other voters. You heard it here, first. Thanks for your comment.
than your still following along with the 2 parties. read my comment to Lee earlier. i think that's what their argument was for ending the choice that the forefathers wanted.
Lee: According to Kevin Roberts, Heritage Foundation, Project 2025, there is already a revolution afoot: "this is a second revolution, and it will be bloodless if the left allows it".
yes Kevin Roberts comment on TV / iP was a threat IMO to every Democrat in the country, he is a Snake & a POS
William, if the Revolution does not include the left and the right, then I don't believe it will be a Revolution. You won't change my mind about this. Any single sided 'Revolution' is a dangerous exacerbation of our already ridiculous, though currently mild and long simmering, father vs. son, neighbor vs. neighbor, brother vs. nephew, sister vs. aunt, my idiot Warpig is better than your woke Warpig, Civil War. Let me know if you need any further explanation.
you and others need to take over the Democratic party. 3rd party and revolution is fantasy. Of course, my suggestion might be the same.
We need to rename the Inflation Reduction Act as the Jobs and Ant-Corruption Act.
Then I'll continue to fantasize, until I'm dead or until I succeed, whichever comes first. What do you think when you hear the word Revolution? Because what I've in mind is probably far from what you may be assuming...
I agree with you about a 3rd party.. i read that the founding fathers wanted there to be more than 2 parties. but somewhere after the Republicans came along in the mid 1800s both parties fought against it. and so the public went along with it. as usual. now if you bring it up people think it's a fantasy. or you're a troublemaker. myself i believe we need it. it has to be better than the crap we've got NOW.
How about we fix the Constitution and reverse Citizens United? Congress will not do it. So ...
check out ProjectLeapfrog.org thanks
Michael, I appreciate the work you're doing at Projectleapfrog.org. Thank you for your dedication and determination.
Alritey, will do. Thanks.
This would be the ideal solution. In order to help it succeed, lobbying state governments to adopt ranked choice voting for all elections, and level the playing field by requiring all candidates on a ballot follow the same process, not allowing two private corporations to determine who they want on a public ballot, and everyone else having a different process.
Sean, have not you received the memo. That business as usual is dead.
Ranked choice voting in a country that is modeled after Hungary and Russia.
Do you not understand that Trump, using Project 2025 as a blueprint will deconstruct our politics and our constitution. Sure there will be elections in the future, just like there are elections in Hungary and Russia
The time is now to organize a resistance, but stay off cell phones and the internet,for they are being monitored by NSA at the humongous Bluffdale, UT data center.
Alan, what did Heather say was so wrong she painted herself into a corner?
Actually you confirmed her. She said that Trump humpers will suffer but never accept the fact that they are responsible for their own situation
You said that regardless they will remain the majority.
Heather hasn't painted herself into anything, because she doesn't have the paint or the brush. She has simply made a prediction, a forecast of what is to come.
If that bothers you, then she is either wrong and time will tell, or you are particularly bothered by the likelihood of that prediction becoming reality.
I suggest the latter, otherwise you would not have felt the need to react, as you did when you read her post and your heart rate increased.
If you need to be cheered up, give up on the internet, read or watch rom coms.
Everybody should see Hitchcock's Suspicion, a warning about the dangers of confirmation bias.
I agree, and that is why I gave up on MSNBC, once in awhile they will have a guest who throws out something interesting.
I will watch BBC's Christiane Amanpour and Company, though I do detect her own personal bias (what human doesn't have one?)
Last night on Amanpour and Company, appeared Paul Rozensweig , former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security a self confessed conservative said that Trump is an existential threat to America And Biden should not attend Trumps inauguration as that is normalizing him, and that he should follow the precedence of Washington and Carter by issuing a blanket pardon for all those whom Trump has threatened, and that from a conservative.
Has he shown up on any MSNBC show ? Not that I can find via google.
Thank you for your considered response. I will do same. Back soon!
How about a lime green T-shirt if you "Join The Team" to reverse Citizens United?
check out ProjectLeapfrog.org thanks
Good points Heather. I'm sure it was an oversight but misogyny, in my opinion, is one of the foundation blocks of DT's beliefs and rants. His life long perverted sexual attacks both verbal and physical on women should have appalled every citizen in our country. Most were, but evidently enough agreed that "women have no value except to abuse" and now women will "reap the whirlwind" of further abuse from sickos like DT. I see this every day in subtle and not so subtle ways among family, friends and folks in public. Of the people I know, the great majority are in the GOP camp. But not all. I don't know what the answer is but it isn't coming from the GOP, most religious leaders and certainly not most families. Keep posting you clear thoughts... GH
He who shall not be named still claims to of had the strongest most bestest economy this country had ever seen. Even after that was disproved.
Heather, you forgot misogyny in the list of characteristics of the CFDJT base.
Know of any grants or benefactors to help get corporations and money out of politics? ProjectLeapfrog.org hates to constantly ask for donations like some nonprofits.
Racism is a convenient scapegoat for their economic pain. Unless Dems can find a way to communicate a message and policy which addresses economic inequality, our democracy is doomed. We're almost to the point of no return with a ruling oligarchy. Chomsky warned of this years ago: wealthy would use their wealth to pit middle/lower classes against each other to draw attenrion away from the real problems. While race, mysogany, genderohobia and the like are important to not back down from, they are mostly intended to divide and distract from the main issue: economic inequality. And Dems must change their attitude towards immigration. Biden botched this issue badly, especially in terms of communication. He should have been tougher from the get-go as Obama was. Finally, in terms of abortion, Dems have got communicate that they are also pro-life, that they are for the codification of Roe, which was NOT advocating abortion under any circumstances. Reasonableness is what we stand for.
Economics isn't complex, but economists try to make it so. And people have such short attention spans now they don't even read.
Trump's tariffs were in 2019. Inflation hit 2022 when Biden was in office. Fed jumped in.
Trump's next tariffs go in 2025. Inflation will hit 2028. No time for Fed to fix before election.
Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur, has called for an across-the-board cut of 75% of federal government workers. If he gets his way, a recession is coming.
A populace who doesn't follow the happenings of the country at a deep level is a big part of the problem.
You are so correct. All you have to know is supply and demand, marginal utility and cost benefit analysis. My undergraduate is Econ, and the practitioners and schools make it complicated by use of algebra, calculus and statistics.
Oh, marginal utility simply means that the more I have of something, the less I want or need.
Like eating a watermelon, the first few bites you want more, but if you have eaten the whole thing, you would have to be forced to eat anymore.
You might think that there is a marginal utility to money, but money is simply a tool to get other things and power.
Henry VIII was not satisfied with owning England, he wanted more, he had not yet reached his marginal utility for ownership and power, thus he gathered together an army and tried t